-Nolan Hiott, WRGA-
Every week, the Rome Rotary Club meets at the Coosa Country Club for lunch and a presentation. This weeks meeting featured a speaker from the Cherokee Nation. Cherokee Cultural Ambassador Daniel “Sonny” Ledford spoke at the event and encouraged the clubs ongoing project to build a Cherokee Memorial at the Chieftans Museum.
“When me and Doug Talked Seriously about this endeavor that’s happening with this monument me and him spoke on how to do it correctly. I’ve been involved with many different projects where they wanted to honor us. Some of them I walked out on just for the fact that they wanted to do it stereotypically. I got involved in those things that told the story correctly. Not through European history but through our eyes. Through the Cherokees and how we looked at things. How things really happened versus how it was written in their history. [Their history] is not what the elders have passed down.”
-Daniel “Sonny” Ledford
Thus far, the fundraiser for the memorial has accrued $19,050 of $100,00. Daniel “Sonny” Ledford gave a history lesson as passed down from his tribe at the Chieftans Museum in Rome to help support the fundraiser.
After the event, we spoke to former President and strong supporter of the project Doug Walker about the memorial project. His full interview is below:
