Monday, November 14, 2011

The celebration of Native American Heritage Month at the University of North Carolina Wilmington continues with a guest lecture and a movie for the community to enjoy.

A School for Arapaho Girls: Education as a Weapon of Mass Destruction will be presented by Deborah Barnes, professor of English at North Carolina A&T University, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 14 in the Azalea Coast Room of the Fisher University Union. The program will focus on Toni Morrison's novel Paradise, about the nineteenth-century national network of boarding schools for Native Americans in attempt to "deploy education as the means to annihilate Indian culture." Media are invited to cover an open session with students from 3-4 p.m. in Education Building room 162.

The acclaimed movie Two Spirits will be shown at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 21 in the Fischer Student Center's Lumina Theater. The poignant film explores the intersection of gender, diversity and the Navajo culture.

"We hope to provide an education about Native American culture to the entire campus and not just Native American students. It is an integral part of North Carolina history," remarked Jose Hernandez, director of the UNCW Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion.

The events will honor all of the remaining North Carolina tribes which include the Lumbee, Meherrin, Waccamaw-Siouan, Coharie, Sappony, Haliwa-Saponi, Eastern Band of Cherokee and the Occaneechi Band of Saponi of North Carolina.

Media Contact:
Joy Davis, UNCW media relations, 910.632.3903 or davisjc@uncw.edu