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TSU faculty member publishes book on Creek Indians

    Dr. Billy J. Grantham, associate professor of anthropology at Troy State University, has published his first book, "Creation Myths and Legends of the Creek Indians."
   The book was published this month by the University Press of Florida, headquartered in Gainesville.
   Dr. Grantham, a member of the TSU faculty since 1994, said he did not set out to write a book about the Creeks, as his primary specialty is Middle Eastern people and culture.
   "Some of my ancestors were Creeks, so there was a personal interest," he said. "I read a few articles on the Creeks and before long it evolved into a book."
   Dr. Grantham began working on the book more than three years ago. He said the book’s main value is it collects many of the stories from the various Creek tribes in one volume. Dr. Grantham relied on interviews, previously published works and previously unpublished documents such as letters from Christian missionaries describing the region and the Creeks they encountered.
   "One of the more interesting things I learned was that the Creeks were not a single tribe, but were composed of different tribes such as the Muskogee, Yuchi, Alabama, Coosadi and many more," Grantham said. "Each tribe had a variety of customs. They were a complex people. European settlers gave these tribes the collective name of ‘Creeks’ because the tribes lived along the creeks of what is now Georgia and Alabama."
   Dr. Grantham said he tried to write a book that would be interesting to both academicians and a general readership.
   "So many people in the Southeast have Indian ancestry. I wanted to write something they could read to find out about the culture of their families."
   Dr. Grantham said he is already working on a second book, about the Druze people of the Middle East.
   Dr. Grantham, a native of Birmingham, earned a Ph.D. from Northwestern University. He also holds an associate’s degree from Jefferson State Community College, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama-Birmingham and a master’s degree from the University of Alabama. He lives in Ramer.