She was a person who looked at the mathematics of a problem and told you what the mathematics actually said.

The Cherokee Nation And What Heritage Meant To Her

Mary Ross was Cherokee, and that was not an incidental fact about her.

The Cherokee Nation has, throughout its history, maintained a strong institutional commitment to education.

The commitment survived the Trail of Tears.

It survived the Civil War, during which the Cherokee Nation was internally divided and the physical destruction was severe.

It survived the allotment period and the dissolution of the Indian Territory that preceded Oklahoma statehood.