Thursday, June 11, 2015

Preserving the Culture: Introduction

 
In ancient times, the Cherokee culture was preserved and passed on to each generation through ceremony and oral stories.  It was an informal process that incorporated changes slowly and naturally over the ages.  Cultures change as new generations bring new ideas and new interpretations to old traditions.  Cultures are influenced by their neighbors, by changing climate, by changing food sources, by war, and by changing political influences.
 
Today, we have but hints and whispers of the ancient Cherokee culture.  So much has vanished under the influence of the European explorers, colonists, and the formation of the new European-American governments.  The pressures and influences of this foreign culture forced the Cherokee to examine what had once been a natural progression and introduced the conscious effort of “preserving the culture”.
 

Friday, June 5, 2015

Author's Book Praised by Native Americans

With the release of my new book, The Raven Mocker’s Legacy, this week’s article takes a look at the first two books of The Cherokee Chronicles series and their impact on the Native American community.

Author’s New Book praised by Natchez Chief
 K. T. “Hutke” Fields, Uvcenv Cunv Uvsel, Principal Chief of the Natchez Nation, has great praise for award-winning author Courtney Miller’s new book, “The Raven Mocker’s Legacy”, Book 2 of a 7-book series entitled “The Cherokee Chronicles”. The chronicles follows a fictional Cherokee family starting in mythical times and follows the generations through classical pre-contact, first contact, European colonization, and ends with the forced relocation of the Cherokee people in the 1800’s.