The fourth annual Muscogee Teach-In is fast approaching.
On Thursday, Oct. 30, members of the Muscogee Nation will lead the Emory community in discussions and activities dedicated to the preservation of the Nation’s culture and language. The event starts at 2:30 p.m. in the Emory Student Center. Registration is required.
Malinda Maynor Lowery, Emory Cahoon Family Professor of American History and a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, will deliver remarks on the importance of the teach-in. Volunteers from Emory’s Native American Student Association will support guest registration and services.
The teach-in began in 2022 as the result of Emory discussions on how to address the displacement of Indigenous tribes from the Southeast — particularly the Muscogee people, who inhabited the land now home to the university’s Oxford and Atlanta campuses before being displaced in 1821.
The event is sponsored by Emory’s Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies, the Office of the Provost, the James Weldon Johnson Institute and the Office of Spiritual and Religious Life.
This year’s program includes Muscogee storytelling from the Mvskoke Language Program and a community stomp dance. RaeLynn Butler, the Muscogee Nation’s secretary of culture and humanities, will lead a keynote discussion.
Butler, based in Oklahoma, is responsible for Muscogee cultural preservation outreach and practices. The role was created specifically for her in 2024 and runs in perpetuity; there is no term limit.
Beth Michel, senior associate director for the Emory Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies, works with the Muscogee Nation to help organize the event on campus.
“Secretary Butler was nominated and confirmed for this new position due to her knowledge and expertise,” Michel says. “The conversation will cover some of the work she’s done, and what is unique about her role in upholding cultural sovereignty. We are honored to have her.”
The event, Michel says, is an opportunity for all in attendance to consider that very theme, cultural sovereignty and self-determination, “whether through Secretary Butler’s role or through the lens of language preservation with the Mvskoke Language Program.”
Members of the Helvpe Ceremonial Grounds, a sacred space for Muscogee traditional practice and a group based in Oklahoma, will also attend.
“Their participation is a reminder that the first language and ceremonial ways of life are always present on the Emory campus,” Michel says. “It’s important for attendees to recognize that.”
The success of the teach-in represents the continual building of trust between the university and the Muscogee Nation, she says. “Our commitment is to grow the community’s knowledge and understanding about Muscogee peoples and the cultural ways of being on these homelands that continue to thrive today.”