Chieftains Museum to host author talk
Author Heather Miller is hosting a discussion of her debut novel “Tho I be Mute” on Thursday at Chieftains Museum.
The book tells the story of the son of Cherokee leader Major Ridge, John Ridge, and John’s white wife Sarah Northrup Ridge through the eyes of their daughter Clarinda Ridge.
Miller started out as an AP English teacher, but after taking a research fiction course in college, she delved into the world of historical fiction. She said her novel explores the challenges of interracial marriage in 1824 as well as the life of John and Sarah’s daughter.
“I became fascinated by her, this family and this story, and I just started digging. I used her and her parents — they became characters and it just went crazy from there. I became obsessed,” she said with a laugh.
She also reached out to the Ridge descendants and got their permission for the story. Despite her initial nervousness, Miller said, after they read the manuscript, the family loved it.
Miller said there’s little in print about the Ridge family’s story and the personal lives of the Cherokee in Northwest Georgia during that period.
“In some ways, it’s important to me because their story is not out there, 200 years later,” she said. “But also, the New Echota Treaty that was signed in 1835 has become relevant again.”
The controversial treaty gave the Cherokee $5 million and land in Oklahoma in exchange for their acreage here, and led to their forced removal along the Trail of Tears. Miller said it also gave the Cherokee Nation a representative in Congress, which they still don’t have.
“The Cherokee are fighting the same battles now that they were fighting then,” she said. “It inflames me and impassions me to tell the story of the
past and find the relevance to the future.”
Miller’s discussion will be from 6:30
to 7:30 p.m. at Chieftains, 501 Riverside Parkway. The free event is sponsored by the Rome Area History Center.