Walker Calhoun

Walker Calhoun was the youngest of 12 children born to Sally Ann Calhoun and Morgan Calhoun. His father died when he was young.

At the age of 12, Calhoun attended a boarding school in Cherokee, North Carolina, where he was taught the English language. Before that time, he had rarely heard English since his mother did not speak it. During World War II, he was drafted and served as a combat engineer in Germany.

Calhoun started learning Cherokee songs from an early age. He had learned most of the social and sacred songs from his uncle, Will West Long, by the time he was nine years old.

Calhoun founded the Raven Rock Dancers in the 1980s, to help keep traditional Cherokee dances alive within his Big Cove, North Carolina community.

Walker Calhoun was a Cherokee musician, dancer, and teacher. He was known as a medicine man and spiritual leader who worked to preserve the history, religion, and herbal healing methods of his people.

Died: March 28, 2012

(aged 93)

Seliyeni (Sally Ann) and son, Walker Calhoun, Cherokee

late 1920s

Photo courtesy of the Cherokee Museum