A BIG s'gi (thank you) to Appalachian State University for hosting our Gadugi scholars on campus yesterday! We had a terrific time. Thank you to our Athletics Department for providing us with tickets to last night's exciting game against Georgia State and to the Office of Diversity for helping to arrange the visit. Thank you all for all you do!!
Please join the Gadugi Partnership and the Office of Diversity on Monday, October 24th as we welcome Dr. Jean R. Schroedel to campus to speak on the voting rights crisis in Indian Country. Efforts at the disenfranchisement of Native people have increased in recent years, and Dr. Schroedel has done groundbreaking and vital research on this topic. The presentation is a brown bag lunch with the Office of Diversity providing drinks and dessert. Looking forward to seeing you there! S'gi
We are extremely excited to announce this program! On October 24th Gadugi and NASA will welcome Dr. Jean R. Schroedel to campus to discuss the continuing battle to secure and protect voting rights in Indian Country. Please join us for a brown bag lunch with drinks and dessert provided by the Office of Diversity. S'gi!
Brown bag lunch
Drinks & Dessert provided
This Friday, September 30th, please join the Gadugi scholars at the old Cherokee Training School silo (by the EBCI transportation office) for our wreath laying in memory of the children who died at the boarding school as well as in honor of those who survived. The ceremony will begin at 12:30 pm and will last approximately fifteen minutes. All are welcome! S'gi
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| 2021 wreath laying ceremony |
This is my great-great Grandfather, Lorenzo Dow Swayney. He and his sister were taken from their home in the Big Cove community of the Qualla Boundary and sent to the boarding school in Hampton, Virginia. I will be wearing orange this Friday in his memory. I hope you all will also wear orange and keep the stories of what happened alive. S'gi!!
The Gadugi Partnership has a busy fall coming up with lots of exciting programs being held on campus! Below are some of the events we will be offering...please come out and join us and support the partnership if you can!
Siyo, everyone! Don't forget that Friday, September 30, is Orange Shirt Day. The day is set aside to remember the victims of Indian Boarding Schools and to honor the survivors. It is vital that we never forget the physical, spiritual and emotional abuse these children experienced so that we may insure it never, ever happens again. You can find more information the link below. S'gi!
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The Gadugi Partnership would like to announce that we recently partnered with American Forests to plant a tree in memory of former Gadugi scholar Anthony Toineeta. American Forests work in partnership with local organizations in an effort to restore areas that are in greatest need. They planted Anthony's tree in a part of the Central Oregon Fire Scar Reforestation project. For this project, 900,000 trees--including Anthony's--were planted to replenish the forest after fire damage.
This is an awesome event showcasing the remarkable artistic talent on the Qualla Boundary. And several former Gadugi scholars are represented!! Please stop by and check it out!
Mark your calendars for a very special event on October 10--Indigenous Peoples Day!! I am so excited for this presentation, and even more excited to be doing it with two of my very favorite former students, Darius Lambert and Simon Montelongo! We will be talking about the Critical Race Theory panic and how it threatens the teaching of honest American Indian history. Please come join us if you can. The program is sponsored by the Gadugi Partnership and App State's Native American Student Association!
Our first Native American Student Association meeting is this Wednesday, August 31 at 6pm in the Parkway Ballroom in the PSU! Hope to see you there!
As students return to schools across the country, please remember that culture matters. #BacktheBraid
I'm so excited to announce the return of the Read to Lead program! COVID kept us from doing this for a few years, but this month we get the chance to revive it! Read to Lead is a partnership between the Gadugi Program and Dora Reed Center/Cherokee Head Start. This year, Cherokee High School student athletes from the baseball and softball teams will be reading the story of Louis Sockalexis to Head Start children and then lead them in an activity. Thanks to the generosity of our ASU partners, each child at Dora Reed will receive a copy of the book to take home. I'm equally excited to announce that we have re-named the event the Nellie Littlejohn Read to Lead Program in memory of our beautiful friend Nellie Littlejohn. I met Nellie at Dora Reed, and she was a huge supporter of the work and the students. Nellie was a dear, dear, friend, and I am thrilled that her family has given me permission to honor her in this way! #GoBraves #Gadugi #ReadToLead
On Monday, March 14th, the Gadugi Program will celebrate Women’s History Month by sponsoring the 2022 Selu Lecture. Named in honor of Selu, the Cherokee corn-mother, First Woman and goddess of the corn, the lecture seeks to honor the matrilineal culture of the Cherokee by highlighting the remarkable contributions of contemporary Cherokee women leaders. This year we are honored to host Ms. Anette Saunooke Clapsaddle, a citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Ms. Clapsaddle resides in Qualla, NC. She holds degrees from Yale University and the College of William and Mary. Her debut novel, Even As We Breathe (UPK 2020), was a finalist for the Weatherford Award, named one of NPR’s Best Books of 2020, and received the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award (2021). Clapsaddle’s work appears in Yes! Magazine, Lit Hub, and The Atlantic. She teaches secondary English and Cherokee Studies, is an editor for the Appalachian Futures Series (UPK), and serves on the board of trustees for the North Carolina Writers Network.
Please join us in welcoming Ms. Clapsaddle at 2:00 PM on March 14th in room 137C in Plemmons Student Union! For more information please contact Dr. Allen Bryant @262-3152 or bryantja@appstate.edu
Please join us in welcoming Ms. C Attic Window (room 137C) in the Plemmon
Don't forget about tomorrow's Boarding School Remembrance wreath laying ceremony at the old boarding school silo. It's at 12:30 and everyone is invited! S'gi!
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| Refurbished silo from the Cherokee Training School that opened in 1880. |
Please join the Gadugi Scholars this Friday at 12:30 for a wreath laying ceremony at the old Cherokee Training School/boarding school silo (by the transportation building) in memory of the victims of boarding schools as well as in honor of the survivors. The ceremony will last about half an hour and is open to all. S'gi!
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| Gadugi scholars at 2013 ceremony |
Happy Veterans Day!
World War Two US Navy veteran.
S'gi to the student reporters at The Appalachian for this terrific article on Gadugi's work!
