Bushyhead, Robert H., 1914-2001

Robert Bushyhead (1914-2001), born in the Birdtown Community of Cherokee, N.C., was punished at the Cherokee Government Boarding School for speaking Cherokee and made a decision not to teach it to his children. Later in life, however, he became a champion for preserving the Kituhwa dialect of the Cherokee language. He was a Baptist minister and played the role of Rev. Elias Boudinot in the outdoor drama, Unto These Hills about the Cherokee removal, including an act where he speaks in Cherokee.