Walker Calhoun

Hewitt Walker Calhoun was born on May 13, 1918, in Big Cove, North Carolina. Calhoun was the youngest of 12 children born to Sally Ann Calhoun and Morgan Calhoun.

When Calhoun was nine, his father died; around the same time, he stopped going to school to work on the family farm. At the age of 12, Calhoun attended a boarding school in Cherokee, North Carolina, where he learned a little English. Before that time, he had rarely heard English because his mother did not speak it (this was customary in the Eastern Cherokee tribe).{{Citation |last=Uy |first=Michael Sy |title=The National Endowment for the Arts, the U.S. Bicentennial, and the Expansion Arts and Jazz/Folk/Ethnic Programs |date=2020-09-17 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197510445.003.0007 |work=Ask the Experts |pages=155–182 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oso/9780197510445.003.0007 |isbn=978-0-19-751044-5 |access-date=2022-11-16|url-access=subscription }}

Throughout his childhood, Calhoun learned Cherokee songs and dances from his Uncle Will West Long. He learned traditional medicine from his mother. Calhoun also taught himself how to play the banjo during these formative years.

During World War II, Calhoun was drafted into the U.S. Army. During the war, he served as a Combat Engineer in Germany. After the war, the army sent him to California. He married Evelyn Calhoun, and together they raised 10 children. Calhoun worked for the North Carolina Department of Highways. After which, "for about 20 years, I worked for a plant in Cherokee".{{Citation needed|date=April 2023|reason=direct quotation requires a citation}} At age 62, Calhoun retired.

In the 1980s, Calhoun founded the Raven Rock Dancers. Through this group, he began teaching the Cherokee youth the songs of his uncle Long. Some of these songs are listed below.

In the late 1980s, Calhoun recorded some of these songs at the "Cherokee museum". For this, he won several awards. The "Best folk recordings list" and a National Heritage Fellowship.{{Cite journal |date=1992 |title=chronicle |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40933506 |journal=Appalachian Journal |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=104–119 |jstor=40933506 |issn=0090-3779}}

Calhoun was an active member of the eastern Cherokee community. Throughout his lifetime, he opposed the creation of casinos within the reservation, saying, "the young people think it will be our salvation. I think it will be our damnation".{{Cite journal |last=Oakley |first=Christopher Arris |date=2001 |title=Indian Gaming and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23522800 |journal=The North Carolina Historical Review |volume=78 |issue=2 |pages=133–155 |jstor=23522800 |issn=0029-2494}} He also took part in some land reclamation involved with the Cowee mound.{{Cite book |last=Middleton |first=Beth Rose |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/747413929 |title=Trust in the land : new directions in tribal conservation |date=2011 |publisher=University of Arizona Press |isbn=978-0-8165-0229-5 |location=Tucson |oclc=747413929}}

Much of the Cherokee's songs and dances were lost, after years of the U.S. Government's, missionaries' and educators' attempts to suppress native tradition. Calhoun's knowledge of some of these practices has proven instrumental in retaining and reintroducing Cherokee traditions back into the Cherokee community. Calhoun makes his view of these traditions clear saying, "It was on the verge of going out of existence... Ima try and bring it back if I can."{{Cite web |title=AC-VT-079-001_H264 {{!}} Berea Digital Collections |url=https://berea.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_04658442-bc60-4ca2-a1a0-22e65639ebb2/ |access-date=2022-11-16 |website=berea.access.preservica.com}} Calhoun was pivotal in reestablishing Cherokee identity through his Raven Rock years. He also made several records; hence some of his knowledge can be accessed even after his death.

Calhoun died on March 28, 2012, at the age of 94. Some of his recordings can be found at Berea College's Hutchins Library. He also made two albums of his songs titled Where Ravens Roost and Sacred Songs from Medicine Lake.

• 1988 - Sequoyah Award, awarded to the person who has done the most to preserve and teach Cherokee culture; Calhoun was the first recipient of this award{{cite book | editor-last=Govenar |editor-first=Alan |year=2001 |chapter=Walker Calhoun: Native American Musician and Dancer (Cherokee) |title=Masters of Traditional Arts: A Biographical Dictionary |volume=1 (A-J) |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/mastersoftraditi0000gove/page/98/mode/1up |chapter-url-access=registration |location=Santa Barbara, California |publisher=ABC-Clio |pages=98–100 |isbn=1576072401 |oclc=47644303}}
• 1990 - North Carolina Folk Heritage Award
• 1992 - National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts

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Category:1918 births

Category:2012 deaths

Category:Cherokee people on the Baker Roll

Category:Eastern Band Cherokee people

Category:National Heritage Fellowship winners

Category:Native American musicians

Category:Native American dancers

Category:People from Cherokee, North Carolina

Category:20th-century Native American people

Category:21st-century Native American people

Category:North Carolina Heritage Award winners