10.4.Joy.2

John Ross served as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation during the tumultuous removal era. Like other Cherokee slaveholders, when Ross and his family traveled west in 1838-39 on the Trail of Tears, they took their slaves with them to Indian Territory. “John Ross, A Cherokee Chief,” hand-colored lithograph by John T. Bowen after a portrait by Charles Bird King, Philadelphia, 1843. This lithograph was placed between pages 176 and 177 of the History of the Indian Tribes of North America, with Biographical Sketches and Anecdotes of the Principal Chiefs: Embellished with One Hundred and Twenty Portraits from the Indian Gallery in the Department of War, at Washington, Vol. III, Thomas L. McKenney, Esq. and James Hall (Philadelphia, 1844). Courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts.


ABOUT

Welcome to Commonplace, a destination for exploring and exchanging ideas about early American history and culture. A bit less formal than a scholarly journal, a bit more scholarly than a popular magazine, Commonplace speaks—and listens—to scholars, museum curators, teachers, hobbyists, and just about anyone interested in American history before 1900. It is for all sorts of people to read about all sorts of things relating to early American life—from architecture to literature, from politics to parlor manners. It’s a place to find insightful analysis of early American history as it is discussed in scholarly literature, as it manifests on the evening news, as it is curated in museums, big and small; as it is performed in documentary and dramatic films and as it shows up in everyday life.

In addition to critical evaluations of books and websites (Reviews) and poetic research and fiction (Creative Writing), our articles explore material and visual culture (Objects); pedagogy, the writing of literary scholarship, and the historian’s craft (Teach); and diverse aspects of America’s past and its many peoples (Learn). For more great content, check out our other projects, (Just Teach One) and (Just Teach One African American Print).

 

How to cite Commonplace articles:

Author, “Title of Article,” Commonplace: the journal of early American life, date accessed, URL.

Sophie White, “Trading Looks Race, Religion and Dress in French America,” Commonplace: the journal of early American life, accessed September 30, 2019, https://commonplace.online/article/trading-looks-race-religion-dress-french-america/

 

Joshua R. Greenberg, editor

 

Read more about Commonplace

Contact Us

If you are looking for a specific Commonplace article from the back catalog and do not see it, or if have any other questions, please contact us directly. Please follow us on Twitter @Commonplacejrnl or Facebook @commonplacejournal and thank you for your support.