Native American Culture

A piece from the Dr. Samuel R. Poliakoff Collection of Western Art housed in the Abbeville County Library. Image courtesy of SCPRT.

Learn about Native American culture both before European contact and today.

Visual Arts

Native American artists in South Carolina make pottery, weaving, and other arts.

• Catawba Pottery
  Each month features a different potter from the Catawba Nation with examples of their art.
• Georgia Harris and Catawba Indian Pottery
  Georgia Harris was a Catawba Indian and native of Lancaster, SC who used traditional techniques and forms.
• Nancy Basket
  Nancy Basket makes and teaches traditional Cherokee basketmaking.
• Native American Art 
  Explore Native American art from different regions of the United States.
• The Blacksnake in Catawba Indian Art and Culture
  Find out what the blacksnake symbolizes in Catawba pottery, art, and folklore.

Food Culture

Explore the food traditions of Native Americans in South Carolina, before the Europeans and since.

• Cherokee Foodways in SC
  Explore the history of cooking and foods of the Cherokee.
• Indian Food and Cooking in NC
  The tribes of North Carolina 400 years ago would have had similar food culture to the Native American people of South Carolina.

Language

Edisto Indian Cultural Festival in Ladison, SC. Image from flickr user Reellady.

Learn about the Cherokee or Tsalagi language and say O’siyo!

• Cherokee Language
  Learn the history and writing of the Cherokee.
• Cherokee Words
  Can you say Do hi tsu, or how are you?
• Cherokee Language 
  Learn more about the language of the Cherokee or Tsalagi people.
• Sacred Prayers Sacred Songs
  Listen to Amazing Grace sung in Cherokee & Lakota.

Specific Tribes

These Native American tribes have all lived in South Carolina and are a state or federally recognized tribe.

• Catawba Indians 
• Catawba Indians "People of the River"
• Cherokee 
• Santee
• Waccamaw 

Native American Culture

Learn about the culture of Native American tribes in South Carolina.

• Native Land, Native People 
  Explore the native people of America and South Carolina.
• Cherokee Games
  Read about the games that Cherokees have played such as chunkey, Cherokee marbles, stickball, and more!
• Cherokee Indians (1927)
  Watch this video from 1927 titled "Glimpses of Life Among the Catawba and Cherokee Indians of the Carolinas."
• South Carolina's Native American Tribes
  A complete list of South Carolina's Native American tribes.