The flag of the Cherokee Nation consists of an orange field with the Great Seal of the Cherokee Nation in the center. The seal is surrounded by seven yellow stars with seven points. Each of these stars points toward the star in the center of the seal. The seven pointed stars represent the seven clans of the Cherokee, as well as other symbolisms of the number seven in Cherokee tradition. In 1989 an additional star was added to the upper right hand corner of the flag. It is black, and represents the light that went out with the deaths of those who perished on the Trail of Tears. The flag has a green and black rope edging.
Famous quotes containing the words flag of, flag, cherokee and/or nation:
“Swift blazing flag of the regiment,
Eagle with crest of red and gold,
These men were born to drill and die.
Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
Make plain to them the excellence of killing
And a field where a thousand corpses lie.”
—Stephen Crane (1871–1900)
“Hath not the morning dawned with added light?
And shall not evening call another star
Out of the infinite regions of the night,
To mark this day in Heaven? At last, we are
A nation among nations; and the world
Shall soon behold in many a distant port
Another flag unfurled!”
—Henry Timrod (1828–1867)
“Long accustomed to the use of European manufactures, [the Cherokee Indians] are as incapable of returning to their habits of skins and furs as we are, and find their wants the less tolerable as they are occasioned by a war [the American Revolution] the event of which is scarcely interesting to them.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“If a well-constituted individual refrains from blazoning aught amiss or calamitous in his family, a nation in the like circumstance may without reproach be equally discreet.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)