{"id":527486,"date":"2026-03-16T20:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T20:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/527486\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T20:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T20:47:10","slug":"new-exhibit-aims-to-tell-the-history-of-the-cherokee-people-ahead-of-the-250th-anniversary-of-the-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/527486\/","title":{"rendered":"New exhibit aims to tell the history of the Cherokee people ahead of the 250th anniversary of the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Museum of the Cherokee People is opening a new exhibit to highlight Aniywiya (Cherokee) voices and perspectives in response to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.<\/p>\n

The exhibit is called \u201cUnrelenting: Cherokee People and the American Revolution”<\/a> features historic artifacts, images, and documents displayed alongside works by Cherokee artists.<\/p>\n

Brandon Dillard, \u200aa citizen of the Cherokee Nation is a guest curator for the exhibit. He told BPR that it was important for the museum to center the voices and work of enrolled members.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aPeople get excited about anniversary years,\u201d Dillard said. \u201cThey pay attention to the past in different ways. And so we wanted to use that as a way to invite people in to consider what do Cherokee people think about this time period and what happened in this part of the world in 1776 and the decades that followed because the conflict was ongoing for a really long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The museum invited artists from the Cherokee Nation, EBCI and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians to create new works in response to historic treaties and documents from the Revolutionary era.<\/p>\n

\"Corn<\/p>\n

Courtesy of the Museum of the Cherokee People. <\/p>\n

Corn husk doll created by Laura Walkingstick, enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians for an upcoming exhibit at the Museum of the Cherokee People. Titled “Then and Now: Wrapped in Survival” the work will be on display at the museum beginning March 17th until Dec. 30th. <\/p>\n

One of the featured artists is Laura Walkingstick<\/a>, a citizen of the Eastern Band. Walkingstick works in a variety of mediums but most recently has focused on corn husk dolls, one of which appears in the exhibit.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aGrowing up I didn’t see any dolls that represented who I was or my identity so I’d started creating my own dolls,\u201d Walkingstick told BPR. \u201c\u200aIt wasn’t until a family vacation when I was younger, when I got to see my first Native dolls that came from the Din\u00e9 Nation in Arizona. \u200aI really don’t know how I got into the corn dolls. I think it was just more, like, challenge and curiosity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her piece, titled Then and Now: Wrapped in Survival, depicts a woman standing upright in well-dressed clothing with a distressed American flag at her feet. She is surrounded by Indian corn, which represents life, fertility, nourishment, resilience, and cultural continuity \u2014 elements central to Cherokee survival.<\/p>\n

According to Walkingstick\u2019s artist statement, the work reflects on the American Revolution as a turning point in Cherokee history.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring that era, Cherokee towns and cornfields were deliberately destroyed, and treaties promising protection were repeatedly violated,\u201d Walkingstick said. <\/p>\n

She goes on to write that the distressed flag at the figure\u2019s feet symbolizes the broken treaties and the instability inflicted on Native Americans “through colonization.”<\/p>\n

Dillard said he hopes the exhibit encourages visitors to imagine what it was like to live through that period of conflict and consider what lessons it holds today.<\/p>\n

The exhibit is open on March 17 through Dec. 30.<\/p>\n


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