Cherokee heritage groups are associations, societies and other organizations located across the United States and in other countries that seek to preserve key Cherokee concepts of ceremonial, cultural and natural value. They incorporate genealogy, language, social interaction and sharing of information between members. Some heritage groups sponsor and support protection of geographic areas, buildings, plants, documents, relics or spiritually related information. While many modern groups are liberal in their membership and focus on powwows and other festivals which have not historically been a part of Cherokee culture, others such as the Original Keetoowah Society are restrictive in membership and meet in secret. The Cherokee Nation encourages people of Cherokee heritage to take pride in their heritage and become active in heritage groups even if they are not eligible for citizenship.
Read more about Cherokee Heritage Groups: Origins, Individual Recognition, Tribal Recognition, Listing of Cherokee Heritage Groups
Famous quotes containing the words cherokee, heritage and/or groups:
“Long accustomed to the use of European manufactures, [the Cherokee Indians] are as incapable of returning to their habits of skins and furs as we are, and find their wants the less tolerable as they are occasioned by a war [the American Revolution] the event of which is scarcely interesting to them.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“Flowers ... that are so pathetic in their beauty, frail as the clouds, and in their colouring as gorgeous as the heavens, had through thousands of years been the heritage of children—honoured as the jewellery of God only by them—when suddenly the voice of Christianity, counter-signing the voice of infancy, raised them to a grandeur transcending the Hebrew throne, although founded by God himself, and pronounced Solomon in all his glory not to be arrayed like one of these.”
—Thomas De Quincey (1785–1859)
“Belonging to a group can provide the child with a variety of resources that an individual friendship often cannot—a sense of collective participation, experience with organizational roles, and group support in the enterprise of growing up. Groups also pose for the child some of the most acute problems of social life—of inclusion and exclusion, conformity and independence.”
—Zick Rubin (20th century)