This article discusses the Watkins family's Native-American heritage through the lens of my paternal grandmother, Sallie Watkins. Sallie's mother, Sallie Brown Cooper Darden, and her lineal ancestors were members of the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokees were one of what white colonists called the "Five Civilized Tribes" -- Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees, Creeks, and Seminoles -- that were located in the Southern part of the United States from the East Coast to the Mississippi