All Things Cherokee: Article - The Story Behind The Education of Little Tree

Most of us have read, or at least heard of The Education of Little Tree, a book by Forrest Carter published in the 1970s and now celebrating more than 25 years in print. The book was first published as an autobiography, a touching tale of a Cherokee boy raised by his loving grandparents in the hills of the Appalachian Mountains. Readers responded to the naturalist themes and Indian spirituality of the book and it became an instant hit. The title helped to spark an interest in Native American literature which has since blossomed into its own genre. However, the title has also sparked decades of heated debate and controversy.

In the years since its publication, and the death of its enigmatic author, this title has gone from the top of critics lists to the bottom, but no amount of bad press seems to hurt its sales. So what's all the hubbub? Well, it would seem that the book's author has a past as an outspoken, professional racist. Forrest Carter, author of Outlaw Josey Wales and The Education of Little Tree, was first known as Asa "Ace" Carter. Always a talented writer, in the 1960s he lent his wordsmithing skills to George Wallace, and is credited with the infamous, "Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!" Other inquiries into Asa's past connect him with racist publications and the KKK. However, in the 1970s, after losing the race for Alabama governor, Asa moved to Florida, changed his name to Forrest (an homage to Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general), and began to write genre fiction.

And so we come to the central question: so what? Does it matter? Afterall, the book is fiction, and as such, the question of merit becomes a personal one. Fiction, an imaginative creation, is by its nature interpretive. The meaning and merit of the work becomes individual -- the response of each reader to the work's themes and characters. So the question is: does the author's life really matter to you?

One issue which complicates the debate is the fact that this book -- the touching story of a Cherokee boy who comes of age, learning about the good and the bad of life through a warm relationship with his grandparents and abbrasive experiences with white culture -- was initally marketed as an autobiography. This has since been corrected and the book is now sold as fiction, but when evaluting the cultural worth of the work, this detail is noteworthy.

It would also seem that, upon closer inspection, the author hasn't abandoned his earlier convictions. Like his previous work, Outlaw Josey Wales, this book has a palpable anti-government stance. In a story about Native American life this is not entirely unheard of; after all, Native people, among them the Cherokee, were some of the first victims in a history of ignorant and intolerant colonial and US government policy. In the end, Little Tree and his family are victimized by white society and the government, and so it would seem to be to their benefit that they live separate ... segregated -- be it in the Mountains or off in "the Nations." Interestingly, it was this same paternalistic theory which fueled Andrew Jackson's fire in passing the Indian Removal Act that lead to the Trail of Tears.

But again, does it matter? Are those themes relevant if the reader derives different meaning from the work? Leni Riefenstahl's photographs and films were pro-Nazi and promoted themes of racial purity and eugenics. But despite that, she was a talented filmmaker and photographer. At what point do we separate the art from the artist, the work from its context? The Education of Little Tree is a great book. I was moved to tears the first time I read it, and when I first learned of the author's past I was angry and hurt, but I still like the book.

I would argue that the book has actually made an incredibly positive impact. It wasn't long ago that books and films filled with blatant sterotypes of savage Indians (played by white actors in red paint) was the norm. The mere fact that this title has generated so much debate and discussion regarding the plight of Indians in American popular culture is a positive step forward. Personally, I think that this is a great book, both for the themes of culture and life that the author himself addresses, and for the heated historical and cultural debate which has grown out of it.