We are excited to have Wayne Smith presenting at the April monthly meeting.
Wayne is the Chief of the Deer Clan of the Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama and an amateur geneologist.
As a young boy, Wayne was taught to hunt and fish by his father and his father’s father. Little did he know that he was learning Native American techniques that had been passed down for generations. In turn, Wayne taught these same techniques to his children.
Later, in an American Literature class, Wayne was introduced to Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish explorer from the 1500s who wrote about his captivity by different Indian tribes across the coastal Southeastern US. This ignited a curiosity and a lifetime quest for knowledge about Indigenous cultures and history.
In his research, Wayne came across a lesser known Tribe, the Yuchi, that made a home often near the Cherokee. His research has brought him from the days of Christopher Columbus through the infamous Trail of Tears.
He currently presents the Yuchi Indian histories program.
