Q&A with Anne Broyles

  

Photo by Amy Ijams

 

Anne Broyles is the author of the new young adult novel Words Spoken True, which is based on the story of a teenage Cherokee girl, Jane Bushyhead, who was part of the Trail of Tears. Broyles's other books include I'm Gonna Paint. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Words Spoken True, and how did you first learn about Jane Bushyhead?

 

A: I grew up proud of my Cherokee heritage and thought it was very cool to have my blue Cherokee Nation citizen card. When I began to write books for children and young adults I wanted to share the story of the Cherokee Trail of Tears with contemporary readers.

 

Sometime in the early 1990s I traveled to our tribal headquarters in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, to search for a real-life young person who survived the 1838 forced march. An encouraging librarian at Oklahoma’s Northeastern State University’s Special Collections brought me piles of books and files. I sat at a long table and spent hours leafing through pages in search of my protagonist.

 

When I discovered Jane Bushyhead’s March 1838 letter to a White school friend I knew she was the right lens into my story. Jane was almost 14 years old, extremely articulate and conscious of the events that were leading to the Indian Removal.

 

She wrote things like “If we Cherokees are to be driven to the west by the cruel hand of oppression to seek a new home in the west” and “It is thus all our rights are invaded.” I could feel her pain at being separated from her friend and the dread that she might be forced to leave her homeland. Jane was real to me right from the start.

 

Q: What did you see as the right balance between history and fiction as you wrote the novel?

 

A: It's important to share important historical information without giving "info dumps" that take away from the fictional narrative. I tried to see everything from Jane Bushyhead's point of view, to know only what she knew, overheard or discovered.

 

Because her father, Rev. Jesse Bushyhead, was a well-known tribal leader and Baptist preacher, I had numerous primary and secondary sources that informed me about his experience before, during and after the Trail of Tears. All I had of Jane was the one letter and the fact of her death six years after reaching the end of the Trail.

 

With her great-great-grandson's permission and support I created a fictional representation of who Jane might have been. In my back matter I am clear about who and what is historical fact and what is imagined.

 

Historical fiction can be tricky because even with diligent research there are bound to be mistakes. Primary and secondary sources often don't agree and the author must choose what version of history makes the most sense.

 

Even when there is an immense amount of material available about an historical person or event, the author must use their imagination to portray that person or event in details that make sense and feel real to contemporary readers. That's always a challenge.

 

I relied on numerous readers who are knowledgeable about the Cherokee Trail of Tears and took their comments seriously as I revised. I strived to find the right balance of history and fiction. And it is always my desire that readers of historical fiction will be inspired to search out more of the real history of whatever era they have discovered in novel form.

 

Q: How was the novel’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: In Words Spoken True Jane Bushyhead wants to be a teacher and is devastated when she has to leave school and return home.

 

While incarcerated in a prison camp with thousands of other Cherokees she begins to teach younger children about Cherokee history and culture through storytelling, but when she begins the 900-mile walk across the country in one of the coldest winters of that century no one has time or energy for anything but survival.

 

By keeping a diary Jane sees herself as the keeper of stories about the people on the Trail with her, both those who survive and those who die. When she jumps into a river to save a drowning child she loses the diary.

 

Here's some of the dialogue between Jane and her father after the loss of her diary:

 

“I’d written down everything,” I gasped through wobbling lips. “Months of my life, my poems, everything.”

 

Papa gathered me close. His scratchy coat smelled of campfire, sweat, and damp wool. I felt the big bearishness of him and leaned into his solid strength. 

 

“The worst is, I lost everyone’s stories,” I told him. 

 

Papa’s voice vibrated against my cheek. “Stories aren’t beasts to be captured, Jane. The words in your diary came from your strong heart and reside there still.” 

 

“My words are important.” 

 

“Without question.” Papa’s strong hands tightened around my back. “As articulate as you are, I’m sure those were important words, words spoken true,” he said. “But your words aren’t lost.”

 

The title signifies the moment when Jane feels her father's validation of her words and understands that what she has learned from writing and speaking her truth matters in the present moment and also the future.

 

Q: What impact did it have on you to write this book, and what do you hope readers take away from it?

 

A: Even though I grew up hearing about our tribe's forced removal from the homelands of the southeastern United States, the extensive research I did for Words Spoken True taught me much I hadn't known about the Trail of Tears. I am even more in awe of the strength of our Cherokee ancestors and also angrier about the way the U.S. government mistreated all indigenous people throughout history.

 

I hope readers will appreciate the courage and resilience it took for the Cherokee people to endure and survive the Trail of Tears. The descendants of those ancestors live and thrive today both in northeastern Oklahoma where our tribal headquarters are and around the world.

 

Most North American indigenous nations endured hardships and forced removal and yet are today strong and relevant in contemporary society and culture.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am co-writing a humorous younger middle grade series. It has been great fun to work with a colleague. Neither of us had co-authored before but we found a method that worked for us. Before we started writing we worked hard to know our characters and setting, then took turns writing scenes. Next, we each edited the other's work in track changes and the original writer could accept or reject changes.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I have been a huge fan of historical novels ever since I started reading. 

 

I still have two of my elementary school Scholastic Book Fair favorites, A Lantern in her Hand by Beth Streeter Aldrich (first published in 1928) and Gertrude Finney's The Plums Hang High (first published in 1955). So it was exciting to sign a contract with Scholastic that included "Scholastic Book Fair" and "Scholastic Book Club" provisions.

 

(I doubt these books would be marketed toward elementary students now since they feature adult protagonists, both women pioneers in the 19th century.)

 

I chose to write an historical novel from the point of view of a protagonist more likely to be the age of my readers. Jane Bushyhead was only 14 when she walked the Trail of Tears, but teens in those days often shouldered adult responsibilities more than today's teens do.

 

I gave Jane some things in common with readers 12 and up (attachment to a best friend, experiencing first love, resenting parental authority) so they could relate to her even though her life experience on the Trail of Tears was very different from that of most teens today.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Anne Broyles.