Cherokee stickball players

Cherokee stickball players

Athletics

Cherokee Indians -- Games

Cherokee Indians -- Social life and customs

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

Portraits, Group

In preparation for a Cherokee stickball game, Cherokee men acting as drivers are holding long, skinny sticks and are gathered with boys who have ball sticks laying on the ground in front of them, each standing opposite of their matched player. Cherokee stickball players stand holding ball sticks next to what is likely a government school official. Ball games were once referred to as “little brother of war” because it prepared players for war, and because it was sometimes used to settle disputes that could otherwise lead to war. Over time stickball has become a much less violent game but remains socially and culturally important. The photograph was taken by “Doc” Kelly Bennett (1890-1974). The photograph was taken by “Doc” Kelly Bennett (1890-1974), a prominent pharmacist in Swain County, NC. Owner of the Bryson City Drug Company, Bennett served as alderman and mayor of Bryson City, on the Swain County Board of Education, as well as several terms as NC State Senator and NC State Representative. He participated in numerous other initiatives and organizations. Known as the “Apostle of the Smokies,” Bennett was an instrumental figure in the movement to create the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He was also an avid photographer, skillfully documenting a wide variety of people, places, and events in Swain County and the surrounding area.

Bennett, Kelly, 1890-1974

Kelly Bennett Collection

Hunter Library Digital Collections, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

jpg;

photographs

eng

StillImage

42535

https://southernappalachiandigitalcollections.org/object/42535

2021-05-21

All rights reserved. For permissions, contact Hunter Library Special Collections, Western Carolina U, Cullowhee, NC 28723;

Qualla Boundary

North Carolina, Western

Appalachian Region, Southern

3.25" x 5.5"(dimension)

Picturing Appalachia