Call Me Survivor — Susan McGeown

She is Bear, the mate of Bright Feather. She has matured from a frightened, captive, white girl to a wife, mother, and perhaps most importantly, Powerful Indian Woman. She is eighteen years old. Wrapped within the historical facts of the Cherokee Nation during the early 19th century, we watch The Nation struggle inside and outside its borders. During this period, Andrew Jackson becomes president and under this presidency we see their forced migration to land west of the Mississippi and the tragic Trail of Tears in 1839. We see deprivation and deception, broken promises and sorrow. But we also see determination, hope, faith and honesty. As the white world presses in on Bear's precious garden walled around and all those she holds dear, she must fight to be able to call herself a survivor. For her ability to walk in both the white and the red world might be the best weapon they have to save them all.