Over the years one or more relatives on each side of the family mentioned our Native roots. My parents, growing up in restrictive times and circumstances (and also descended from slaves) did not know where to go, or how to learn more; so they left it alone.

In the 1990's, while presenting a program at York College, the "African-American, Native-American Connection" for the Afro-American Studies Department, some members of N.A.N.A. A. (North American Native American Alliance) brought me to a Shaman who told me which tribes I was related to; facts which were confirmed by family members years later. Still, it took me years to accept this part of myself, partly because I felt that I would have been rejected because of my appearance.

When I met Clan Mother Cherokee Rose, she encouraged me to join the Eastern Cherokees of New York. At the first meeting, I felt like I belonged, as if a missing part of me had been fit into place. I am now Home.

I am married to James Henry, have three adult children, stepchildren, and numerous grandchildren who are currently being educated in their cultural heritage, the heritage of the Principle People. I am an educator, a former elected official (Democratic District Leader) and a Commissioned Lay Minister in the Roman Catholic Church.