On Wednesday, September 10th 2025, teachers from the Eastern Band of Cherokee of North Carolina visited the Kanien’keha Language Program in Akwesasne. The Eastern Band of Cherokee is made up of approximately 18,000 people with only about 8-9000 living on territory. An administrator for the Eastern band of Cherokee shared that among the Cherokee population there are only about 2% of people that are speakers and they are all over the age of 70. The race against time is on and they are looking to light the fire of strength and resilience to get the youth of the band involved in reclaiming the language that was taken from them.
Among the efforts taken to revitalize the language the Band has been able to reach an agreement with the state of North Carolina for Speakers to teach Cherokee without having specialized teaching credentials. This agreement has made it possible for fluent Speakers to be able to be implemented in classrooms as an additional resource for students.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee and their sister tribe the Cherokee Nation have created a strong partnership and have been working together on language revitalization efforts among other initiatives. These efforts brought them to Akwesasne to increase inter-tribal relationships, add to their ever-growing “Family” and to see what the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe is doing to continue the reclamation and growth of the Mohawk language in today’s age using the root-word method of teaching.
Eric Thompson, Program Manager with the Kanien’keha Language Program, shared the successes of their language revitalization efforts and highlighted the critical role that continued support plays in sustaining this important work.
For those interested in learning more about the Kanien’keha Language Program please email asetsitewaton@srmt-nsn.gov or call (518) 333-0222.