Native American / Indigenous Identity Development Resources

North Carolina is home to more than 184,000 Native Americans and has the largest population of Native Americans east of the Mississippi River, according to the NC Commission of Indian Affairs and the 2010 U.S. Census.

The state recognizes eight tribes and five urban Indian organizations.

• Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation
• Coharie
• Haliwa-Saponi
• Lumbee
• Occaneechi*
• Meherrin
• Sappony
• Waccamaw-Siouan

*Alamance County (where Elon is based) is home to the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation.

• Guilford Native American Association**
• Association for Indian People
• Metrolina Native American Association
• Triangle Native American Society

** The GNAA is based in Guilford County, approximately 30 minutes by car away from Elon’s campus.

The Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation is a small Indian community located primarily in the old settlement of Little Texas, Pleasant Grove Township, Alamance County, North Carolina. They are one of eight state-recognized tribes in North Carolina.

Guilford Native American Association (GNAA) is a Native American community association in Guilford County, North Carolina. GNAA serves as a resource and home away from home to all Native American/Indigenous individuals residing in Guilford, Randolph, Rockingham, Alamance, Forsyth, Davie, Davidson, Stokes, Surry, Yadkin, Rowan, and Chatham counties.

The American Indian Center (AIC) was established in 2006 by UNC-CH Provost Robert Shelton. Since its creation, the AIC has connected University faculty, students, and staff to Native Nations and communities both in North Carolina and abroad. Every spring, the AIC hosts an annual leadership conference, the University Network of Native Leaders (UNNL), for Native American and Indigenous-identifying student leaders in North Carolina. The CREDE has sponsored interested students to attend in the past.

In collaboration with the Native American Student Association (NASA) and the Gender & LGBTQIA Center (GLC), CREDE helps bring attention to MMIW every May.

Held on the second Monday of October, CREDE commemorates Indigenous Peoples’ Day by bringing the community together to explore and honor Indigenous experiences, identities, and cultures while fostering appreciation and understanding.

Throughout November, CREDE honors Native American Heritage Month by paying tribute to the generations of Native and Indigenous peoples on whose land our university stands. Through collaborative programming, events, and meaningful conversations, we celebrate their rich histories, cultures, and contributions.

In this course we examine the role that Christianity played in the construction of the category of race and in the political and economic processes of slavery, colonization, and colonialism that shaped the modern era of global capitalism. We will pay particular attention to the religious history and experience of Native Americans and people of African descent in the United States with an eye toward understanding how religion has been used as both as a weapon to support and enforce racism as well as a source of liberation for Black and Native peoples.

This course counts towards Interreligious Studies; African/African-American Studies; Poverty and Social Justice Studies; the Advancing Equity Requirement.

Stressing the active role that Indian people have taken in the creation of their own history, this course focuses on complicated cultural and historic realities. Topics include pre-Columbian Indian societies, cultural adaptation, removal, the Reservation Age, resistance movements, the Indian New Deal, postwar activism and cultural revitalization.

In this course, we will examine the cultures of selected American Indian tribes in the U.S. The class will take as a dual focus current issues in Indian country implicated by diverse worldviews, and expressive culture as a way to understand the performed beliefs and values of a community. Current issues will include multiple constructions of identity, fishing and hunting rights, sovereignty, casinos and cultural appropriation. Aspects of expressive culture will include material culture such as pottery and sand-painting, orally and visually performed genres such as storytelling and dance, and spiritual beliefs and practices, particularly as conveyed through ritual and festival. Focus will be on contemporary American Indian cultures in their relevant social, cross-cultural and historical contexts.

An introduction to American Indian literature from the 18th century through the present, study includes special emphasis on contemporary writers of the Native American Renaissance.

This course Satisfies the departmental global/multicultural requirement.

This course introduces the Yesa:sahį language and its revitalization. Yesa:sahį is the language of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, the Eno, Tutelo, Saponi, and Shakori Native peoples. The course content focuses on the sounds and proper pronunciation of the language, the writing system, basic conversation, and introductions, and discusses both historical and cultural use of the language.

Students will have opportunities to work on language with members of the language community (members of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation and other tribes) tied to the ancestral lands of Elon University.

To learn more, please contact Dr. Roberts at croberts30@elon.edu.

Students will expand their knowledge, use, and cultural understanding of Yesa:sahį. Students will have opportunities to work with language community members on language revitalization efforts, engaging in the meaningful work of helping restore an endangered language’s vitality.

Completion of WLC 1720 fulfills Elon’s basic world language requirement.

To learn more, please contact Dr. Roberts at croberts30@elon.edu.

Elon’s Native American Student Association (NASA) advocates for Native and Indigenous-identifying students by promoting representation, inclusive programming, and educational awareness on Elon’s campus.