[piano intro] - [Announcer] Visibly Speaking is a production of PBS North Carolina, in association with the Z. Smith Reynolds foundation.

- [Man] Most people don't know us, and we have an important story that people want to hear.

- [Woman] He knew that this was sacred ground.

- [Man] There's so much history here.

And if we don't capture it, this will be lost history.

- [Woman] We held a dream of an actual public artwork on the site and ventured forth with a grant proposal.

- That was our first little pitch at this, to see if they would even consider us.

- Well, guess what?

We got it.

We got it.

- [Man] If you are proud of something, make it big as you can, wide as you can, and as large as you can.

- [Woman] We're the only people who know our story.

No one can tell it the way we can.

- [Woman] This project brought together more folks of a united heart and desire than anything that I can remember.

'Cause art does do that.

[hopeful music] ♪ [man speaking in foreign language] [woman speaking in foreign language] [man speaking in foreign language] - [Woman] This grant gave us opportunity to create a mural project that depicted the matriarchs of the Snowbird community.

- That looks really nice.

- Everybody knew her.

- Yeah, she was big in the community of Cherokee language camps during the summer and stuff like that.

She wasn't just teacher.

She was really a good friend.

I feel great that she's getting placed on something.

'Cause you know, she actually done something for the community and she was a beloved woman.

So that's a special thing, too.

- The Cherokee are matriarchal in their makeup.

They revere their women.

They listen to their women.

They include their women in their government.

And we thought that that was a very worthy message.

And it was a wonderful opportunity to include them, once again, in this community.

- Just recently the Graham County GREAT decided to do a revitalization in town.

We are proud that this artwork has gone up.

It is of our native people.

It's a good start.

And we are proud that Graham County is happy that it's going up.

It just adds to the, encourage the kids to be proud of who they are.

- [Michelle] Here in the area where we live, the people in the Snowbird community are very separated from the remainder of the county.

So you didn't even realize that there was any presence of the Cherokee people here.

- I guess it's past time, past time that we're a factor in Graham County.

Lot of times it's like a discrimination.

When I was growing up, things were different back then.

We've had to make it our own way.

We've always been here in Cheoah, that's what they call Robinsville.

Cheoah, place of the otter.

We are still back here and some of us are still carrying on the old traditions.

These strong women are Snowbird.

That's why we got strong heritage.

- No, no.

[women speaking in foreign language] She said, she's really just awed by this, amazed by the painting.

She's never had no, really no recognition.

[Ella speaking in foreign language] She said the children coming up now will have something to look at, and that they will see her, even, you know, maybe after she's gone.

I know she's honored.

- [Woman] It's amazing.

[women speaking in foreign language] - It gives you a sense of pride to realize that these women are finally being recognized for work that so long has been unrecognized.

The women show the beauty of the Cherokee people.

I think we're a beautiful people.

And we are proud to show who we are, what we are, and what we have become.

- [Louise] When it came to picking the women out, it was community-based.

We got together and we picked those that really stood out, our beloved women, women we respect, women that we acknowledge as being good people.

- When you look at the mural, you see all the work that those ladies put in.

A lot of the history of Snowbird comes back to you and you remember what they did and what they meant and how hard they worked.

These women, they struggled.

You know, a lot of times they made a basket and sold it for food.

So, you know, it's different when you have to do it, and when you don't have to do it.

My sister was a Cherokee language teacher, and I think that's one reason they put hers in there.

She figured out that one day we were going to lose it.

So she started teaching on her own, and started using her own money, long before she got any grant monies or anything.

And she would work hard to get enough money to buy materials and stuff.

And I think she would be so happy if she could look back and see what's happened now and that we are carrying on.

And somebody has to do it.

[man speaking in foreign language] - And I'm, I guess, a product from at least one of the women up there, which was Shirley Oswalt.

My job title is a Cherokee adult language learner.

And my whole job is to learn Cherokee.

I started whenever I was with Shirley Oswalt's program, 2006, I believe.

And I just continued learning it from there, just 'cause I feel like it's almost a part of who I am.

It's just really amazing.

This is the first mural in Robbinsville, but it happened to be about influential women of the Snowbird community.

I think it's just a good reminder as to who we are as a people.

And it kind of bridges the gap from the generation now to the generation of the past and even the generations of the future.

[kids singing in foreign language] [man speaking in foreign language] [people speaking in foreign language] - Only one of these ladies, Ella Bird, is still with us, and everybody else has gone on to another part of the cycle that we're in.

But our culture is still here alive and well because of their gifts to the community.

I think we are doing them a great honor, and a well deserved one.

- I think they'd be overwhelmed.

Growing up, we had so many different obstacles that we had to face, and seeing this mural up here, it indicates that we're finally getting recognized.

That's a good feeling.

- The thing that is one of the best parts of it, to me, is that there are many of the women that are depicted on the mural whose descendants have been able to come in and create that image on the mural.

- So I was gonna go with this picture, but they said that one was a younger version and her face was rounder.

- I like that one.

- Yeah, me too.

Think that's around Snowbird.

- She was a midwife and she was a herb doctor.

She knew herbs, but Maggie was quite famous.

It said that she delivered over 3000 babies in her lifetime.

TJ Holland is the one that brought me in.

TJ loved history, he loved the Cherokee history.

He painted Edna Chekelelee, she's up top.

He just had a vision for it to have the women honored that had brought so much to this community.

And he just wanted them to be known.

And so with his passing, we lost a lot, a lot.

- My very good friend TJ Holland tried to make sure that Snowbird had a voice to not only create the mural, but to create the concept, and to create the content, and to focus this on the women of the Snowbird and what they value.

That's what the Snowbird community wanted to see.

And it's brilliant.

- TJ gave 100% to his community, to his work, to his art, to his family.

He was so diligent in making sure every detail was true to what should be represented for the people of Snowbird.

And to see that come together, you know, he had already given the portrait to Michelle, but never got to see the mural on the wall.

So to see that come together was just very moving for me, and I think for a lot of people in the community.

It feels like he is still here in so many ways in all that he left behind.

- So now we're going to pay a little tribute to TJ Holland.

What an honor it is to be here today, to speak with you all on all that was TJ Holland.

He was such an asset to the community, like the many women we have here on this wall today.

Many people have lost their understandings of the role of the matriarch in Cherokee communities, but TJ truly exemplified what it is to be a Cherokee man, by holding our women to the highest regard and honoring their foundational role in the Snowbird community.

Since this was one of TJ's last projects, let's hear a little bit from him on the basis of why some of these women were selected.

- [TJ] In the day, in the traditional sense, each town had their beloved people that really went above and beyond to ensure that those things that make us Anigiduwagi, that make us Cherokee, still continue, and provide that sense of identity for future generations.

And we're hoping that this mural can just be an outward showing of how the community reveres these individuals and to honor their contributions to our community.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to this, and look forward to someday meeting you all, as our paths have come beside one another.

Take care.

[speaks in foreign language] [soft guitar music] [people singing in foreign language] ♪ - This beautiful artwork helps us realize the beauty that there is that even though we're different we don't have to be divided, that we can be joined together.

And it has helped to bring healing, it has helped to give us a reason to gather together and to come together and to appreciate the beauty, not only of the artwork, but of the lives that are depicted there.

- I think it's like putting something on a map.

It just makes you wanna stop.

I've had several people stop by from other towns and they'd say, "Oh, it's very beautiful."

I said, "Yeah, these are all Cherokee women."

And so she said, "So Cherokees lived here?"

And I said, "Yes, yes, this very spot here."

[crowd applauds] [reverent music] ♪ [hopeful music] ♪ ♪ Let's go down and get it over with ♪ ♪ Get it over with ♪ ♪ Get it over with ♪ ♪ Let's go down and get it over with ♪ ♪ We gonna win this game ♪ - [Xenophone] Hey, yes, yes.

Boy, that's... - That's not bad, for no practice.

- Yeah, no, that brings back some memories, my goodness.

[tranquil music] ♪ - We would come out of the gymnasium, hit the pavement.

Had metal cleats in those days, they would make a clacking sound.

And then we would sing, "Let's go down and get it over with."

Boy, when the crowds heard it, they started, you know getting excited, making noise.

And I do believe when the opponents, you know, heard it, I think it sent fear, you know, up and down their spine.

And again, we had an awesome reputation.

We scored 446 points, and the opponents did not score at all.

- It's a story of excellence.

I have never heard of another team doing this.

Four years ago, a colleague of mine at CDCC asked me if I'd ever heard of this story.

And he told me about these amazing guys and what they did that season.

And I said to him, why have I not heard about this?

And he gave me one of those baleful looks like you're white.

- During that time, you know how the racial climate was, but relations were, I would say, exceptionally good here in Hickory, particularly at our football games.

We were well supported, you know, not only in this community, but around, across Hickory.

- [Richard] The most integrated time in Hickory all week in 1964 was that Friday night when the Untouchables were playing.

- They were part of this community that was very close-knit.

They had a coach and an assistant coach that they just revered.

They had excellent training, even though they didn't have the equipment that some of the other high schools had.

- Wind sprints.

- Do you ever get to have-- - Remember those wind sprints?

- We all played together when we were kids.

So I knew what Joe was going to do.

I knew what Hamp's going to do.

I knew what Doug's going to do.

I didn't have to think about it.

- Well, it's like a family.

I couldn't tell when we had practice, though, 'cause, you know, everybody for themself, you know.

- We had a lot of good talent that year, and we'd go up in Brookford.

We'd run five miles every morning, 5:30 in the morning.

And when we finished running doing our roadwork, we'd come back here for the dust bowl, and we'd run through plays and come back at four o'clock that evening.

And we repeat that cycle.

- [Woman] Well, we first heard about the Untouchables when a local historian, Richard Eller, applied to us for a grant to do a documentary about the team.

- Come on in.

Good to have the Untouchables in the house.

- Good to be in the house.

- After seeing it, I realized that the Untouchables' story was tailor made for the Z. Smith Reynolds grant.

- [Xenophone] We took a great legacy and made it greater.

1964, it reached the apex.

- Serious, it just all got bad.

You got little kids talking about, they may not know your name, that's an Untouchable, you know?

[engine revving] - Hello, class of '80.

- Class of '80 in the house.

[car horns honking] [people cheering] - Hey!

- Woo!

- Woo!

- I would like to welcome you to the 2019 Ridgeview reunion.

- The arts council first heard of the Untouchables in April of 2018.

So we were a little bit late coming to the party.

The first thing we knew was it wasn't our story to tell, it was your story to tell.

- It was awesome.

- Entire city would shut down.

- Yeah.

- On Friday nights for a home football game.

You could actually walk down the middle of the street, 'cause everybody was at the game.

- To be there, to see it happen, it gives me goosebumps now because I was there.

- Well, fast forward to September of '18, and we found out there was a Z. Smith Reynolds grant that was $50,000, as much as $50,000, to construct a public art project that celebrated a diverse community who had a story that had not been told.

We knew nobody could have a better story than the Ridgeview High School Untouchables.

[audience applauds] We knew there couldn't.

- I went to Ridgeview from the third to the fifth grade, and just recently we had several teachers to pass on.

And now that they're gone, it's just, you know, it's a legacy, 'cause they were so good to us.

- It also became apparent that it wasn't just the Untouchables that the community wanted to celebrate, but they wanted to celebrate the school.

We engaged an artist from the community, Adele James McCarty, who is here.

There was not a complete picture of the 1964 Untouchables.

Therefore, we enlisted help of many former students and team players to help identify the faces in this picture.

Once we had all these photos, I painted each face as it looked in 1964.

I hope each of the Untouchables recognize himself in the mural to my left.

I learned over the years that Ridgeview High School's history is not only about the awesome football team.

There were a lot of aspects that made this school extraordinary.

- Now, I want you to use your imagination.

Imagine you're back to the fall of 1964.

It's a home game for the Ridgeview Panthers.

So far, they've been undefeated, nobody scored on 'em.

You're in the stands, right there.

It's game time.

You could hear the clicking of cleats coming right down that road.

And then you hear it.

♪ Let's go down and, ooh, get it over with ♪ ♪ Ooh, get it over with ♪ ♪ Ooh, get it over with ♪ ♪ Let's down and, ooh, get it over with ♪ ♪ We gonna win this game ♪ - Ladies and gentlemen, your Untouchables.

[crowd cheers] - I love Ridgeview, I'm from Ridgeview.

I don't care where I move to, Ridgeview is my home.

- Still from Ridgeview.

That's right.

- Yeah!

[crowd cheers] - We set the standard.

- Ridgeview was a great school from the beginning until it closed.

Again, this is just great knowing that your name's gonna be engraved on a piece of brick.

[gentle music] ♪ [ethereal music] ♪ ♪ - [Announcer] Visibly Speaking is a production of PBS North Carolina, in association with the Z. Smith Reynolds foundation.