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Lucy Riley |
| Lucy Riley, like her long-time friend, Emmeline Cucumber, is a singer of Indian songs and a keeper of Cherokee tradition. She was born in the Wolftown community of the Qualla Boundary where she has lived all her life and where she continues the music, the language and the traditions of her family and the Cherokee community. |
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The following biography from The Cherokee Artist Directory, 2001, Cherokee, North Carolina by Barbara Duncan, Freeman Owle, Amy Davis and Tess Thraves, published by the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in collaboration with the North Carolina Arts Council and the Cultural Resources Division of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is used with permission from the editors. |
| "Emmeline Cucumber turned 91 in the year 2000, and
Lucy Riley is just a few years younger they have been known all their
lives as singers in the Cherokee community, and have kept alive the
tradition of singing old-time hymns in the Cherokee language and in
English. In their housedresses and kerchiefs, they sing at festivals and
at church. Everywhere they appear in the Cherokee community, they are
regarded as beloved and respected elders.
They live today in the Wolftown community, just a few miles apart, where they grew up and learned to sing from their families. Emmeline says, 'I started whenever I was a little girl. My mother'd be sitting on the porch swinging her legs like this, and she'd be singing Indian songs. She'd be singing that Guide Me Jehovah and Amazing Grace verses. I learned that and I'd sing alto for her when she was singing.' Both women attended the Cherokee boarding school, even though it was located only a few miles from their homes. There they learned to speak English and finished the eighth grade. Emmeline wanted to continue her education by going on to boarding school at Haskell Institute or Chilocco Institute, as some of her friends, but her parents wanted her to stay home and help with farming. She laughs and says, 'So I've been a good gardener, long as I was able to do it.' Emmeline and Lucy both continue to make gardens and can vegetables. Both women stayed in the Cherokee community, and married. Emmeline was baptized in the Oconoluftee River and became a member of the Macedonia Baptist Church in Wolftown. Later she and Lucy became part of a a quartet of women singers who traveled extensively throughout the country, singing Christian songs. 'We visited every state but eleven or twelve,' they say. Of the quartet, only Emmeline and Lucy are left, and they now attend the Cherokee United Methodist Church, founded in 1830. Singing hymns has been part of Cherokee tradition for two hundred years. The first missionaries to the Cherokee translated hymns into the Cherokee language beginning about 1800. Some of the earliest publications in Cherokee syllabary were books of hymns. On the Trail of Tears, Cherokee people sang hymns that are still sung today. Like their songs, the family stories of Emmeline Cucumber and Lucy Riley are strongly rooted in Cherokee history. Emmeline is the granddaughter of Tsali. 'Big Charley,' as she calls him, is the Cherokee man whose story is told in the outdoor drama Unto These Hills. Freeman Owle says, 'They are like the grandmothers of the community, because they've carried on the songs, the language, and the traditions.'" |
| Sources: The Cherokee artist directory 2001. Research and writing, Barbara Duncan ... [et al.] ; editing Barbara Duncan, Beverly Patterson. Cherokee, N.C. : Museum of the Cherokee Indian in collaboration with the North Carolina Arts Council and the Cultural Resources Division of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, [2001] |
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