Sea Chantey, “John Cherokee,” sung by the Mystic Seaport Sea Chantey Choir:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsEQRGE2aHw&feature=related

I thought my first blog post would be in regards to this song, as it came on while my iPod was on “shuffle.” I’ve read different analyses of this song.  One said that this song is reported to be from the 17th Century whaling ships in the Caribbean, where ships had multi-ethnic crews, mainly comprised of White, Black, and Indian men.  During this time, many Native people were captured and were forced to work on whaling ships.  Other sources say that this song originated during the Civil War.  It seems in a couple of the accounts, that John must have been of African descent, as he was a slave, however, many people are unaware of the history of Native slavery prior to the time of African slavery.  My husband recently came across an add in a newspaper dated to the 1880s (well after slavery was abolished), of a man looking for his “Runaway Indian slave,” described as being tall, tan, and wearing his hair in long braid.  A cash prize would be rewarded to the one who turned in his slave.  I am looking for the exact article for citation.

What is confusing to many about the song is that “John” is an “Indian man from Miramichi,” however, Miramichi is in New Brunswick, Canada.  Traditional Cherokee territory is in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.  John Cherokee’s tribal affiliation may not actually be Cherokee, rather Mi’kmaq, Naskapi, Maliseet, as those are the tribal nations surrounding the town of Miramichi.  It was not until recently that average people in American society started to distinguish between tribes, as many Native people were just lumped together and were assumed to be “Indian,” Cherokee, Sioux, or Navajo (depending on the media’s focus and obsession of the “Indian Wars,” and the acquiring of new territory.

If in fact the song was composed at the beginning of the whaling industry, it is not surprising that John would have attempted to escape, and as a result abused, as Native men often were highly valued on ships for their work ethic, physical abilities and sometimes navigational abilities.  One of my husband’s ancestors willingly joined a crew for an Atlantic whaling voyage, but when he wanted to leave to return home to his family, he was abducted and forced onto a whaling voyage in the Pacific.  Unfortunately, he could never return home to his family, as he fell very ill and died.

 

John Cherokee Lyrics:

This is the story of John Cherokee.
Alabama John Cherokee!
An Indian man from Miramichi.
Alabama John Cherokee!

Wey, hey, yah!
Alabama John Cherokee!

John Cherokee was an Indian man.
They made him a slave down in Alabam’.

They made him a slave on a whaling ship.
Time after time they gave him the slip.

They catched him again and they chained him tight.
Kept him chained both the day and night.

Gave him nothing to eat and nothing to drink,
Until his bones began to clink.

Nothing to drink and nothing to eat,
‘Til he dropped dead at the captain’s feet.

Now his ghost can be seen,
Sitting on the main truck wet and green.

 

Sources:

http://www.csufresno.edu/folklore/ballads/Hugi439.html

http://www.itinerantband.com/jlnotes.html

http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=83748

 

-Leah