Going Back To Their Roots: Catawba Health Efforts

       Recently the Catawba Indian Nation has begun efforts to resolve health issues that are plaguing their community. Some of these issues are easily fixable, such as access to doctors, but others are not so easily taken care of. These health issues have been brought to light in many ways. One such way was a 1998 survey which was conducted among members of various South Carolina counties which included members of the Catawba Indian Nation, African-Americans and Caucasians. It was found that members of the Catawba Nation had a high prevalence of diabetes, poor health, smoking, poor diet, hypertension, overweight and physical inactivity. Diabetes is the most alarming of those issues and is the one with the most action being taken to combat it. It is thought that this health disparity is partly due to unpreventable measures such as lower education and remote rural locations.

       The rate of diabetes has increased from just over 13% in 1998 to 20% in 2005, obviously an extremely steep increase in such a short amount of time. The increasing rate is not all that is worrisome. Increasingly younger members of the Catawba Nation are developing the illness. Preventative measures are being taken, such as teaching the youth of the Catawba Nation to farm and to gather wild, natural foods such as those their ancestors had gathered. As well as teaching about gathering and farming the traditional foods, the youth are also being taught about cooking the dishes that their ancestors used to eat. The Nation is also implementing a new curriculum in the K-12 schools that teaches diabetes awareness. The schools are also promoting high levels of physical activity. The hope is that the children will influence their parents to live a healthier life.

       Another way the Catawba are improving their health is the addition of a new clinic in 2005. Prior to 2005, the Catawba Health Clinic was located in the Longhouse where they had very little room to operate. The Catawba Health Clinic now has their own building in which to run their operation. This has allowed them to provide new services, such as child immunizations. In 2008 the Catawba Health Clinic opened an addition to their new facility to provide dental services. Previously, tribe members had to drive three hours for federal dental services. Due to all of these additions and preventative measure the health of the Catawba Nation is bound to improve, and time will surely tell the tale.

References:

PSU EBSCOhost Native American Database

http://stats.lib.pdx.edu/proxy.php?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=fph&AN=5564096&site=ehost-live

Indian Country Today http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/28165524.html

Indian Country Today http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/68893612.html

Indian Country Today http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/28409514.html

Catawba Language Revitalization Efforts

       Indian nations in the United States, from forced and pressure to assimilate and through institutions like the Indian boarding schools have caused an extremely low numbers of native speakers of Native languages. One approach by U.S. government’s to destroy Native culture was through their languages; they were forbidden to speak their languages and speak English instead. In recent years, language revitalization has played a key role in Native cultural revitalization. The Catawba Indian Nation of South Carolina’s last fluent speaker, Sallie Brown, passed away in 1952.

        In 2003, Catawba Indian Nation lost their funding for their cultural preservation, which supported languages classes and things of that nature. Currently, they do hold languages classes at the Catawba Cultural Center. According to their newsletter, one language class started in January of this year, where they meet every Monday at the Catawba Cultural Center. The classes start out by teaching the basics, like animals and numbers, and eventually those taking the class will take part in a namegiving ceremony. In the Catawba Indian Nation Newsletter, Ronnie Beck, who focuses writes the “Cultural Corner” of the newsletter, expresses how important it is that members of Catawba nation learn about their heritage to keep their culture and traditions alive because there are at risk of dying out. The Catawba Cultural Center is recently working on a website and though the section on language has not yet been completed it appears that they are going to offer a Catawba language book online to further educate the Catawba people in their language.

References:

Catawba Indian Nation. “Catawba Cultural Preservation: Language,” http://sites.google.com/site/catawbaculturalpreservation/language (accessed April 27, 2010).

Catawba Indian Nation. “Catawba Indian Nation Newsletter: 1^st Quarter January-March 2010,” Catawba Indian Nation. http://www.catawbaindiannation.com/CIN-1stQuarter-Newsletter.pdf (accessed April 28, 2010).

Neumark, Jared. “Language In Crisis: Process of Recovery is Complex,” Creative Loafing: News and Politics.

http://charlotte.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/a_language_in_crisis/Content?oid=82507 (accessed April 28, 2010).

White, Frederick. “Rethinking Native American Language Revitalization” American Indian Quarterly 30 (2006): 91-109.

With hope and Direction: Catawba Tribal Administration

       In July of 2007, the Catawba Nation welcomed their newly appointed administrators to office. The Nation had not held such an election for over thirty years. The new leaders, Chief: Donald Rodgers, Assistant Chief: Gene Blue, and Secretary-treasurer: Jason M. Harris had their work cut out for them. “Our people are just like the river that has been stagnated. We just have not progressed. We’ve got to move that dam out of the way and start flowing again, so we can get our waters running and purified”, asserted Chief Rodgers, recognizing that he had not inherited an easy task.                                            
       In the years before the election of the current counsel the tribe teetered precariously with divided membership, questionable bookkeeping, and loss of federal financial support. It seems however that under the new administration, the bends in the river have softened and the dams slowly but surely wash away. In the nation’s most recent quarterly newsletter Chief Rodgers writes:

                                                              

       Well into its third year, the administration flourishes, operating much like any other small government, with much support and praise from the Catawba people whom it governs. 

By: Domeka Parker

References:

Website: http: //www.catawbaindiannation.com/CIN-2ndQuarter-Newsletter.pdf

Indian Country Today. Onieda,N.Y.:Aug 15, 2007. Vol 27, Iss. 10: pg. B2, 1 pgs http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1343417281&sid=3&Fmt=3&clientld=11319&RQT=309&VName=PQD

A Brief History of the Catawba

     The Catawba Indians, also called “the People of the River,” can trace their ancestry back to the Woodland period in the Southeastern part of what is today the U.S. and have retained cultural ties to this distant origin through the craft of traditional pottery making. In the mid-16th century, the Catawba were a small group living along what is now known as the Catawba River. By the beginning of the 18th century, this group had aligned and consolidated with other peoples in the area to form the Catawba Nation. By the end of the 18th century, the Catawba Nation was no longer seen as an amalgam of peoples but, rather, was referred to most often as a singular entity. Disease and participation in British and colonial wars decimated the tribe and by the 1760s, the Catawba numbers were anywhere from around a thousand to a few dozen.
     In 1844, the Catawba were removed from their homes in South Carolina with the promise of a new reservation and monies to make the transition. The Catawba relinquished their South Carolina land holdings but were not given the promised land or money.  Some moved to live among the Cherokee and some moved to North Carolina.  Not satisfied with these arrangements, some Catawba moved back to South Carolina and, in 1850, purchased 600 acres from the state.
     Although the state of South Carolina considered the Nation to be dissolved after this period, and the 1959 Termination Act severed all Federal ties and recognition to the Catawba, The People maintained their identity and cohesion.  In 1973, they formed a non-profit and in 1993, after 20 years of fighting, they won the battle for federal recognition.  They were awarded $50 million dollars as compensation for previous land relinquishments.  This money has been used to further education, housing, cultural preservation and renewal, infrastructure, and the economic well being of the Catawba Indian Nation.

References:

Catawba Indian Nation website: http://www.catawbaindiannation.com/index.php

SCIWAY website: http://www.sciway.net/hist/indians/catawba.html

Watson, Ian. Catawba Indian Genealogy. Ed. Russell A. Judkins. New York: State University of New York at Geneseo, 2005. http://www.ianwatson.org/catawba_indian_genealogy_ 2004.pdf

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HST 330
Catawba Nation Project
Portland State University
Spring 2010