"the People's Paths!" Cherokee News Path - "Missions and Missionaries" Presentation

TAHLEQUAH, Oklahoma - The next installment in the Cherokee Nation’s history presentation series will be “Missions and Missionaries in the Cherokee Nation,” scheduled for June 25, at 10:30 a.m. at the W.W. Keeler Tribal Complex south of Tahlequah.

Gene Norris, a board-certified genealogist with the Cherokee Heritage Center and an active board member of the Oklahoma chapter of the Trail of Tears Association, will highlight education in the Cherokee Nation and the sometimes overlooked and misunderstood role of the missionaries in that endeavor. Norris will discuss some of the many missions and individual missionaries who played a prominent part in the history of the Cherokee Nation, both in the homelands of the east prior to the Trail of Tears and for those who were re-established in the new homelands in present-day northeastern Oklahoma.

Missionaries were perceived by tribal leaders as a necessity when it came to achieving an education, a critically important tool in the Cherokees’ relationship with the nascent United States. Some missionaries became such a part of the Nation that they even traversed the Trail of Tears with the Cherokees during the forced removals of the 1830s.

Gene Norris has been conducting Cherokee genealogical research since 1994 and has also taught the acclaimed Cherokee Nation History Course. The public is invited and there is no cost to attend the event. A brief question and answer segment will be held immediately following the presentation. For more information, please call 918-453-5389.