About

In 1979 Doug Boyd's Cross Cultural Studies Program hosted an International Symposium in Parkville, Missouri, bringing spiritual leaders from around the world to address the poverty and injustice that Native peoples in the Americas have been subject to. A lasting outcome of this symposium was the annual meeting of Native Elders and leaders called Wisdom Keepers in Asheville, North Carolina. Coming together to socialize, celebrate, and problem solve following Sacred Traditions.

Ted Williams, who was born on the Tuscarora Reservation near Niagara Falls, NY- was one of the founding elders of Wisdom Keepers. Ted's father was Eleaser Williams, a Medicine Man and Sachem Chief of the Turtle Clan.  Ted’s mother, Amelia Chew, was a Clan Mother of the Wolf Clan. Ted worked with Wallace Mad Bear Anderson. Mad Bear was a member of the Bear Clan of the Tuscarora Nation of the Six-Nation Iroquois Confederacy of the United States and Canada. A Native American rights-activist, he was also a medicine man and a leader with great power and influence both among his own people and cross culturally.

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In 2002, Doug, Ted, and Mad Bear decided to hold the gathering in Council Grove at White Memorial Camp, a site with deep roots for the original occupants, the Kansa. This change of venue was agreed upon by the Elders and this event became known as the Wisdom Keepers Gathering. 

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With Doug's passing in 2009, it was unanimously agreed his work should continue and in order to be separate from Doug's Cross Cultural Studies Program, a 501(C3) was created and the gathering became known as the Flint Hills Wisdom Keepers.

"May that which is best for all of life come to pass." — Doug Boyd