(Media release from Chieftains Museum/Major Ridge Home):
Chieftains Museum/Major Ridge Home is proud to announce the 2024-2025 Chieftains Museum Lecture Series. The series will begin with on September 5, 2024 at 7pm with a lecture presented by Dr. Alice TaylorColbert on Susannah Ridge, wife of Major Ridge. The lecture will be held at McAllister Hall Auditorium on the Berry College campus.
At a time when Cherokee male leadership, confronted with the creation of the American nation in the late 1700s and early 1800s, attempted to adapt to that reality by establishing new political norms and governmental structures, Cherokee women, such as Susanna Wickett Ridge, led the cultural and economic adaptation necessary for their people’s survival. Unlike many of the male leaders, Cherokee women retained the essence of their traditional Cherokee heritage despite the adaptations they chose.
The life of Susanna Wickett Ridge is one full of challenges, opportunities, tragedies, and victories. In studying Susanna, one discovers the persistence of the Cherokee spirit, a spirit that bears fruit, not only through offspring, but also through the products of the earth and through human action. Her strength enables her to endure adversity, to adapt, survive, and create a better future. The Cherokee people are thriving in three federally recognized tribes today because Cherokee women like Susanna made that possible.
Dr. Taylor-Colbert earned her Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in American Studies from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She has served five universities as an American history and public history professor and/or an academic administrator, including Campus Dean (CEO) of USC Union, before leaving higher education in 2019. During her career, she enjoyed teaching Southern history and culture, Cherokee Studies, Museum Studies, and American history of all eras. As a public historian, Taylor-Colbert began her career at the Atlanta History Center, has led museums, archives, historic sites, and galleries owned by the universities she served, and now leads Development and Strategic Initiatives for South Carolina Humanities. Taylor-Colber is currently a board member of the Georgia Trail of Tears Association. Chieftains Museum/Major Ridge Home has partnered with Berry College to host this lecture on their campus. There is no cost to attend this presentation. The series is sponsored by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation of New York. The Foundation intends to further the humanities by supporting projects and programs that address the concerns of the historical studia humanitatis: a humanistic education rooted in the great traditions of the past; the formation of human beings according to cultural, moral, and aesthetic ideals derived from that past; and the ongoing debate over how these ideals may best be conceived and realized.
For more information about the Jody Selman Chieftains Lecture Series, visit www.chieftainsmuseum.org or call (762) 327 – 6124.