NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH FEATURED SPEAKER: Dr. Melissa Lewis

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About Melissa Lewis, Ph.D.:

Dr. Melissa Lewis is the program director for the Little Cherokee Seeds program. She is an Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Missouri School of Medicine and a citizen of Cherokee Nation. Her research includes co-creating and evaluating Cherokee cultural programs. Programs include Cherokee community building through reconnection with culture, history, land, and language, infant-mother language immersion, and a traditional Cherokee ecological knowledge youth camp. Her research has contributed to the body of work that demonstrates that Indigenous culture including language, foodways, and historical and cultural knowledge relate to improved health and well-being. 

About Little Cherokee Seeds: 

ᏧᎾᏍᏗᎢ ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ ᎤᏂᎦᏔ (Little Cherokee Seeds) was founded in 2018 when a Cherokee mother was unable to find resources to help her newborn son learn the Cherokee language. After reaching out to Cherokee language teachers, a first-of-its-kind Cherokee reading hour was born. The first reading hour took place on June 15, 2019, expanded to two physical sites, and then continued remotely when the pandemic began in March 2020. In total, LCS delivered 25 Cherokee immersion classes to Cherokee children and their families over two years at no cost to participants. 

After the completion of these classes, our group came together and decided that these classes were not doing enough to address the rapid pace of language loss in our nation. The group then dedicated themselves to the mission of creating fluent speakers again by approximating the day-to-day and Cherokee cultural experiences that fluent speakers experienced when they were infants and children. With the help of the AIRC, the ANA, and many other funders and supporters, we opened our doors in November 2022 to 5 brave Cherokee women and their babies dedicated to revitalizing Cherokee language and culture.   

You can find more about Little Cherokee Seeds and the AIRC on their social media and website below:

Little Cherokee Seed Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/LittleCherokeeSeeds   

American Indian Resource Center Website: https://aircinc.org/

Registration:

Dr. Lewis’s presentation will begin promptly at 1pm Eastern Time on Monday, November 20^th. Please register in advance to receive a zoom link.