Representatives from UNC Pembroke proudly stood alongside North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper in Raleigh today as he issued a proclamation declaring November as American Indian Heritage Month.

The acknowledgment is most significant for the only four-year public university established by American Indians for American Indians in the southeastern United States. Founded as the Croatan Normal School in 1887, with a singular mission to train Lumbee teachers, UNCP is located in the heart of Robeson County––home to the state’s largest American Indian tribe, the Lumbee.

UNCP has the unique status as North Carolina’s historically American Indian university. North Carolina––home to eight state-recognized tribes––has the second-largest American Indian population of any state east of the Mississippi River.

Read proclamation.

“UNCP is honored to have been invited to join the Governor and witness the state’s commitment in recognizing the rich heritage and contributions of Native Americans,” said Chancellor Robin Gary Cummings. 

“Since its establishment, UNCP has provided access to education for generations of American Indian families. I’m proud to see the university continue to take a leading role in the state in sharing the history and culture on which our university was founded.”

The university will host events for the campus community during November to showcase and celebrate American Indian history and culture. Some of the events include the 15th Annual Honoring Native Foodways on November 2 and the Distinguished Speaker Series featuring Native actress Amber Midthunder, who played Naru in the film Prey, (the fifth installment of the Predator series) and her mother, Angelique Midthunder, an Emmy-nominated casting director, on November 6.

Additionally, the Lumbee Tribe will present two Native cultural performances for school-aged children at Givens Performing Arts Center on November 9.

Dr. Jess Boersma, chief of staff, attended the proclamation signing, along with Nancy Fields, director of the Museum of the Southeast American Indian and Dr. Ashley McMillan, director of the Curt and Catherine Locklear American Indian Heritage Center (AIHC)––the central hub for cultural, social and academic programming and support for American Indian students. The center is designed to recruit Indigenous students like Ahe Oxouzidis, who chose UNCP mainly in part for its historical connection to the American Indian community.

“By coming here, I knew I would have a strong support system as an Indigenous student,” Oxouzidis said. “I wanted to experience a school that was more inclusive, respected the culture and wanted to bring awareness, and that’s exactly what this university does.”

Oxouzidis is a member of the Kwaguʼł––a First Nations tribal nation in Canada. The Kwaguʼł are one of 29 different Indigenous communities represented in the university’s student body. This year, the number of new undergraduate American Indian students climbed to 15 %.

During his time at UNCP, Oxouzidis has taken advantage of resources, student groups and learning communities tailored to American Indian students, which he says provided him with a sense of belonging and community. He is a brother in Phi Sigma Nu Fraternity, the nation’s oldest and largest American Indian fraternity, which was founded at UNCP in 1996.

The Museum of the Southeast American Indian is another critical educational resource for students and serves as a cornerstone of American Indian outreach and community engagement. The museum tells the stories, history, culture and art of the eight state-recognized tribes in North Carolina.

A complete list of events in honor of American Indian Heritage Month can be found on the AIHC website.