The Cherokee Cultural Heritage Center incorporates in its physical layout the remaining fire-scarred columns of the Women’s Seminary – a symbol of the effort by the Center to reach out to the majority culture through education. On May 7th, 1851 the Cherokee opened the first Women’s Seminary west of the Mississippi (complemented by a Men’s Seminary) and, following the Civil War, established the first compulsory free education west of the Mississippi. Grounded in an ages-old, autonomous culture that had retained its distinctive identity while readily adapting to 18th and 19th Century introductions of Western cultural traditions, the Cherokee were a constitutionally-organized, propertied, and highly literate people who – after removal - relied upon the development of liberal, humanistic education to restore and renew themselves. The CHC in Tahlequah is not only the site of the march’s end, but a foundation for the renewal of the Cherokee nation through education. Over time, the Trail of Tears has become a kind of two-way lens whereby the Cherokee and all Americans are enabled not only to re-examine past events leading up to the exodus, but to develop – through historiography, art, and cultural institutions – a vision for the future which embraces the best of Cherokee life in a pluralistic, American society.Ĭentral to the re-discovery of the past and the renewal of the present is the Landmark Cherokee Heritage Center (CHC). The Trail of Tears was the forced, organized emigration march of the Cherokee Nation from the Southeastern United States to the Indian Territory (now the state of Oklahoma) during the years 1838-39. Wiping Away the Tears: Scope, Content and Approach In cooperation with the Cherokee Heritage Center (CHC) near Tahlequah Oklahoma, and with the logistical support of Northeastern State University, ACTC has been awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities a national, professional development workshop grant for a project for high school teachers under the “Landmarks of American History: Workshops for Teachers” initiative: “Wiping Away the Tears: Renewing Cherokee Culture and American History through the Cherokee Heritage Center and the Trail of Tears.” “Wiping Away the Tears” is designed to use a significant American Landmark, the Cherokee Heritage Center, as a site to increase the public’s knowledge and appreciation of Cherokee/American history and culture. The Association for Core Texts and Courses (ACTC) is an (inter)national association of universities and colleges dedicated to the improvement of liberal education through the use of core texts.
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