Lance Greene is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Wright State University. This interview is based on his new book, Their Determination to Remain: A Cherokee Community’s Resistance to the Trail of Tears in North Carolina (University of Alabama Press, 2022).
JF: What led you to write Their Determination to Remain?
LG: I had worked on many historical and archaeological projects, but when I began to learn about the Welch family and other Cherokees in Southern Appalachia who fought to stay in the area, I was captivated by the story; a small group of people who outlasted a US military occupation and remained in their homeland was extraordinary. The Welch family was led by John, a Cherokee man, married to Betty, a white woman. They risked their livelihood to support the Cherokees who escaped into the mountains. I also wanted to write about it because it seemed to be a story no one had heard, but one that everyone should know about.
JF: In 2 sentences, what is the argument of Their Determination to Remain?
LG: Traditional histories often have presented largescale events such as the forced removals as successful projects carried out by nation states. My argument is that, in the case of the Cherokee Removal, the goals of the United States were not completely achieved; the attempt at ethnic cleansing in a large portion of the southeastern US was not accomplished. This book argues that the resilient Cherokees in the Smoky Mountains found a myriad of ways to subvert the US army and maintain part of their homeland.
JF: Why do we need to read Their Determination to Remain?
LG: While the persistence of the characters in the face of harrowing violence in the book is captivating, there is another layer involving the complexities of racial and gender inequalities of the era. The Welch family supported traditional Cherokees in their bid for escape but also held in bondage nine African Americans. The Removal effected a massive death toll on those Cherokees who fled and on African Americans in the region. Families with a white member, such as the Welches, fared better, because whiteness was unassailable and provided protection. The Welches and other Cherokees were savvy in their negotiation of race and gender; they used several political and legal means to their advantage. After the US Army departed, Betty became the sole owner of the plantation and an extremely wealthy woman because John was no longer a citizen of North Carolina, the US, or the Cherokee Nation.
JF: Why and when did you become an American historian?
LG: I began my career as an archaeologist focusing on prehistoric Native American sites. Then I had an opportunity to work on a number of historic-era sites dating to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. I was so fascinated by these excavations, I changed my focus to historical archaeology. With that shift came a broader education in methods in history.
JF: What is your next project?
LG: My next project is an investigation of the white farmers who were removed from the Hiwassee River Valley of North Carolina by the Tennessee Valley Authority in the 1930s. Ironically, their ancestors had benefitted from the Cherokee Removal a century earlier. Over 250 families were ejected from the valley by the TVA to inundate the valley and create Hiwassee Reservoir. Based on my earlier research of the Cherokee Removal, I will compare these two largescale state projects and the different effects on those who were removed. The Cherokee Removal obviously had a more violent outcome with forced migration to the west and large numbers of deaths. However, many of the same methods were used in each event; demonization of the inhabitants as backward, lazy, or violent, an argument that forced removal would benefit those affected, and the use of the military or law enforcement to enact eviction.
JF: Thanks, Lance!