This project consists of five handmade dos-à-dos bound artist books, each featuring an oral history given by a Lumbee elder living in Baltimore (audio and transcription) and photos from the elder's life. The work is installed in listening/viewing stations, seats are rocking chairs. This work has been shown independently and in two other incarnations: Homecooked Stories at The Light Gallery in Baltimore (2010) and Hard Workin' Pilgrims: Lumbee Indians in Baltimore City Industry at Baltimore Museum of Industry (2011).

This project was funded by Maryland Traditions, the Folklife program of the Maryland State Arts Council in partnership with the Baltimore Museum of Industry. It was curated by Ashley Minner. It also features Minner's work, "Lumbee Legends" (2007).

Through "Hard Workin' Pilgrims: Lumbee Indians in Baltimore City Industry," The Baltimore Museum of Industry (BMI) presented original artifacts, contemporary arts and crafts, and photographs from Baltimore’s Lumbee Indians. On Tuesday, November 1, 2011 the BMI honored National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month with a panel discussion and reception during which five Baltimore Lumbee Indian elders shared stories of their lives in Baltimore.

The exhibit Hard Workin’ Pilgrims: Lumbee Indians in Baltimore City Industry explored the Lumbee Indians migration from North Carolina to Baltimore City. They came, like many others seeking employment in local industries with the hopes to improve their quality of life. Thousands of Lumbee Indians settled in southeastern Baltimore concentrating in a 64-block area from Broadway to Patterson Park, many worked in drywall, sheetrock, and other construction trades, while other Lumbee Indians worked in factories, sewing plants or were self-employed.

Guest curator Ashley Minner said, “This is an unprecedented exhibition of the Lumbee experience in Baltimore City industry. It brings recognition to a vibrant community with a rich legacy that is a living part of this City's culture and history.”

Baltimore’s Lumbee Native American community has become the largest outside of the North Carolina tribal territory in existence. They have brought their culture and traditions, which they have maintained over the years. Hard Workin’ Pilgrims: Lumbee Indians in Baltimore City Industry recounts some of their little know history, their legacy in Baltimore City Industry.

This project was funded by Maryland Traditions, the Folklife program of the Maryland State Arts Council in partnership with South Broadway Baptist Church. It was curated by Ashley Minner.

Members of Baltimore’s Native American Community, with strong roots in Eastern North Carolina, spent a year studying and teaching their unique, living tradition of Eastern Carolina Native American style Southern Gospel music. They then presented a public program showcasing their work. It was their hope to increase awareness and recognition not only of the art form but also of their community.

Native American people from Eastern North Carolina migrated to Baltimore City post World War II, seeking employment in industry with hopes of improving their quality of life. Eventually, thousands of Natives settled in Southeast Baltimore concentrating in a 64-block area from Broadway to Patterson Park. With them, they brought their unique form of worship, which has been maintained, passed down and is practiced to this day.
Local Singer Linda Cox, a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, says “Gospel music is a joy to me. It’s soothing to my heart and I hope people will enjoy our type of Southern Gospel music. We are country singers; we’re from the South, from Carolina, from Indian Country. We keep singing. We’re carrying the tradition of what we were raised on.”

"That Same Spirit!" included an intergenerational Gospel Singing featuring members of Baltimore’s Native American community and a panel discussion on the history and contemporary practice of the art form, followed by a reception with traditional Native American refreshments.

These works are part of my ongoing exploration of the many intersections of the Indigenous and African Diasporas, of which my tribe, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, is a part. The portraits that currently exist are of loved ones from Panama and the Dominican Republic.

I traveled to Panama for the first time in June 2012, through an Alternate ROOTS Artistic Assistance Professional Development grant. I chose to go to the town of Portobelo. The people of Portobelo are descendants of the Cimarrones, enslaved Africans who escaped their Spanish masters and lived together as outlaws in the jungle. One of the first parts of the “New World” to be pillaged, Christopher Columbus originally named the port "Puerto Bello," meaning "Beautiful Port," in 1502.

The Cimarrones and their descendents, like the Lumbee, are a people of resistance. Like us, they are resilient, they are survivors, they are artists and although it’s often an unpopular truth, WE ARE RELATED.

I met my friend, Gustavo Esquina, through the Taller Portobelo Norte Artist Residency Program (Studio North, Portobelo). Gustavo is an extremely talented multidisciplinary artist for social justice in his community.

During my stay, we collaborated on a painting, a portrait of Gustavo as a “Moderno Rey Cimarron Congo” or “Modern Cimarron Congo King.” First, we discussed the content and concept of the portrait, in which Gustavo appears dressed in his contemporary soccer shirt as well as a traditional Cimarron crown, to the point that he is the living legacy of his ancestors. Gustavo helped with the drawing of the Cimarron crown. He is also the author and painter of the text in the piece, “Moderno Rey Cimarron Congo Hijo de Portobelo. Tierra con vestigios de Africa, selva, salitre y sol; Modern Cimarron Congo King Son of Portobelo. Land with vestiges of Africa, jungle, sea salt and sun.” This piece was a continuation of the same concept I had been exploring through my Exquisite Lumbees series, which is comprised of illuminated life-sized portraits of Lumbee people of my own generation, each dressed in clothing of their choice, each defying stereotypes about Lumbees and all Native people just by being visible, alive and effortlessly beautiful.

All of these portraits speak to our truth of living/walking in two worlds; of being the living legacy of our people and honoring that in our contemporary existence.

Moreover, since my last visit to Panama, I learned at a conference in my own tribal homeland that for some years, more Natives were shipped out of the port of Charleston to the Caribbean as slaves than were Africans shipped in. Natives in the Southeast United States and the peoples of the Caribbean are quite literally related. More to come.

This body of work originates in my understanding of the community I grew up in, the Lumbee community of Southeast Baltimore. It comes from curly headed youngns, country talk, soul food, and hip-hop; from Sunday School, homemade tattoos and row homes. It comes from culture class, eagle feathers, stories about knife fights told on stoops and laughter in the street. It is inspired by kinship traced through generations and the “meanness” that makes us all cousins and mutual protectors.

It flows from a desire to see our people healthy and prosperous-- living heirs of a rich legacy, the most recent chapter in the history of a proud and fierce nation.

I try to uplift our people in ways that are both honest and in a manner that they want to be seen, with Honor and Respect. I chose to do this through portraits in photography and a hand-made artist book.

The men and women who were asked to participate in this project are all part of what I consider to be “my generation.” We are close in age. Many of us grew up together and despite the different paths we have chosen for ourselves in life, we are still close and see each other regularly to this day. Those who agreed to visit the photography studio were encouraged to wear what they liked best. We did several sessions with different groups of people. Each time, the entire group would stand behind the camera along with the photographer to encourage and coach the person whose portrait was being taken. Each person was given the opportunity to choose the photograph they felt best represented them. Text incorporated into the portraits, written by us, gives viewers a glimpse into our hopes for one other and the depths of ourselves. “The Exquisite Lumbee” book exists to demonstrate that, although we as a people run the gamut of skin colors, hair colors and hair textures, we do have a distinctive quality, character and style. We recognize each other. We are exquisite.