People tend to describe historical figures as either goodies or baddies. When I was a little girl, Indians were the baddies. They attacked the settlers, scalped them and burned their log cabins.

Now, they're the goodies, wise, kind and spiritual. Both views are rubbish.

They're people. Sometimes people do good things. Sometimes they do perfectly horrible things.

Some tribes owned slaves. Different tribes treated their slaves differently. The Seminole chief Juan Cabaillo was the son of an African slave. The Cherokee weren't so open minded.

"A Man Called Horse" is a good movie. It shows a very accurate picture of life among the plains tribes. "Return Of A Man Called Horse" is also very good.

Interestingly, the tribes are now taking a strong interest in how they are portrayed in movies.

When the Indian Removal Act was passed, many of the Cherokee owned large farms. They had a sophisticated tribal government. They had their own alphabet, created by Sequoia. The published a newspaper. When the act was passed, they sued and took their case to the Supreme Court of the United States, who found in their favor. Andrew Jackson then said, "The Supreme Court has made their decision, now let them enforce it."

I was always happy George W. never knew about that.

I will be going, I hope, to visit the Eastern Band Cherokee, in North Carolina with my friend Deborah Harding, who is responsible for recreating the art of featherweaving and teaching it to the Cherokee ladies.