Sponsored in part by the generous support of Georgia Humanities Council and the Ocmulgee Mounds Association, this panel brings together three highly regarded scholars of the Native South, and promises to enlighten and entertain, as well as to challenge us to consider the myriad ways in which Indigenous people have remained connected to their ancestral homelands in the face of longstanding colonial pressure.

Welcome:

Tracie Revis (Muskogee/Yuchi), Director of Advocacy, Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative
Ms. Revis, who had previously served as Chief of Staff to Muscogee (Creek) Nation Principal Chief David Hill, moved to Macon to work for ONPPI. She has been instrumental in pushing for the creation of a large national park (the first of its kind in Georgia) centered around the current Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Park. She has labored tirelessly to impress on Middle Georgia the importance of reconnecting with and maintaining a vibrant working connection with the people who were forced off of their ancestral homelands.

Moderator:

Dr. Matt Jennings, Professor of History, Middle Georgia State University
Dr. Jennings has taught at MGA since 2007. His work and teaching focus on regional Native American history, both ancient and recent. Jennings’s publications include New Worlds of Violence, The Flower Hunter and the People, Ocmulgee National Monument: A Brief History with Field Notes, as well as pictorial histories of Ocmulgee and Macon. His current research considers the connections between Native peoples forced out of the Southeast and their ancestral homelands.

The Panelists:

Dr. Robbie Ethridge, Professor of Anthropology, University of Mississippi
Dr. Ethridge specializes in the ethnohistory of the Native South. She is a founding editor of the journal Native South and currently serves as the North American associate editor for the journal Ethnohistory. She has written, co-authored, and edited numerous books, including The Transformation of the Southeastern Indians, Creek Country, Light on the Path, Mapping the Mississippian Shatter Zone, From Chicaza to Chickasaw, The Historical Turn in Southeastern Anthropology, and, most recently, A Promise Kept: The Muscogee (Creek) Nation and McGirt v. Oklahoma.

Dr. Jace Weaver, Franklin Professor of Religion and Native American Studies, University of Georgia
Dr. Weaver was the founding director of the Institute of Native American Studies at UGA until he stepped down from that role in 2021. His work exists at the intersection between religious traditions, literature, and law. His numerous publications include That The People Might Live, Other Words, Turtle Goes to War, and The Red Atlantic. His most recent works are Red Clay, 1835 and American Indian History: Core Documents.

Beau Carroll (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), EBCI Tribal Preservation Office Lead Archaeologist, Ph.D. Student in Anthropology, University of Tennessee
Mr. Carroll has distinguished himself in a variety of academic pursuits, and is best known for his cutting-edge work on ancient cave art and the Cherokee syllabary. He is active along a number of significant scholarly fronts, mostly related to cultural preservation and revitalization.