UNC Process Series: And So We Walked

In this performance with the Process Series, Cherokee actor and writer DeLanna Studi explores the enduring impact of the Trail of Tears on contemporary communities using research, interviews, and her own family’s experience. Along with her father and a documentarian, Studi retraced the steps of her ancestors from their homestead in Murphy, North Carolina to their present home near Tahlequah, Oklahoma. “While the Trail of Tears is a defining moment in our Cherokee history, it does not define who we are,” says Studi.

Studi will spend a month in residency at UNC-Chapel Hill turning her firsthand research on the Trail into an original dramatic work. Corey Madden of UNC School of the Arts directs this intimate yet communal journey of loss and renewal. This program is co-sponsored by the American Indian Center, the Southern Oral History Program, and CSAS. Both shows, which are free and open to the public, will begin at 8:00 pm in the Black Box Theatre in Swain Hall.