PEMBROKE — The 2015-2016 Native American Speakers Series schedule was announced last week by The University of North Carolina at Pembroke’s Department of American Indian Studies and the Southeast American Indian Studies Program.
Sponsored by PNC Bank, the series features nationally recognized American Indian scholars and artists who will delve into diverse topics and issues, including Lumbee history, Native cuisine, health and wellness and Southeastern Native art.
Admission to the series is free and it open to the public. Here is a look at the series:
— A Henry Berry Lowrie Panel is on Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. in the University Center Annex. The series begins with a discussion of American Indian hero Henry Berry Lowrie and the Lowrie War.
The political assassination of Henry Berry’s father Allen Lowrie and brother William on March 3, 1865, sparked the bloody 10-year Lowrie War in Robeson County. A panel comprised of Lumbee Indian scholars, Bruce Barton, Kenneth Clark, Jefferson Currie II and Malinda Maynor Lowery with UNCP history professor Jaime Martinez will discuss the major events, players and legacies of the conflict during its 150th anniversary.
— Chef Lois Ellen Frank, an award-winning chef, author, Native foods historian, culinary anthropologist and photographer, will speak on Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. in the Museum of the Southeast American Indian, located on the first floor of historic Old Main. Based in Santa Fe, N.M., Frank specializes in indigenous cuisine, and she will discuss indigenous traditional food, contemporary cuisines and Native wellness.
— Health expert Dr. Vernon Grant will speak on Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. in the University Annex. Grant is a citizen of the Blackfeet Nation and a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. His research is focused on finding strategies to increase physical activity in American Indian populations to decrease obesity and diabetes and to underscore the health consequences attributed to leading a sedentary lifestyle.
— Indian Law Expert Sarah Deer will speak on Feb. 16, 2016. She is a lawyer and assistant professor of law at William Mitchell College. A citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Deer is a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. She leverages a deep understanding of tribal and federal law to develop policies and legislation that empower tribal nations to protect Native women from the pervasive and intractable problem of sexual and domestic violence. The title of her presentation is “Sovereignty of the Soul: Violence and Native Women.” Deer’s talk begins at 7 p.m. in the University Center Annex. Her lecture is sponsored by UNCP’s Teaching and Learning Center.
— A Native Artists Panel is March 31, 2016, at 7 p.m. in the University Center Annex. Addressing the topic of contemporary southeastern Native art will be America Meredith (Cherokee Nation), a painter, print-maker, educator and editor of First American Art Magazine; Jessica Clark (Lumbee), a Robeson County painter and educator; Ashley Minner (Lumbee), a community-based visual artist and scholar from Baltimore, Md.; and Terry White, a Lumbee artist from Robeson County.
— The Lumbee Book Talk is on June 30, 2016. It is the annual event that is held in conjunction with Lumbee Homecoming and features Lumbee authors and authors who write about the Lumbee. The featured authors will be announced at a later date. The talk begins at 2 p.m. in the UNCP Bookstore.
The series is sponsored by PNC Bank, a member of The PNC Financial Services Group Inc.. For information, visit pnc.com.
For information about the Native American Speakers Series, please visituncp.edu/ais, email ais@uncp.edu or call 910-521-6266.