The Cherokee people called the mountain "Kwahi" for hundreds of years.
The Kuwahi tribe wants to return to their original name. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Council passed a resolution last week in support of changing the name of the mountain.
The supporters of the resolution hope to submit paperwork to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names by the end of the year.
Sitting on ancestral Cherokee homelands, Kuwahi used to be a place where tribal medicine people would go to pray for guidance from the creator. "Mulberry place" is in the Cherokee language.
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"From time immemorial, the landscape, including mountains and streams, has shaped our history as Cherokee people," the resolution states.
According to the tribe's official website, the Cherokee Nation once spread across several states. The tribe was relocated to Oklahoma in the early 19th century.
The forced removal of the Cherokee people from their homelands resulted in thousands of deaths. Some Cherokee were forced to hide in order to avoid being relocated to Oklahoma.
Hill, treasury specialist at the Department of Treasury for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, said that their ancestors hid in the mountains.
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57,000 acres of western North Carolina were purchased by the Cherokee in 1876. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is next to Qualla Boundary.
The mountain's name was changed to "Clingmans Dome" in the 19th century. A senator from North Carolina named the peak after him.
The history of the Cherokee people was stripped down by the naming of the mountain after Clint. It undermines everything that our people are doing in order to change it to something else. He did not reside here.
After expressing support for the Confederacy during the Civil War, he was kicked out of Congress. He became a general of the Confederacy. The resolution states that Guyot linked climates and locations to the superiority of certain groups.
The name of Kuwahi was changed to 'Clingman's Dome' in order to disrespect the Cherokee people.
The mountain is named for an officer in a Native American massacre.
The name change proposal was inspired by the name change of Mount Doane in the park.
Hill said that she hopes it's just the beginning of accurately recognizing and honoring numerous historically significant sites for tribes and Indigenous people nationwide.
She said that there were many places that were important to Indigenous people. I would like to be the voice of my people.
The article was originally published on USA TODAY.
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