Community Class Series: Carolina Before Tryon: Eastern North Carolina’s Indigenous Communities

Thursday, July 25, 2024, 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm

North Carolina History Center

Long before any European explorer set foot on what would become eastern North Carolina, Tuscarora, Secotan, Chowanoke, Aquascogoc, Neusiok, Dasamongueponke, Pamlico, Chesapeake, Roanoke, Weapemeoc, and many other Algonquin, Iroquoian and Siouan speaking peoples called eastern North Carolina home. Join Nancy Strickland Chavis, Director and Curator of the Museum of the Southeast American Indian to explore a pin in during a 1491 moment to learn about the Indigenous peoples who called eastern North Carolina home. Learn about the politics, lifeways, and culture of a people who governed this land for time immemorial.

This is the first of our Community Class Series! There will be two more programs in September and November presented by Nancy Strickland Chavis that focus on the history, lifeways, culture and economic relationships of the American Indian tribes whose land we now occupy.

We hope you join us as we explore our history together! Community Class is FREE to attend. Registration is required. Call 252-639–3527, or click on the BUTTON below.

Event begins at 5:30 pm with a light reception and an Iroquoian Welcome. Presentation to follow at 6:30 pm in the Cullman Performance Hall.

About the Presenter, Nancy Strickland Chavis –

Nancy Strickland Chavis, a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina has over twenty years of experience focused in museum education, curation, and administration. She was employed at the Museum of Contemporary Native Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico; The National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.; and The American Indian Cultural Center and Museum in Oklahoma City. Her current role is director and curator of The Museum of the Southeast American Indian at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

Through the lens of art curation, Nancy’s work seeks to publicly share authentic stories of Indigenous peoples. Recently, as guest curator at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Nancy brought to life the significant exhibition, To Take Shape and Meaning: Form and Design in Contemporary American Indian Art, featuring three-dimensional works of art from American Indian artists across the United States and Canada.

Nancy is the first Lumbee graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Museum Studies. She earned a Master’s degree in History from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and is currently a doctoral student in Public History at North Carolina State University.

Nancy is a commissioner for the North Carolina American Indian Heritage Commission and a Trustee for the North Carolina Humanities Council. She recently completed a term on the Southeast Museums Conference Board.

Mitchell Map, Eastern North Carolina Section, c. 1750