Reclaiming Displaced Heritages

For the KSU 2000 Honors Seminar, stories of the Cherokee Removal served as a focal point for recovering one of the "displaced heritages" important to our region's culture. Besides doing extensive research via the internet, students read two recent historical novels based on Removal experiences-Pushing the Bear and Mountain Wind Song. While Diane Glancy's Pushing the Bear helped begin the course on a poignant note, Robert Conley's text seemed an especially appropriate way to close, especially given its emphasis on story-telling and other shared social practices (e.g., fishing, intergenerational conversation) as crucial to safeguarding community.

Online discussion of Pushing the Bear and the Trail of Tears

Cherokee History: Links to Other Useful Websites