Featured in the Mountain XPress article published on February 25, 2022
What began as an outlet for two disparate communities to make peace about the past and move forward in unity has attracted the attention of the Smithsonian Institution.
Based in Franklin, the nonprofit Nikwasi Initiative preserves, protects and promotes culture and heritage in the original homelands of the Cherokee. In turn, its board of directors — composed equally of Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians members and white residents — is upfront and honest about the often fraught ways Native American history commingles with that of Appalachian settlers.