Copyright © 2001 NLThomas
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CHEROKEE, N.C. - Another fluent speaker of the Cherokee language has passed on. The Reverend Robert Henry Bushyhead, of the of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, passed on Saturday, July 28, 2001, at the age of 86. Mr. Bushyhead, was a Cherokee linguist, and best known for his work in preserving the Kituhwa dialect.

Robert Bushyhead, did leave behind recordings of the Cherokee language. With the help of his daughter, Bushyhead started making recordings of the Kituhwa dialect on audio, as well as, video tapes in 1992. The recordings are used in Cherokee schools as part of the Cherokee Language Project. The recordings help students learn the Cherokee language, by letting them hear the language being spoken fluently.

Raised on the Cherokee Indian Reservation in North Carolina, Bushyhead was 6 years old when he first heard the English language, at the time he started school. At the boarding school, the young Cherokee students were forbidden to speak their languages. Mr. Bushyhead, however, refused to forget his own language because he believed that language is the basis of a culture.

For 18 years Robert Bushyhead portrayed Elias Boudinot, the editor of the the first Indian newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, published in both Cherokee and English, in 'Unto These Hills', Outdoor Indian Drama. The Cherokee Phoenix is now published by the Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma. The Outdoor Indian Drama runs during the summer months, June 13 thru August 25, in Cherokee, NC.

Robert Henry Bushyhead graduated from Carson Newman College and was an ordained Southern Baptist minister.

"The loss of Robert Bushyhead to the perpetuation of the Cherokee language is immeasurable", said Cherokee historian Lynne Harlan.