CHEROKEE, N.C. — November is Native American Heritage Month. At the Museum of the Cherokee People in western North Carolina, visitors can experience Cherokee history and culture.
WCNC Charlotte’s Sarah French took a trip up to Cherokee, North Carolina, to learn more about what the museum has to offer those who walk through the door.
"We get 3 million visitors that pass here, going into the Great Smoky Mountains," Executive Director Shana Bushyhead Condill told French. "And so how do we, you know, bring those folks in?"
The Museum of the Cherokee People is one of the oldest tribal museums in the country, founded in 1948. The last time the museum had a major renovation was 1998, and now, it is getting ready for another one.
"It's a privilege and an honor to be on our ancestral homeland," Condill said.
With three federally recognized Cherokee tribes, Condill said their goal for the museum is to be a home to all three tribes.
The three recognized tribes are the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, based in Cherokee, as well as the United Keetoowah Band in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and the Cherokee Nation, the largest tribal government in the U.S., which has more than 360,000 citizens.
French was able to sit down with the museum's education director, Dakota Brown, to talk about just that.
"I think a lot of people don't understand the three Cherokee tribes, like, my grandmother was a member of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma," French explained.
"There's the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians here in North Carolina," Brown explained. "Our land holdings is called the Qualla boundary. And the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma. The reason that there are three Cherokee nations, of course, is from the Indian Removal Act."
Back in 1838, the Trail of Tears forced the Cherokee people from their homelands and moved them west of the Mississippi River. It was fatal for one-fourth of the Cherokee population.
"It split our nation," Brown explained. "We realized that we are one people. We came from one place, and it’s this place that we are in."
The museum also offers genealogical services for those wanting to look to their past and learn about their ancestors. French wanted to do just that with her seventh great-grandmother, Nanyehi, also known as Nancy Ward. The museum has a section featuring Ward.
"Her story is a really great story because she is a complicated person" Brown shared. "She ends up marrying, I believe he was an Irish settler. She, I guess, warns some folks, some Americans about incoming Cherokee raids. And then, other accounts that I've read on her, though, put her more into a light that shows that she was trying to be tactful and trying to be diplomatic. Maybe she was caught between the two worlds? I do kind of see her more as like attempting to be diplomatic and in a very difficult time. She formed a Women's Council and that Women's Council was actively trying to fight to maintain Cherokee land here in our homelands."
She was named the head of the Women’s Council and was the only woman given a vote in the Cherokee General Council. She used her influence to advocate for peaceful coexistence with white settlers.
If you're interested in a Genealogy Consult at the Museum of the Cherokee People, you can order a genealogy consult.
French will have more stories coming up for Native American Heritage Month. French is a member of the Cherokee Nation.
Contact Sarah French at Sarah@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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