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Cherokee, N.C. - A joint council meeting between two of the U.S. Federally recognized Cherokee Nations is planned for October. Council members of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (CNO) will be meeting with council members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) on Saturday, October 7, 2000 in Cherokee, North Carolina.

The joint council meeting is to begin at 8:30 a.m., a luncheon is also planned. A visit to the Cherokee Youth Center is to follow. CNO council members are expected to spend a week visiting with EBCI council and tribal members, as well as, other tribal leaders.

The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma's Principal Chief, Chad Smith and the CNO's Deputy Chief Hastings Shade will also attend the meeting along with 13 of the tribe's 15 member council.

Chief Smith said, "We want to work with the Eastern Band to preserve and teach our common culture, history and language."

CNO Chief Smith, Deputy Chief Shade and several council members visited the EBCI earlier this year to make plans in anticipation of the upcoming meeting. The visitors from the CNO experienced mixed emotions while visiting New Echota, the historic capital of the Cherokee Nation.

"I was proud because of what our people had accomplished", CNO council member Barbara Starr-Scott said. "We were such an advanced society. I also felt sadness because of what our ancestors had to give up."

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians are the descendants of Cherokees who evaded federal troops and did not walk the infamous "Trail Where They Cried" which lead to what was to be "Indian Territory", but now known as Oklahoma. The forced removal of the Cherokees and other Indian Tribal Nations from the east is better known as the "Trail of Tears".