{"id":1679,"date":"2026-06-24T12:50:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T17:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/?p=1679"},"modified":"2026-06-24T14:49:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T19:49:16","slug":"eastern-band-cherokee-langauge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/eastern-band-cherokee-langauge\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019re reclaiming who we are\u2019: Jayhawk works to save endangered Cherokee language"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Micah Swimmer knew his relatives were talking about him, but he didn\u2019t know what they were saying. On the porch of Bigmeat House of Pottery, his grandparents\u2019 pottery shop in Cherokee, North Carolina, two generations of his family sat chatting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey used to have a little bench out there, and they would sit out there and talk all day,\u201d recalls Swimmer, g\u201917. \u201cI was this little boy playing, and I went up, and I could just tell they were talking about me, because they\u2019d point at me and smile and laugh. I didn\u2019t know what they were saying, because both of my parents weren\u2019t first-language speakers either.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The chain of first-language acquisition had been broken in Swimmer\u2019s family. It\u2019s a common situation for many members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, one of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes.<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>Now, after decades of studying the language, Swimmer, who serves as the Cherokee language and cultural specialist in the tribal nation\u2019s Human Resources Division, is working against the many forces that have imperiled the language for centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Eastern Band of Cherokee, who speak their own dialect, are descended from Cherokee who remained in or returned to the tribe\u2019s ancestral homeland in the southeastern U.S. following the Trail of Tears, when the U.S. government forcibly relocated five tribal nations to present-day Oklahoma in the 1830s. Thousands perished, and through assimilation and boarding schools designed to cut Indigenous children off from their families, language and culture, the number of speakers plummeted. One boarding school survivor, who refused to speak Cherokee even as an adult, told Swimmer she had been beaten and starved for speaking it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI remember asking her, \u2018How come you don\u2019t speak to me in Cherokee? You answer me in English,\u2019\u201d Swimmer says. \u201cAnd she just shook her head and put her head down and she said, \u2018I\u2019ll never speak that way again.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Swimmer\u2019s work is, in many ways, a race against time. About a decade ago, Swimmer documented that the Eastern Band of Cherokee had 264 first-language speakers out of approximately 16,000 enrolled members. Today, that number is down to 133, with most of those speakers over 60.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-little-notepad\">\u2018A little notepad\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But before Swimmer maintained that slowly dwindling list of names, he had a notepad\u2014and there, the text was multiplying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Swimmer began receiving formal Cherokee language instruction when he started school, learning basics such as colors, numbers, animals and greetings. Though the vocabulary was limited, Swimmer remembers being \u201cpretty good at it.\u201d And though at first he hadn\u2019t understood his relatives, his grandma, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/12\/06\/obituaries\/amanda-swimmer-dead.html\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/12\/06\/obituaries\/amanda-swimmer-dead.html\">Amanda Swimmer<\/a>\u2014a renowned potter who passed away in 2018\u2014kept speaking to him in Cherokee. Swimmer says he was about 12 when he started writing down words in a notepad that he carried with him. When he saw Cherokee speakers around, he would practice the phrases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"666\" src=\"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Eastern-Band-Cherokee.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1676\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Eastern-Band-Cherokee.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Eastern-Band-Cherokee-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Eastern-Band-Cherokee-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"647\" src=\"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Cherokee-language.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1675\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Cherokee-language.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Cherokee-language-300x194.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Cherokee-language-768x497.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Top: Micah Swimmer with his late grandmother, Amanda Swimmer, who often spoke to him in Cherokee as he was growing up. Bottom: A family snapshot of Swimmer\u2019s great-grandmother, Arnessa Bradley, whom he recalls overhearing speak about him in Cherokee on the porch of his family\u2019s pottery shop when he was a child. Today, Micah Swimmer is at the forefront of efforts to keep the Cherokee language alive.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cShe was the one who I would really go to and ask questions,\u201d Swimmer says of his grandmother. \u201cAnd I would take the words she would give me, and I\u2019d write them down in a little notepad I\u2019d carry, and I would study those words.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That early dedication has bloomed into a lifetime of language learning and teaching. As a teenager, Swimmer was an intern in a Cherokee language immersion program and has since worked in various capacities on the tribe\u2019s Qualla Boundary, a 57,000-acre land trust in western North Carolina, to help the language survive. In his current role as Cherokee language and cultural specialist for the tribal nation\u2019s Human Resources Division, he seeks to restore what\u2019s been lost by teaching Cherokee language and culture classes for tribal employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe goal is cultivating Cherokee language,\u201d Swimmer says. \u201cBecause I want these guys to take the language they learn from my classes back to their work site, back to their jobs, back to their offices and facilities\u2014and then start using the language among each other in their everyday jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-documentation-and-revitalization\">Documentation and revitalization<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Swimmer attended Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence and graduated with a bachelor\u2019s degree in American Indian studies in 2008. It was at a Haskell career fair that he picked up a brochure for KU\u2019s Indigenous studies graduate program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A track noted in the brochure grabbed Swimmer\u2019s attention: language documentation and revitalization. He applied and got accepted. But Swimmer, who was also raising a family with his wife, Carrah Swimmer, eventually had to put school on hold and moved his family back home to Cherokee, North Carolina, where he worked as a middle school Cherokee language teacher and coach. All the while, he continued to carry that KU brochure in his bag, intent on finishing. In 2017, clearing what he described as a \u201ccloud over his head,\u201d he completed his last requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At both Haskell and KU, Swimmer learned about documenting and teaching language\u2014as well as empowerment. He visited the Cherokee Nation and Northeastern State University in Oklahoma and observed the methodologies and strategies of their language programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt really opened my eyes up to a lot more, and then I came home ready to go,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"667\" src=\"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Cherokee-language-Micah-Swimmer.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1674\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Cherokee-language-Micah-Swimmer.jpg 500w, https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Cherokee-language-Micah-Swimmer-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Swimmer (right) with Eastern Band Cherokee first-language speaker Clement Calhoun. The two hold hickory wood that\u2019s in the process of being made into sticks for the game of stickball.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As part of his current position, Swimmer makes videos of first-language speaker Clement Calhoun to demonstrate pronunciation and share cultural knowledge. For example, in one video, Calhoun demonstrates the process of making a stick for the game of stickball, beginning with cutting down a hickory tree. Swimmer says the Cherokee language is interconnected with the tribe\u2019s traditions, including ceremonies, song and dance, and stickball, and he hopes to bring the language back into those spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur language is what ties our culture together, our traditions together,\u201d Swimmer says. \u201cIt\u2019s embedded in who we are, and it connects us to our land, so all of that together is what we\u2019re doing. We\u2019re reclaiming who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-three-generations\">Three generations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s proof it can be done. Swimmer was recently part of a delegation from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians that visited New Zealand, where the M\u0101ori people have revitalized their language through immersion schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey had their language dying out, and their people decided to make a change,\u201d Swimmer says. \u201cThey started their immersion schools, and now they\u2019ve got speakers everywhere, and they\u2019ve got language everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Swimmer came back from the trip motivated to do even more.<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>He hopes to see a more concerted effort among U.S. Indigenous nations to preserve their languages, as well as the establishment of a Cherokee language and culture center that would bring together the many knowledgeable people currently volunteering their time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Swimmer sees funding such a center and joining disconnected efforts as way to combat what time is quickly taking away. He recalls an adage one of the M\u0101ori shared with him: \u201cIt takes one generation to lose a language, and three generations to restore it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the generations who once sat on the porch chatting in Cherokee are passing on, Swimmer is determined that their words\u2014words that lovingly teased him as child and that underpin immemorial Cherokee culture and tradition\u2014do not disappear with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s good that we have this,\u201d Swimmer says of his current position, \u201cBut there\u2019s so much more that we could do to save our language.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-outermost-icon-block aligncenter items-justified-center\"><div class=\"icon-container\" style=\"width:48px;transform:rotate(0deg) scaleX(1) scaleY(1)\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><path d=\"M5 11.25h14v1.5H5z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>KU Alumni\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/tag\/jayhawks-give-back\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/tag\/jayhawks-give-back\/\">Jayhawks Give Back<\/a> program is presented in partnership with Andrew Wymore, senior realtor with ReeceNichols.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jayhawks Give Back celebrates \u2019Hawks who are making a difference in ways big and small. Each quarter, we feature a member of the KU family and their story. If you know a Jayhawk who should be featured in Jayhawks Give Back, <a href=\"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/contact-us\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/contact-us\/\">let us know<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Rochelle Valverde, c\u201908, j\u201915, is staff writer for Crimson &amp; Blue.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-photos-courtesy-of-micah-swimmer\">Photos courtesy of Micah Swimmer<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By documenting and teaching the language, KU alumnus Micah Swimmer helps preserve Eastern Band Cherokee for future generations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":1677,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,13],"tags":[93],"class_list":["post-1679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-jayhawks","tag-jayhawks-give-back"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v27.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018We\u2019re reclaiming who we are\u2019: Jayhawk works to save endangered Cherokee language - Crimson &amp; 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