KNOXVILLE — The history of the Lumbee Indians of North Carolina in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries will be explored next week through a public lecture and concert at UT Knoxville.
The Lumbee music group “Dark Water Rising,” winners of a 2010 Native American Music award, will perform from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m., Sunday, November 20, in the University Center auditorium.
At 2:30 p.m., Malinda Maynor Lowery, assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will discuss Indians, Southerners and Americans: Race, Tribe and Nation During Jim Crow. The lecture also will be held in the auditorium. Both events are free and open to the public.
The Lumbee have struggled for decades to gain federal recognition as a tribe, which would entitle them to federal benefits. Julie Reed, assistant professor in UT’s department of history, said the struggle illuminates the universal human issues of identity and recognition.
“The Lumbee’s efforts to achieve autonomy within a changing legal and political landscape highlights the impact Indians in the region have continued to have on Southern and American history.” Reed said. “Dr. Lowery, herself a member, has written extensively about how the Lumbee persevered in the face of discrimination, especially in the decades following the Civil War and Reconstruction, redefining what it means to be an Indian, a Southerner and an American. We’re thrilled to have her speak on campus.”
Sponsors of the music performance include the School of Music, the Office of Multicultural Student Life, and the UT chapter of the Native American Student Association. Sponsors of the lecture include the departments of history, anthropology, American studies, and the Office of Multicultural Student Life.
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C O N T A C T :
Julie Reed (865-974-7078, jreed56@utk.edu)
Charles Primm (865-974-5180, primmc@utk.edu)