A school banned Indigenous students from using their language.
A century later, it’s teaching Cherokee
A precursor to Duke University once stripped students of their culture. -- Cherokee teachers are leading the change
Between 1882 and 1887, some two dozen children from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians were enrolled in #Trinity #College’s #Industrial #Indian boarding school.
The school, which operated about 20 miles south of #Greensboro, North Carolina, alongside the college’s traditional liberal arts program, received federal funding in pursuit of its goal to #assimilate #Indigenous #students.
The students, who ranged in age from eight to 18, were forced to work and wear #western #clothing, and were #prohibited from #speaking #Cherokee or otherwise maintaining their traditions,
while other students who attended Trinity College were instructed in the liberal arts.
In 1887, the boarding school closed.
Trinity College eventually moved to #Durham and, in 1924, it became #Duke #University.
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.
The classes are important not only because of Duke and the Cherokee people’s shared history,
but also because
more speakers are necessary to prevent the Cherokee language from going #extinct.
In 2019, the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes declared a state of emergency for the language.
“There are approximately 2,000 fluent first-language Cherokee speakers left,
and each Cherokee tribe is
losing fluent speakers at faster rates than new Cherokee speakers are developed,” 
the declaration reads.
Duke is partnering with #Vanderbilt University in Tennessee and the University of #Virginia for the promotion of
less commonly taught languages, 
such as #Haitian Creole, #Turkish and #Malagasy.
The Cherokee language classes mark the first time an Indigenous American language is being taught at Duke
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/21/duke-university-cherokee-language?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other