Chuck Darwin<p>A school banned Indigenous students from using their language. </p><p>A century later, it’s teaching Cherokee </p><p>A precursor to Duke University once stripped students of their culture. -- Cherokee teachers are leading the change</p><p>Between 1882 and 1887, some two dozen children from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians were enrolled in <a href="https://c.im/tags/Trinity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Trinity</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/College" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>College</span></a>’s <a href="https://c.im/tags/Industrial" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Industrial</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Indian" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Indian</span></a> boarding school. </p><p>The school, which operated about 20 miles south of <a href="https://c.im/tags/Greensboro" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Greensboro</span></a>, North Carolina, alongside the college’s traditional liberal arts program, received federal funding in pursuit of its goal to <a href="https://c.im/tags/assimilate" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>assimilate</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Indigenous" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Indigenous</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/students" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>students</span></a>.</p><p>The students, who ranged in age from eight to 18, were forced to work and wear <a href="https://c.im/tags/western" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>western</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/clothing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>clothing</span></a>, and were <a href="https://c.im/tags/prohibited" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prohibited</span></a> from <a href="https://c.im/tags/speaking" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>speaking</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Cherokee" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Cherokee</span></a> or otherwise maintaining their traditions, <br>while other students who attended Trinity College were instructed in the liberal arts.</p><p>In 1887, the boarding school closed. <br>Trinity College eventually moved to <a href="https://c.im/tags/Durham" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Durham</span></a> and, in 1924, it became <a href="https://c.im/tags/Duke" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Duke</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/University" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>University</span></a>. </p><p>❇️ Now, the school at which Cherokee and other Indigenous students were forcibly stripped of their culture is being used to help revitalize the Cherokee language.</p><p>The classes are important not only because of Duke and the Cherokee people’s shared history, <br>but also because ♦️more speakers are necessary to prevent the Cherokee language from going <a href="https://c.im/tags/extinct" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>extinct</span></a>. </p><p>In 2019, the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes declared a state of emergency for the language.</p><p>“There are approximately 2,000 fluent first-language Cherokee speakers left, <br>and each Cherokee tribe is <br>💥losing fluent speakers at faster rates than new Cherokee speakers are developed,” 💥<br>the declaration reads.</p><p>Duke is partnering with <a href="https://c.im/tags/Vanderbilt" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Vanderbilt</span></a> University in Tennessee and the University of <a href="https://c.im/tags/Virginia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Virginia</span></a> for the promotion of 🔸less commonly taught languages, 🔸<br>such as <a href="https://c.im/tags/Haitian" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Haitian</span></a> Creole, <a href="https://c.im/tags/Turkish" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Turkish</span></a> and <a href="https://c.im/tags/Malagasy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Malagasy</span></a>. </p><p>The Cherokee language classes mark the first time an Indigenous American language is being taught at Duke</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/21/duke-university-cherokee-language?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">theguardian.com/us-news/2024/s</span><span class="invisible">ep/21/duke-university-cherokee-language?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other</span></a></p>