Why do so many Americans believe they have Cherokee ancestors? The Staunton Public Library will host a talk in which Gregory Smithers, associate professor of history at Virginia Commonwealth University and author of “The Cherokee Diaspora: An Indigenous History of Migration, Resettlement, and Identity,” will delve into this question, telling the story of the migration and identity of the Cherokee, one of the country’s largest Native American tribes.
More than 300,000 people across the United States claim Cherokee tribal membership and nearly one million people internationally profess to have a least one Cherokee Indian ancestor.
Copies of Smithers’ book will be available for sale at the program.
This event is sponsored by the Friends of the Staunton Public Library.