Exploring Cherokee culture prior to European settlement is crucial to comprehending their values, gender roles, internal and external relationships, diplomacy, and conflict during this pivotal era in Cherokee history. The audience will learn how Cherokees dealt with European colonization, their relationships with South Carolinians and the British, and how they responded to the American Revolution … Read more
Exploring the worldview of the Cherokees provides insights into the events that occur as colonists of South Carolina begin to discuss grievances with the rule of Great Britain. Experiences in the French and Indian War (1754-63) had affected Cherokee diplomacy and their alliances. As some colonists begin to fight for their independence, some Cherokee leaders … Read more
The Cherokee Trail of Tears story is one of political discord and ensuing tragedy as Cherokees faced removal from their homeland in the 1830s. However, the story begins with wars between South Carolina and the Cherokee Lower Towns in the 1700s. By examining the viewpoints of the Cherokee, the early British colonists, and then the … Read more
You might be surprised to learn that corn, beans, and squash were not always important and that eastern North American Indians once depended on the now-extinct crops of marshelder, goosefoot, and maygrass. Learn about Indian gardens through time, find out how plants were domesticated, and discover the role of women in the domestication process.
This slide show focuses on the uses of plants by Indians for food, drink, medicine, fiber, smoking, construction, and even poison and is based on both archaeological evidence and historic accounts. The show can also be combined with a 1-2 hour outside walk and talk to examine local plants, or we can do a walk … Read more
What happens to people’s diets when two worlds collide? Find out how life changed for the Indians in South Carolina following European exploration and settlement 1520-1730. Why were some crops adopted, and how did the encounter change the Europeans?
What is a chiefdom, the type of society encountered by de Soto when he visited South Carolina in 1540? Find out what recent digs have revealed about the late prehistoric Indians who lived in central South Carolina, in the vicinity of Camden.
As European colonists struggled to create a new nation in the late 1700s, Cherokee families dealt with intrusions into their territory, adaptation to new trade goods that changed their lifestyles, and shifting gender responsibilities and political power. Then they faced having to leave their homes for western territory. Cultural change can bring hardship and heartbreak, … Read more
An exploration of the lives of Cherokee women from the time before Europeans arrived in the Americas to the twenty-first century. Using Cherokee myths, visual images, and artifacts crafted by the hands of Cherokee women, the speaker will weave a story of some of the most powerful women who have walked the earth. Their bravery, … Read more
Kate has written four picture books about our state’s history: Palmetto – Symbol of Courage, about the famous Revolutionary War battle that inspired the color and symbols on our beautiful state flag; Francis Marion and the Legend of the Swamp Fox, the story of South Carolina’s most famous Revolutionary War hero; Almost Invisible – Black Patriots of the … Read more
Talk about a hiking challenge! How about a 500 mile wilderness trek, without food, fire, or weapons, in early winter and while wearing a summer dress? Captured by a Shawnee war party in the French and Indian War and taken more than 450 miles from her home to what is now Cincinnati, Mary Ingles escaped … Read more
