Red Clay Conference

Red Clay Conference
Name	Red Clay Conference
Formation	2009
Type	Nonprofit
Headquarters	Atlanta, Georgia
Region served	Southeastern United States
Leader title	Executive Director
Leader name	Dr. Alicia Monroe

Red Clay Conference

The Red Clay Conference is a regional consortium founded in 2009 that brings together activists, scholars, policymakers, cultural institutions, and community leaders focused on Indigenous rights, land stewardship, and heritage preservation in the Southeastern United States. It convenes representatives from tribal nations, state agencies, universities, museums, and nonprofits to coordinate research, advocacy, and programming related to Cherokee history, Muscogee Creek heritage, and broader Indigenous sovereignty issues. The consortium fosters partnerships among institutions such as the Cherokee Nation, Emory University, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Park Service while engaging with networks like the Southern Historical Association and the American Anthropological Association.

History

The consortium emerged from a series of meetings among leaders from the Cherokee Nation, United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and regional scholars associated with Emory University, University of Georgia, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Early gatherings included representatives from the National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress, and the National Endowment for the Humanities to address repatriation, cultural resource management, and oral history preservation. Founding partners also included the Southern Conference on Slavery and Abolition, Southeast Archeological Center, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and local museums such as the Atlanta History Center and the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. Influences cited in foundational documents reference legal frameworks negotiated in venues like the United States Congress, the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, and precedents set by lawsuits heard at the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Mission and Goals

The consortium's stated mission aligns with objectives common to organizations like the National Congress of American Indians, Native American Rights Fund, and the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian: to protect sacred sites, support language revitalization, and promote equitable stewardship of archaeological collections. Goals include coordinating repatriation efforts under principles echoed by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act stakeholders, facilitating collaborative research with institutions such as Harvard University, Yale University, and Duke University, and enhancing community capacity through partnerships with foundations including the Ford Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Activities and Programs

The consortium runs programs comparable to initiatives led by the American Folklore Society and the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums, including archives digitization projects, language workshops, and field school collaborations with the Society for American Archaeology. Activities include joint curatorial projects with the Wright Museum of Art, grant-supported oral history initiatives with the Library of Congress Veterans History Project model, and conservation training modeled after practices at the Freer Gallery of Art and National Museum of African American History and Culture. The consortium sponsors fellowships similar to those administered by the American Council of Learned Societies and convenes legal clinics in collaboration with law schools at Georgetown University Law Center and University of California, Berkeley School of Law to address land claims and treaty interpretation akin to cases argued before the United States Supreme Court.

Membership and Governance

Membership includes tribal nations, academic departments, municipal cultural offices, and nonprofit organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, Natural Resources Defense Council, and regional historical societies. Governance follows a model combining elected representatives from member tribes and institutional partners with an executive board patterned after governance structures used by the Association of American Museums and the Council on Foundations. Advisory committees draw expertise from scholars affiliated with Smith College, Princeton University, Columbia University, and practitioners from agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration where cultural resource management intersects with environmental stewardship.

Conferences and Events

Annual conferences emulate large-scale meetings like the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting and attract presenters from institutions such as Cornell University, Ohio State University, Texas A&M University, and the University of Florida. Events feature plenaries with leaders from the Cherokee Preservation Foundation, panels with curators from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum, and workshops led by staff from the National Archives and Records Administration and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Satellite sessions often partner with regional festivals such as Epcot International Festival of the Arts and community gatherings organized by the Georgia Native Alliance.

Notable Outcomes and Impact

Outcomes include successful repatriation agreements negotiated with museums including the Smithsonian Institution and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, the establishment of a collaborative digitization portal modeled on efforts by the Digital Public Library of America, and policy recommendations adopted by state legislatures influenced by briefings to the Georgia General Assembly and the North Carolina General Assembly. The consortium’s advocacy has informed briefs submitted to federal offices like the Bureau of Indian Affairs and contributed to curriculum materials distributed to school districts through partnerships with the National Council for the Social Studies. Its programs have become case studies in publications by the Journal of American History, American Indian Quarterly, and reports produced in cooperation with the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Category:Indigenous organizations in the United States