Deb Hunter is a USA Today best selling author, historian & podcaster. A former executive director of the World Chamber of Commerce, she is active in Atlanta’s British-American Business Council.
Her journey with the Cherokee Nation began in 2021 when she contacted them for permission to explore their history for a Civil War discussion. That lead to numerous conversations. They even scoured records to see if there were mentions of the English communicating with the Tribe in the 1600s. Deb could include that in their history on her All Things Tudor podcast.
The latest revelation by Secretary Deb Haaland of the Indian Boarding School Initiative is synergistic as the report includes a Cherokee School in Chattanooga TN – the Brainerd Mission – and Deb is originally from Chattanooga.
Note: She worked with a historian from the Cherokee Nation to verify this information.
Recommended books:
- Amazon.com: Serving the Nation: Cherokee Sovereignty and Social Welfare, 1800–1907 (New Directions in Native American Studies Series Book 14) eBook : Reed, Julie L.: Kindle Store
- Cherokee Renascence in the New Republic, William G. McLoughlin
Research aids:
- Brainerd Mission | Finding Aids | Special Collections | University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (utc.edu) 45830ea6-3402-4dcf-8320-16e58d5425d1 (nps.gov) (pgs 20-23 are the most accurate account in this document)
- Cherokee Phoenix | NEW ECHOTA | Volume 2, Number 19; Published August, 12, 1829 (wcu.edu)
- Missionary Activities Among the Cherokee Indians, 1757-1838 (tennessee.edu)(good history of Brainerd starting around p. 74)
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Follow Deb at www.AllThingsTudor.com or on social media as @theDebATL.
Andrew documents the history of the Rosenwald schools program which transformed education for African Americans in the first half of the twentieth century. The founders were Julius Rosenwald, born to Jewish immigrants, who rose to lead Sears, Roebuck & Company and Booker T. Washington , born into slavery, who became the founding principal of Tuskegee Institute. In 1912 the two men launched an ambitious program to partner with Black communities to build public schools for African American children. Andrew examines the role of education as the onramp to the American middle class as well as the past, present and future of the Black/Jewish progressive alliance.
CEO Bettie Kirkland, has led Project Return for 10 years. Founded in Nashville in 1979, Project Return is a Tennessee nonprofit dedicated to helping people successfully return to the community after incarceration and avoid recidivism. It has helped thousands of men and women find employment and establish stable lives, all while maintaining its inclusive, productive relationships with its program participants, employment partners and supporters. In 2021, Project Return program participants had an 82% job acquisition rate with only a 13% recidivism rate compared to state and national averages exceeding 50%.
When Project Return, recently opened a new office in Chattanooga, the milestone was celebrated with a reception featuring these remarks its CEO.
Jed Mescon is a relationship builder, brand ambassador, dynamic speaker, creative thinker, persuasive communicator, veteran fundraiser, and community advocate. He is well known in Chattanooga having served as the host of the radio talk show Chewin the Chatt and as the morning news anchor for WRCB-TV.
Rudy J. Ortega, Jr. is the Tribal President of the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians. Rudy steers the continuing efforts of the Tribe’s missions of protecting the rights of Fernandeño Tataviam as Native American people and plays a supportive role with the Tribe’s non-profit, Pukúu Cultural Community Services (Pukúu) to provide community programs to Native Americans living in the Los Angeles County.
Dr. Nagwan R. Zahry is assistant professor of communication at U. of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). Originally from Egypt where she was a Sr. Program Manager for U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and U.S. Midwest Universities Consortium, Nagwan got her PhD from Michigan State U. in media and information. After graduation, she became an assistant professor of communication and in 2018, she joined UTC where she teaches social media marketing, public relations, media and diversity. Her research focuses on science communication, health communication and persuasive messaging.
Real American Families
Carmelo Piazza (Carmelo the Science Fellow) is the Founder of the Brooklyn Preschool of Science. He is a Brooklyn born educator who taught for the Department of Education for 17 years and is now the owner of three independent science based preschools.
Dr. Jill Keegan Levine: Education Administrator 
Dr. Tana M Session is an organizational development strategist, international speaker, and media contributor. Dr. Session changes lives at work through transformative Inclusion, Diversity & Multigenerational workforce strategies . She is the CEO and Founder of From Foster Care to Fabulous Foundation.