Waleska — Lavonna Pettit joined a gathering here on Reinhardt University’s campus this weekend to learn about her people, a small but historically important part of Georgia’s population. A Dalton resident, Pettit is among about 2,400 Cherokee Nation citizens living in the state.
The two-day event she attended at the university’s Funk Heritage Center was led by historians from the Cherokee Nation and Oklahoma Historical Society. And it featured lessons about Cherokee history, language and culture.
Pettit was particularly interested to learn more about the leadership roles women played in the Cherokees’ matrilineal communities.
“I am on a journey of reconnecting with my culture,” said Pettit, who grew up in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma, and resided in North Carolina before moving to Georgia this year.
During the summer, Cherokee lived in longhouses made of mud, clay, brush and rivercane, according to Catherine Foreman Gray, a Cherokee historian who served as one of the event’s featured speakers. To settle disputes between them, she said, Cherokee played a stickball game they sometimes called “Little Brother of War.” Modern day lacrosse bears similarities.