Presented by Chieftains Museum/Major Ridge Home, Rome, Georgia in conjunction with the Cherokee Nation, Tahlequah, Oklahoma
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Course Information & Instructor Bio
The Cherokee Nation is very pleased to be able to offer an overview course on the history, people, and society of the Cherokee Nation to Rome and surrounding areas. This is by no means a comprehensive course – people can spend lifetimes, after all, investigating the rich and complex history of our people. Nevertheless, we hope this course will provide some valuable insights and perspectives on a history that is often misrepresented and misunderstood. In the process, we also hope that you will be inspired to learn more, challenge, question, problem solve, and develop your own understandings of our history and the ways that it relates to your lives, families, and as part of or in proximity to Cherokee people and communities. It is only when we have a good knowledge of our past and where we have been that we can begin to understand ourselves in the present and then lay the groundwork for a strong and prosperous future for our descendants.
“And to fulfill this legacy, we must ask the questions,
Where will we be as a people five, ten, fifty or one hundred years from now?
Do we talk only of ancestors or do we plan for our descendants?
Do we brag about our full blood ancestor or do we brag about our Indian grandchildren?
Do we live in the past or do we focus on the future?
Is being Cherokee a novelty or a way of life?
Is being Cherokee a heritage or a future?
Our ancestors who walked the grounds of this capitol building resoundingly cry: ‘don’t forget the legacy we have passed on.
‘Don’t let it lapse. Pass it on, stronger and stronger to your children. Let the Cherokee language laugh, speak and sing again. Let our history be known and discussed. Live by our wisdom. Don’t let us die as a people. If you do then all of our sacrifice will be for nothing and you will lose those things that fulfill your life.’”
Principal Chief Chad Smith
State of the Nation Address
September 1, 2001
501 Riverside Parkway, P.O. Box 373 • Rome, Georgia 30162-0373
Office: 706/291-9494 • Fax: 706/291-2410 • Email: info@chieftainsmuseum.org
Director: Claudia M. Oakes • Programs Coordinator: Debby Brown