Native American Dress

Carver, dancer, and lecturer on Cherokee history

Cherokee, NC (Qualla Boundary)

When Sonny Ledford teaches others about Cherokee culture, he says, "I tell about how I grew up, from a child to a man." As a small child growing up in Birdtown, Ledford spoke Cherokee, and he only began to learn English when it became a practical necessity for enrolling in kindergarten. His mother, a member of the Bird Clan, and his father, a member of the Long Hair Clan, both spoke Cherokee as their first language, and were deeply versed in the tribe's history and traditions of artistry. Geneva Teesatuskie Ledford, his mother, was from the Snowbird Community.

Richard Saunooke

Specialist in historical Native American dress

Cherokee, NC (Qualla Boundary)

Richard Saunooke has been creating historically accurate and beautiful Native American dress and crafts for the past twenty years. He does meticulous beadwork, leatherwork, quillwork, and painting to create medicine bags, pipe bags, pouches, shields, knife sheaths, quivers, and drums.