The Marianna Black Library in Bryson City will be hosting a Contemporary Cherokee Language Literacy program with Hartwell Francis PhD., Saturday, December 2nd, from 3:00pm until 4:00pm in the library’s meeting room.
Hartwell Francis received a PhD in theoretical linguistics from the University of Colorado, Boulder. In 2006 he became the founding Director of the Cherokee Language Program at Western Carolina University. He moved on to take the Education Curriculum Developer position with Kituwah Preservation and Education Program of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. In 2021 he became an honorary member of the EBCI.
Through genius Sequoyah, the Cherokee people developed literacy and literature in the early 19th century. Cherokee literacy and literary production continued in the Eastern Band up to the work of Will West Long (died 1947). Recently, with the work of major language scholars of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, literacy and literary production has increased. I present some of the major and minor written works in contemporary Eastern Cherokee language. I discuss the function of this work in the current educational and cultural context.
The Marianna Black Library, a member of the Fontana Regional Library, is located in Downtown Bryson City at the corner of Academy and Rector. For more information or driving directions please call the library at 828-488-3030.