The West

Robert Bushyhead
Cherokee Indian Elder

"A few years ago a friend said, 'Robert, if you don't do anything about saving your language now, you're going to lose it. And there is no way we can replace it.' I thought, 'That's right.' This friend was a doctoral student, and he received a grant. For a few years, we worked together at Western Carolina University where I taught the Kituhwa dialect. I have heard the older Indians pray in church, and to my ear it is like the sound of a waterfall. Kituhwa's so flowing, so beautiful. I am doing this work, at this age, because this is the only thing I can leave to my people... our common language, Kituhwa. It is the focus of my life now: to save this language that sounds like a waterfall flowing whenever Cherokees gather together to pray."

Robert Bushyhead and his daughter Jean Bushyhead devote much of their time to preserving the heritage of the Cherokee language. Robert is an eloquent spokesman for the beauty of the spoken word, and the power of the oral traditions that have passed on the history of the Cherokee to each new generation.