Written by Cherokee History and the Spirit Family Author, Jim Barnes
Hi there! I’m Jim Barnes, a writer, Amerindian history buff, and environmentalist. I live in France with my wife Anne, our two dogs, and two cats. I was born in Tulsa and am a member of the Cherokee Nation.
This year the University of North Georgia Press will publish my new book–Cherokee History and the Spirit Family. It features my great-great grandmother, Annie Spirit, and her family, who were on the Trail of Tears in the late 1830s and removed from their homeland in northern Georgia to Indian Territory 900 miles west. I tell the story of what they left behind and what happened in their new homeland, as their sovereignty ebbed, flowed, and then ebbed again. In the 1890s the U.S. Government insisted on dissolving Indian governments, closing down their newspapers and schools. It is a bittersweet tale of resilience in the face of overwhelming power.
I’ve spent most of my life as an environmental lawyer trying to protect our oceans, lakes, rivers, forests, and mother nature’s creatures. In 1978 I founded the Antarctic & Southern Ocean Coalition–ASOC for short–bringing together environmental organizations around the world to protect 10% of the Earth. Since then, we have had many successes in maintaining Antarctica as a precious preserve dedicated to science, peace, and the environment. That work goes on. Today I serve ASOC (www.asoc.org) as Board Chair. In 1982, I published Let’s Save Antarctica to support the global campaign to protect Antarctica as a World Park, featuring Elliot Porter’s wonderful photos. My mentor, Sir Peter Scott, wrote the Foreword.
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