Richard Sneed, 28th Principal Chief, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

The 2023 Moccasin Bend Fall Lecture Series wraps up on Monday, November 13th at 7 p.m. featuring the 28th Principal Chief Richard G. Sneed. For millennia, cultures across humanity were diverse and unique. From language, dress, religion, and social constructs, people groups were as diverse as the lands they inhabited. This held especially true for the indigenous peoples of North America. As Europeans settled the “New World,” the unique cultures of Tribal Nations were both revered and reviled by those who sought to possess the land and its resources. In the late 1800’s the federal government of the United States implemented policies to systematically destroy the culture of tribal nations. Our discussion will review the history of systematic cultural destruction, and how the implementation of those policies still impacts tribal cultures today. Finally, as technology, communication, and media become globally ubiquitous, there is a risk of the homogenization of culture. We will discuss the need to be deliberate in our embrace, practice and celebration of the uniqueness of all cultures.

Speaker Bio:

Richard G. Sneed life’s work has been one of public service advocating for youth, community building, and cultural preservation. After graduating from Cherokee High School in 1986, he served in the United States Marine Corp for four years. His beloved wife Colene is a citizen of the United Keetowah Band of Cherokee Indians. He is the father of five children, Breanna, Richie, Mattilynn, Katrina and Samuel. Sneed earned his degree from Universal Technical College in Phoenix, AZ, and holds a North Carolina Teaching License in Industrial Arts.

While pastoring the Christ Fellowship Church of Cherokee for fourteen years, Sneed also taught vocational education at Cherokee Central Schools for twelve of those years. His excellence in the classroom earned him recognition as the National Classroom Teacher of the Year by the National Indian Education Association in 2013. In 2015, Sneed was elected Vice Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). On May 25, 2017, he was officially sworn in as Principal Chief of the Eastern Band and subsequently re-elected as Principal Chief on September 5th, 2019. 

Since taking office, Chief Sneed’s administration has been dedicated to exercising the EBCI’s sovereignty, including growing relationships and partnerships, in part, through his service to the WCU Cherokee Center Advisory Board, United South and Eastern Tribes (USET), and the Cherokee Preservation Foundation Board of Directors.  Chief Sneed has also recently been elected as the Vice-Chairman of the Center for Disease Control’s Tribal Advisory Committee.

Dr. Frank Varney, Author and Professor of US and Classical History

The 2023 Moccasin Bend Fall Lecture Series continues on Monday, October 2nd at 7 p.m. featuring Dr. Frank Varney. Chattanooga might rightly be described as the Gateway to the Confederacy. It was a vital point, the springboard for the campaigns which led to the capture of Atlanta and Savannah, and so helped to break Southern resistance and end the Civil War. It is ironic, then, that so much of the commonly-accepted history of the struggle for this city is laden with misinformation. And the source of much of that misinformation is Ulysses S. Grant. He was an effective general, and in some ways a good man; yet he has contributed greatly to our misunderstanding of the pivotal events which took place here. From his role in the Chattanooga Campaign to his relief of the general who took and held the city, to his exaggeration of the part he played in opening the “Cracker Line,” to his attempt to take unwarranted credit for the battle which ended the siege, to his minimizing the contributions of other officers, Grant has left us a legacy of untruth and exaggeration. It is time to look beyond his version of the story, and to see what other sources can tell us about what really happened here, in the Gateway to the South.

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Frank Varney earned his undergraduate degree at William Paterson University, and his MA and Ph. D. at Cornell University. He retired as a Distinguished Professor of US and Classical History, and recently began teaching at St. Michael’s College in Vermont. He frequently speaks to Civil War roundtables, history societies, and other interested groups, often takes student groups to visit historical sites, especially Civil War battlefields, and makes frequent guest appearances on television and radio.

Troy Wayne Poteete, Executive Director, National Trail of Tears Association.

The 2023 Moccasin Bend Fall Lecture Series begins on Monday, September 18th at 7 p.m. featuring Troy Wayne Poteete. Poteete's presentation will illuminate major upheavals that have threatened survival of the Cherokee Nation from the forced removal in 1838-39, through Oklahoma Statehood in 1907. Drawing inspiration from the resilience of the Trail of Tears generation, the Cherokees have confronted each crisis to preserve their government, history, culture, and language. He'll discuss the modern day Cherokee Nation, a distinct cultural and political entity, once again thriving in northeastern OK. Activities in support of the National Park Service marking and interpretation of the Trail of Tears removal routes provide opportunity for Cherokees to share with people in their original homelands, and along the routes their ancestors trod, this larger story of repeatedly triumphing over tragedy.

Speaker Bio:

Troy Wayne Poteete was a founding member of the Trail of Tears Association and served continually on its Board of Directors for over twenty years before assuming his current post as Executive Director for the organization in 2014. He served as a Justice of the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court 2007-2017, and as tribal legislator, representing the Three Rivers District in the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council 1991-1999. A seasoned storyteller and lecturer on Cherokee history, Poteete’s presentations draw on a rich family history in the South of the Cherokee Nation, and a lifetime of service in the Cherokee Nation government.

Jim Ogden

Park Historian, Jim Ogden, will discuss the pivotal events and activities that took place on and around Moccasin Bend during the Campaign for Chattanooga. From the US Army supply line (the famous “Cracker Line”) across Moccasin Bend at Brown’s Ferry to the well-preserved earthworks at the southern end of Stringer’s Ridge, this peninsula along the Tennessee River became a focal point between the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863 and the Battles for Chattanooga later that fall in November.

Anita Finger-Smith

The 2022 Moccasin Bend Lecture Series continues with Anita Finger-Smith. Anita, President and CEO of the Cherokee Genealogical Services, presents on the five circumstances during the early 19th Century that contributed to the nucleus of Cherokee Indians who remained in the Southeast after the forced removal of most Cherokee to Indian Territory. These remaining Cherokee later formed the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Many people still believe the only reason the Cherokee are in the East today is because they “hid out in the mountains.” Although this was true for some, the majority are there for other reasons.

James Langford

The first event of National Park Partners' 17th annual Moccasin Bend Lecture Series features James Langford, President of Etowah Museum, Inc. Mr. Langford’s presentation describes his personal research journey that began in 1969 when as a high school student, he found and recorded 16th Century villages along the Coosawattee River in his home county in Northwest Georgia. Over many years, his work evolved to collaborations with several universities and to published research that provides key evidence confirming the location of the capitol core villages of Coosa – the largest and most powerful province north of Mexico encountered by Spanish expeditions of the 16th Century. Mr. Langford details how pieces of the cultural puzzle and information about these expeditions continue to unfold as archaeological investigations and archival research yield new details and clues.

Amy Kostine

The 2021 Moccasin Bend Lecture Series wrapped up with Amy Kostine, National Trails Coordinator for the Office of Historic Preservation at Middle Tennessee State University. Kostine presented her research on the various modes of transportation used to remove the Cherokee and other Indigenous peoples from their ancestral homelands in the eastern United States to Oklahoma. This video was filmed on November 15, 2021 at the Tennessee Aquarium IMAX Theater in Chattanooga, TN.

Dr. Dorothy Canter

The 2021 Moccasin Bend Lecture Series continues with a fascinating look at the legacy of Julius Rosenwald and his friendship and partnership with Booker T. Washington. Their deep connection led to the creation of over 5,000 Rosenwald Schools, mostly in the rural Southern US, that provided educational opportunities for over 600,000 African-American youth during segregation. Dr. Dorothy Canter leads the campaign to create a new National Historical Park based on the Rosenwald Schools model of public-private partnership that transformed philanthropy, civil rights, and education.

Keith A. Hardison

The 2021 Moccasin Bend Lecture Series kicks off with Keith A. Hardison, executive director of the Charles H. Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center in Chattanooga, TN. Mr. Hardison describes the characteristics common to all Medal of Honor recipients, followed by a focus on those from Chattanooga and Tennessee throughout history.