By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
One Feather Asst. Editor
CHEROKEE, N.C. – Dinilawigi (Tribal Council) approved a resolution that establishes the Eastern Band of Cherokee Place Names Committee. Res. No. 92 (2026) passed 11-1 {Wayohi (Wolftown) Rep. Mike Parker dissenting} during the regular session of Dinilawigi on Thursday, March 5.
The resolution was submitted by Kimberly Smith, an EBCI tribal member and former member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names; Jessica Lambert, a member of the Choctaw Nation with EBCI heritage and co-chair of the Coalition for Outdoor Renaming and Education; and Avery Weatherly, an EBCI tribal member and EBCI Natural Resources Dept. conservation outreach coordinator.
The resolution states, “The Eastern Band of Cherokee has a profound relationship to their ancestral homelands and has stewarded them since time immemorial and recognizes that place names carry deep cultural, historical, and spiritual meaning; and as a sovereign nation, it is the inherent responsibility of the Eastern Band of Cherokee to lead with courage and conviction in confronting and opposing social injustice wherever it arises.”
Three points were approved as part of the resolution including:
- “Tribal Council establishes an Eastern Band of Cherokee Place Names Committee to coordinate EBCI-led renaming efforts to identify and lead official tribal renaming initiatives, to ensure community voices guide committee decisions, to build relationships with partners in ancestral homelands, and to expand the Cherokee narrative around place names.”
- “The Eastern Band of Cherokee Place Names Committee will actively engage with state and federal renaming place names boards to ensure decisions about place names in Cherokee ancestral homelands have the insight of the original people.”
- “The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians shall make advocacy for the Reconciliation in Place Names Act a priority within its lobbying and legislative agenda in the United States Congress, and shall direct its representatives, legal counsel, and federal partners to actively pursue passage of this legislation, ensuring the voices and values of the Cherokee people are represented in all federal decision-making regarding place names.”
Smith commented, “There’s a lot of work to be done, and what we’re looking to do is to be able to have the Tribe be one of the leading voices in that initiative to help us build the narrative back of what this land looks like.”
She added, “The Wilderness Society has allocated funds to help support a tribal committee in getting established this year. So, we’ll have some resources that can provide some of that infrastructure to create this collective of EBCI representatives to do the work and have that Cherokee lens to all of the research that needs to be done to create that narrative with our voice and our people included.
(EBCI) Natural Resources Department has been willing to facilitate and the reason we’re asking that Council give a blessing to establish the committee is so that when they do work and they have to go off-Boundary, when they write a statement, this is vetted and backed by the Tribe. So, it’s not just a collective of community members doing this work, it has the endorsement of the Tribe behind when they go to the national boards for renaming, when they go to local communities who want to do a name change, it has that vetted Tribal support to it.”
The Reconciliation in Place Names Act was submitted in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Sept. 18, 2025. It is currently in the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The purpose of the Act states that it would “establish a process for the Board on Geographic Names to review and revise offensive place names, to create an advisory committee to recommend offensive place names to be reviewed by the Board”.
A successful name restoration effort was led recently for an area in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park known for thousands of years as Kuwohi (‘mulberry place’ in the Cherokee language). From 1859 to 2024, that area was known as Clingman’s Dome. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN) approved the application for the name restoration to Kuwohi on Sept. 18, 2024.
The name restoration effort was led by Dinilawigi Kolanvyi (Big Cove) Rep. Lavita Hill and Mary Crowe, an EBCI tribal elder.
Aniwodihi (Painttown) Rep. Shannon Swimmer commented, “I appreciate and support what you all are trying to do. My concern is just the timing of it because you already mentioned what’s going on with the current administration. So, bringing more attention to it…I’m just concerned about the timing. What are your thoughts on how drawing attention to this may further efforts to take back names like Kuwohi?”
Lambert replied, “It’s a great question and something that we’ve been thinking about a lot. Currently, our strategy with the legislation is to get as many members of Congress on board that we think would support this. We’re really trying to grow that base of support so that when we have a more favorable political administration we can push it forward easily.”
Rep. Hill said during Thursday’s discussion, “I fully support the work that you want to do in this. I do agree with Shannon that the timing could be off. But, I just think that, grass roots, this work can begin now.
This is really hard, long work, but I think it’s totally worth it and that we should support them however we can.”
Weatherly said working on the resolution caused her to reflect on an internship she did with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. “When I was there, that was the time when Lavita and Missy were working on getting the name change from Clingman’s Dome back to Kuwohi…it was very inspiring to know that there are other Cherokee people out here that are very passionate about the land like I was, and were using their strength to make sure good work happens and get the name back to where it was supposed to be.”
Ugvwiyuhi (Principal Chief) Michell Hicks said, “My perspective is, you have to begin to talk about something to make change. And how do we do that? I definitely get the point of putting this up to an administration that may not be supportive, but I still think the work has to be done.
From our perspective, the more that we can announce these types of relationships and exchanges, I think the better off we’re going to be. So, I think there’s definitely a way to get this done, but it’s all about perspective and perception. I want to see this work continue. We have a lot to do, and we all know that, but we can’t sit quiet. We’ve got to have the vehicle to help to move this along.”
Keith Nibbs, BIA Cherokee agency superintendent, commented, “I just want to applaud your efforts and let you know, from my perspective, personally, I definitely support this. However, you very astutely pointed out the timing of this is critical. Just know that, if this work continues, I will certainly support it.”
Weatherly summed up the overall intent of the committee. “I think it would be really cool to have a group that would be working on this so eventually a lot of the places we visit and the places we have connection to will have the names that we gave them.”
The resolution doesn’t include language regarding the formation of the committee nor how committee members will be selected. The One Feather will continue to follow this story as it evolves and the committee is formed.
