“Moravians and their Neighbors: The American Indian Context at MESDA”
Channel: WFU Humanities Institute
Date: 2020-10-09

This “WALK AND LEARN!” Virtual Tour and Discussion took place on Thursday, September 24, 2020 as part of the online conference, "Becoming American: Moravians and Their Neighbors, 1772-1822," hosted by Wake Forest University. 

“Moravians and their Neighbors: The American Indian Context at MESDA”
Sally Gant, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts
Description:
This behind-the-scenes collection tour and discussion will concentrate on the American Indian context of encounter, response and influence and as revealed in material culture through objects in the collection of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA). The focus of the docent-led study will include visual evidence and descriptions of the native peoples encountered by 16th, early 17th-century and 18th-century colonists, explorers and naturalists and will come face-to-face with members of Cherokee and Yamacraw delegations who made the Trans-Atlantic voyage to England in the 18th century. Objects under study will include baskets, ceramics, needlework, paintings, powder horns and other items either crafted by or reflecting the world of the Cherokee, Catawba and other Native American peoples. The “Walk and Learn!” event will conclude with a look at portraits of several important Creek and Cherokee headmen who came to Washington in an effort to negotiate treaties in the decade prior to removal.