Land acknowledgement
Honoring Native American Heritage Month is especially appropriate for Ballad Health, as the land on which some of our facilities sit was once home to and taken from the Cherokee. We want to acknowledge and remember those who lived here before us by being mindful of our duty to care for the land with which we are now entrusted. May the fact that we now use it to promote health and healing for those who live here today be a way to honor the original stewards.
Acknowledging the past
A statement of “land acknowledgement,” like the one above, is a centuries-old custom practiced by many Indigenous communities and nations. It’s a way to recognize the original inhabitants of the land and show genuine respect and support for Native Peoples.
It’s also a way to respectfully acknowledge tragedies and atrocities Native Peoples suffered at the hands of some explorers and settlers and the early U.S. government. Initiatives like “Indian removal” and Indian boarding schools did much to disperse Native communities from their homelands and bury their culture, while imposing inhumane treatment on them in the process.
In our own region, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 heavily impacted the Cherokee living in East Tennessee. On the famous Trail of Tears, 16,000 Cherokee were forcibly removed from their homeland in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama to resettle in Oklahoma. During the journey, 4,000 died of cold, hunger and disease.
That horrific 1000-mile march west crossed through Tennessee and is officially designated as the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. It is now maintained by the National Park Service. You can follow it and visit museums and points of interest along the way, including the Cherokee Removal Memorial Park.
Contributions of Native Peoples
As a result of the scattering of tribes across the land and efforts to erase their cultures, many Native communities feel as though they are a “forgotten people.” President George H.W. Bush approved a resolution to proclaim November 1990 Native American Heritage Month. Since 1994, the month has been recognized annually as a period to celebrate the rich and diverse cultures, traditions, histories and contributions of Native Peoples.
One significant contribution was kept top secret by the U.S. military for decades. During World War II, 29 young Navajo men nicknamed Navajo Code Talkers were recruited by the U.S. Marine Corps to use their complex, unwritten native language to create an unbreakable code. Use of the code turned the tide of the war and saved thousands of American lives. The code was still unbroken at the end of the war, and their story was classified for 20 years.
Navajo were not the only Indigenous Americans to serve in World War II. One-third of all able-bodied Native men and 10% of the entire Native American population served in the military. Up to 70% of some tribes participated in war efforts.
The ingenuity and inventions of the early Native Peoples also contributed to many familiar aspects of our lives today. Just a few include:
- Syringes and medicines like topical anesthetics, oral pain relievers, oral contraceptives
- A model for the U.S. system of government from the Iroquois
- First to raise turkeys and honeybees for food
- Domesticated methods of growing corn, potatoes, peanuts, squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, beans and more
- Genetically-modified food crops
- Uses for cotton, rubber and tobacco
- Cable suspension bridges
- Kayaks
A name of respect
Recently, you’ve probably heard news about sports teams changing their names as a nod of respect for Native Peoples. The Cleveland Indians baseball team is now the Cleveland Guardians. The Washington Redskins football team changed its name to the Washington Football Team.
Among Indigenous tribes and councils, there is not always agreement as to what they prefer to be called. Most choose to be referred to by their tribal name, such as Cherokee, Creek or Choctaw. Some say the term “Native American” can refer to anyone born in the U.S. and “Indian” was the official name assigned by the U.S. government. Others say those references are OK. But, if you don’t know what to use, the terms Indigenous or Native Peoples are always safe.
Cherokee in the Appalachian Highlands
Our region was primarily occupied by the Cherokee by the 1700s, although other Native People groups, including Iroquois, Shawnee, Yuchi, Monacan and others, also inhabited East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. It’s likely every Ballad Health hospital can trace its land to Indigenous roots, though some are more documented than others.
Indian Path Community Hospital is named after the “Great Indian War Path” that passed through nearby Warriors Path State Park following the Holston River. Originally a wildlife trail, it was used by Cherokee and Iroquois as a trading and warrior path. Native artifacts were discovered while digging the foundation and are displayed in the hospital.
Sycamore Shoals Community Hospital in Elizabethton adjoins Sycamore Shoals State Park, where interpretive exhibits, workshops, events and programs pay tribute to the history, traditions and cultures of the area’s native inhabitants. The park and hospital also sit on the site of the continent’s largest private real estate transaction, the Transylvania Purchase. Settlers negotiated an agreement with Cherokee leaders to trade about $10,000 worth of goods for 20 million acres of land. Fort Watauga was then built on the site to protect settlers from Cherokee attack.
It is believed most of the land where six Ballad Health hospitals sit in Tennessee’s Washington, Carter and Johnson counties was used by the Cherokee for hunting grounds and temporary living settlements as they passed through. You also can find documented evidence of the Cherokee in Hawkins and Greene counties.
In Virginia, history shows Indigenous occupation of Lee, Russell, Dickenson, Smyth and Washington counties, all also home to Ballad Health hospitals. The Yuchi mined salt found near Saltville, Virginia, and used it to trade with other tribes and settlers.
Influence of the Cherokee is evident throughout the Appalachian Highlands through names of many places we hear and speak daily with roots in their native language: Unaka (white), Watauga (beautiful river or water), Nolichucky (spruce tree place) and even Tennessee (from Tenase, meeting place).
Today, annual powwows continue in Blacksburg and Richlands, Virginia, and in Trade and Morristown, Tennessee, where Cherokee descendants celebrate history and culture with dancing, singing and reunions with friends. Visitors are welcome. Cherokee traditions of dancing, beadwork, storytelling and fry bread are often found throughout the region at local festivals and events.
Below is a list of several other ways to celebrate Native American Heritage Month by learning more about the culture, customs, contributions and history of people who first inhabited our region and country.
Experience Cherokee culture in person
The Cherokee and other tribes around the country work to keep their heritage alive by establishing museums, organizations, events and websites to educate the public about their history and culture. Here are a few places to put on your bucket list:
- Sycamore Shoals State Park, Elizabethton, Tennessee. The park hosts interpretive exhibits, workshops, events and programs. Check the website for event dates.
- Cherokee Removal Memorial Park, Birchwood, Tennessee. Located on a bluff overlooking the ferry where 9,000 Cherokee camped waiting to leave their native home, the memorial is dedicated to “those who died and those who cried.”
- Museum of the Middle Appalachians, Saltville, Virginia. The museum houses a collection of Native artifacts and history.
- Oconaluftee Indian Village, Cherokee, North Carolina. This 18th century living history Cherokee village features dances, crafts and traditions. Opens each year in April.
- Museum of the Cherokee Indian, Cherokee, North Carolina. The museum shares 11,000 years of Cherokee history.
- “Unto These Hills” outdoor drama, Cherokee, North Carolina. One of the longest-running outdoor dramas in the U.S. tells the story of the Cherokee people through their removal in 1838. May through August.
- Attend a powwow. Check for annual powwows hosted in Tennessee and Virginia. Be sure to follow powwow etiquette when you go.
Learn more online about Native tribes
Make virtual trips to museums and visit these websites for more information:
Official U.S. Government Native American Heritage Month website:
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the tribe most associated with the Appalachian Highlands:
Monacan Indian Nation, a tribe native to Southwest Virginia:
Cherokee Nation, one of three Cherokee tribes and the largest Native tribe in the U.S. based in Oklahoma:
Museum of Indian Arts & Culture: Take a virtual tour of this museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico:
Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of the American Indian: Tour a virtual art and history collection from tribes around the world:
Listen to stories of Native Peoples
The International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough has hosted many Indigenous storytellers from across the globe on stage through the years. Each of the following storytellers has performed in our area at the National Storytelling Festival or as a Teller-in-Residence at Storytelling Live!, both of which Ballad Health sponsors.
Peter McDonald, the last living Navajo Code Talker, who joined the Marines at age 15, shares his stories from World War II at the 2019 National Storytelling Festival.
Dovie Thomason (Lakota/Kiowa/Apache) tells the story of Bear Child.
Gene Tagaban (Cherokee/Tlingit/Filipino), known as “One Crazy Raven,” from Hoonah, Alaska, performs The Art of Storytelling for the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of the American Indian.
Tim Tingle (Choctaw) performs at the 2019 National Storytelling Festival.
Read books by Native authors
- Saltypie: A Choctaw Journey from Darkness into Light by Tim Tingle.
In this older children’s book, the author shares about his Choctaw grandmother’s journey from Indian boarding schools in Oklahoma to the Texas Gulf Coast.
- Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two by Joseph Bruchac
The fictional tale is about a 16-year-old Navajo boy who becomes one of the Navajo Code Talkers, a group who developed an unbreakable code and became crucial to the U.S. effort in World War II.
- Two Roads by Joseph Bruchac
At age 12 Cal Black’s father tells him he is Creek and sends him to a government boarding school for Native Americans in Oklahoma. There he learns about his history and heritage and how to find strength in a group of friends who only have each other.
- Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
Filled with Pueblo myth, this book is considered one of the most moving works of Native American literature.
- Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard
This children’s book uses lyrical text to share the story of how fry bread became a part of the diet of many Native Americans after they were forced from their land and given limited rations by the U.S. government. The story is about food, history, culture, diversity, resourcefulness, perseverance, family and community, and includes a recipe for fry bread.
