The 71st annual Cherokee National Holiday theme is "Building our Nation, Strengthening our Sovereignty." The theme and art were created and designed to honor Cherokee Nation as a sovereign nation and to proclaim that Cherokees are a traditional people driving progress in a modern world and looking toward the future. Whether that be in new infrastructure, language, and culture or building community, the Cherokee Nation thrives today as the country's largest tribe and never forgets the foundation of strength and prosperity paved by Cherokee ancestors.
In the Holiday design, the top portion represents future building projects that the Cherokee Nation has undertaken — such as health care infrastructure, including building a new hospital and a new addiction treatment center. There are also Seminary Hall columns subtly placed in the reflection of the future landscape, a reminder of the first Male and Female Seminaries and the strides the Cherokee Nation has made to rebuild tribal infrastructure after removal.
Underneath is the cupola atop the Cherokee National History Museum, representing the Cherokee Nation's past and its sovereignty as a tribe. The row of people at the bottom, standing near what resembles the bottom of the Seminary columns, represents the strong foundation built by the Cherokees who came before.The artist, Cherokee National Treasure Dan Mink, designed the theme with a WPA-era style that also matches Chief Hoskin and Deputy Chief Bryan Warner's current 12 initiative insignias.The Cherokee National Holiday commemorates the signing of the Cherokee Nation Constitution in 1839, which re-established the tribe's government in Indian Territory after forced removal from the Cherokees' original homelands in the Southeast.
