Editing Cherokee (section)

=== Slavery ===
{{see also|Cherokee Freedmen#Slavery among the Cherokee}}

Slavery was a component of Cherokee society prior to [[European colonization of the Americas|European colonization]], as they frequently enslaved enemy captives taken during times of conflict with other Indigenous tribes.<ref>for a full discussion, see Perdue (1979)</ref> By their oral tradition, the Cherokee viewed slavery as the result of an individual's failure in warfare and as a temporary status, pending release or the slave's adoption into the tribe.<ref name="Russell 2002 p70">Russell (2002) p70</ref> During the [[Colonial history of the United States|colonial era]], [[Province of Carolina|Carolinian]] settlers purchased or impressed Cherokees [[Slavery among the indigenous peoples of the Americas|as slaves]] during the late 17th and early 18th century.<ref>Russell (2002) p. 70. Ray (2007) p. 423, says that the peak of enslavement of Native Americans was between 1715 and 1717; it ended after the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]].</ref> The Cherokee were also among the Native American peoples who sold [[Slavery among Native Americans in the United States|Indian slaves]] to traders for use as laborers in Virginia and further north. They took them as captives in raids on enemy tribes.<ref name="gallay">{{Cite book|last= Gallay |first= Alan |title= The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South 1670–1717 |url= https://archive.org/details/indianslavetrade00gall |url-access= registration |year= 2002 |publisher= Yale University Press |isbn= 0-300-10193-7}}</ref>

As the Cherokee began to adopt some European-American customs, they began to purchase [[Slavery in the United States|enslaved African Americans]] to serve as workers on their farms or plantations, which some of the elite families had in the antebellum years. When the Cherokee were forcibly removed on the [[Trail of Tears]], they took slaves with them, and acquired others in [[Indian Territory]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Smith |first=Ryan P. |title=How Native American Slaveholders Complicate the Trail of Tears Narrative |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-native-american-slaveholders-complicate-trail-tears-narrative-180968339/ |access-date=2020-09-09 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref>