Prominent personalities

* **Roland Hayes:** World-renowned African-American lyric tenor and composer who broke racial barriers in classical music. * **Bert Lance:** Prominent businessman and politician who served as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Jimmy Carter; he also served as CEO of a Calhoun-based bank. * **Elias Boudinot:** Prominent Cherokee figure and editor of the *Cherokee Phoenix* (the first Native American newspaper), who lived and worked at nearby New Echota. * **Stand Watie:** A leader of the Cherokee Nation and the only Native American to attain the rank of brigadier general in the Confederate States Army, born near present-day Calhoun.