PROJECT PROPOSAL: A DETAILED HISTORY OF THE CHEROKEE NATION

David Carter & Zackary Lambert

UWRT 1103: Writing and Inquiry in Academic Contexts I and II

March 1, 2018
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Our project topic which we have determined is to discuss the history and customs of the Cherokee

Indians. The tribe of Cherokee natives is one of the more well-known tribes, and we hope to dig down

into the origins of the tribe. For example, where did they come from or where did they live in America?

As stated previously, we will begin by tracing back to the roots of the Cherokee. As with any society, this

can prove to be one of the most effective means to gain more information about that society, in this case,

the Cherokee. We hope to be able to find photographs of places and objects which have been touched by

these people many years ago. Also, we hope to track the changes that have happened within the lifestyle

and customs of this tribe. They have certainly evolved as a people, and we hope to show this change,

along with the factors that caused this evolution. As a result, we will be showing what the current

customs and lifestyle of the tribe are. Since the Cherokee reservation is technically a sovereign nation, it

has different laws and customs than the rest of the United States, by which it is landlocked. We hope to

find any documents which show what the rules that currently govern this nation are, and relate those to

the way they have changed over the past. Finally, we will individually show where the Cherokee nation

plays a role in our own ancestors’ histories.

The Cherokee tribe, like many other Native American tribes, has played a huge part in our nation’s

history. However, while they themselves have a very interesting history, their story is often not given

very much attention. The reason for this is that they are a minority of the American population, and most

of their culture has assimilated into the American culture. There is very little of this left, but we want to

present it as the fascinating story that it is - one which goes back for centuries.

The roles in this project will be split up by topic. David will be responsible for researching the origins

and pre-colonial history of the Cherokee tribe. Zack, on the other hand, will be researching more of the

general history of the tribe from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the present. Both of us will

have our own descriptions of the relationship between the Cherokees and our families. Concerning the

current lifestyle and rules in the Cherokee reservations, David will research the legal structure that they
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have and their relationship with the United States government, while Zack will research their current

customs and lifestyle.

The first step on our timetable is obviously this proposal. We will bring a hard copy of this proposal to

class on Tuesday, February 27. Our proposal will be peer reviewed in class on that day by one of the other

groups. As well as bringing the proposal, we will have prepared a “pitch” to present to the class. Our pitch

presentation will only be a minute or two. It will focus on our topic, the main points of our topic, the way

we will present our information (modes), and our take away message. For the project itself, we will start

out individually researching the subtopics that we stated in the roles and responsibilities. We plan on

taking around two weeks to do as much research and gain as much information as we can. After this, we

plan to meet up again and share with each other what we gathered. If this goes well then we will begin

piecing together our presentation. If for some reason we need to do more research, we will complete that

before moving on. We will use the rest of the time to put together the presentation, make any necessary

changes, and practice for a great presentation.

We plan on using several modes to present our information. We will strongly rely on linguistic and visual

modes, while incorporating some aural modes into our presentation when necessary. We will use the

spatial mode when we put together our presentation. We plan to use some kind of PowerPoint related

program as well, and we plan on using different gestures to relay our information to the class. Most of our

information will be given through text and images, maybe a video here or there. We want to get creative

with our text and images, so that it is not just some boring lecture. This is the basis of our project plan as

of now.

When choosing a topic, we wanted to do something that we had in common that would also interest

others. It did not take long to decide what our topic would be, because we both had Cherokee in us and

we both wanted to know more. We plan on ending our presentation with a strong take away message. We
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want to show a side of the Cherokee Indian nation that many people do not know about, and hopefully

everyone will walk away with more than they came into class that day with.