Julie Reed

Ph.D. Student
rzjulie@email.unc.edu

Major Field: US History

Other Fields: Native American History, Religious History

Advisor: Theda Perdue

Research Interests: My research explores the development of social services within the Cherokee Nation between removal and allotment.  The specific services I am interested in include poor relief, care of orphans and the disabled, and the imprisonment of criminals. The introduction of state-mediated guardianship marked a shift from traditional practices in which matrilineal clans cared for their members. Culture change plus the upheavals of removal and the Civil War required the Cherokee government to begin providing social services for its citizens. Using the methodology of ethnohistory, my research moves beyond government policies and institutions to explore the ways in which Cherokee people understood the profound social changes taking place. It also addresses the role of social services in defining citizenship, since these
programs were available only to citizens. Finally, my research examines the role of these institutions as an expression of tribal sovereignty and the effect of their dissolution in 1907 on Cherokee national identity.