From their site: ‘Also known as ‘Cherokee Black,’ this variety excels as both a snap and a dry bean; when mature, the 6” purple-tinged green pods encase shiny, jet-black seeds. This bean was shared with Seed Savers Exchange by the late Dr. John Wyche of Hugo, Oklahoma. His Cherokee ancestors carried the variety over the Trail of Tears, the infamous winter death march from the Smoky Mountains to Oklahoma (1838-39) that left a trail of 4,000 graves.’
Okay, I now understand the context behind the name, and I understand, but like. Printing that on a seed saver packet really really really does not carry the necessary context for this to serve as the main name for this cultivar
It’s this kind of naming that makes people ask the question and keep the history lesson learned. It is a shame we need to bear so no one else is forced through the same experience.
I find myself needing to defer here to people to whom this is a personal issue because of their ancestral trauma… I don’t think I’m versed enough to know if the name does more good for keeping it in people’s minds and causing people to look it up or harm for bearing the name of a genocidal event that does not provide context without the person reading it specifically seeking it out themselves.