Administrative/Biographical Note
Photo credit Jill Fannon Prevas
Ashley Minner is a community based visual artist from Baltimore, Maryland and an enrolled
member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. She is a graduate of the Maryland Institute
College of Art and received her MFA and MA in Community Arts, and her BFA in General
Fine Arts. She has also earned a PhD in American Studies from University of Maryland
College Park. Ashley worked as a professor of the practice and folklorist in the Department
of American Studies at University of Maryland Baltimore County, where she also served
as director of the minor in Public Humanities. While conducting research for her dissertation
and planning for a walking tour of East Baltimore, an area considered a second home
to the Lumbee Tribe, Ashley began to collect documents and photographs related to
the Lumbee community in Baltimore. The origins of the Lumbee Tribe are rooted in North
Carolina, largely Robeson County and other surrounding counties. Like African Americans,
Lumbees migrated north, out of rural North Carolina, looking for work and other opportunities
that may have not been afforded to them due to racism and Jim Crow laws in the south.
Most Lumbees in North Carolina were laborers on farms, which was taxing work. The
number of Lumbees moving north grew after World War II. Many Lumbees that migrated
to Baltimore, Maryland, found themselves in the southeast section of Baltimore City,
so many in fact it was called “The Reservation.” They settled in the neighborhoods
of Washington Hill, Butchers Hill, and Upper Fells Point. With the help of other Lumbees
that were already in Baltimore and settled, a Lumbee in North Carolina would make
the move to Baltimore, find work, become acquainted with the area, and send for family
down south. Since Baltimore had no other notable Native American communities living
in the city at the time, there was nothing available to Lumbees to celebrate their
culture, which led to the creation of their own organizations to meet these needs.
The Baltimore American Indian Center (BAIC) was founded in 1968 by tribal members
that migrated to Baltimore’s southeast community to celebrate the culture of not just
Lumbees, but other Native American community members. At one time, the BAIC provided
various services to the community, including education, workforce development, child
care, afterschool arts, healthcare services, and programming for seniors, but services
have since diminished. The BAIC continues to host cultural events, such as their annual
powwow with dancers and artists from all over North America, offer culture classes
and hosts donation drives for those in need. After the BAIC was established, Lumbee
churches and business followed in the same area. Southeast Baltimore and the neighborhoods
in question have since changed, due to gentrification, which resulted in Lumbees leaving
the area to find affordable housing and work in other parts of Baltimore City and
its surrounding counties. Despite the change in demographics and changes in the community
the BAIC and the South Broadway Baptist Church continue to operate, keeping their
doors open to the Lumbee and other Native American communities.
Bibliography
Baltimore American Indian Center. Accessed February 4, 2021.
http://baltimoreamericanindiancenter.org/.
The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina . Accessed February 4, 2021.
https://www.lumbeetribe.com/.
Minner, Ashley. Ashley Minner | Community Artist. Accessed February 4, 2021.
http://ashleyminnerart.com/.
Scope & Content
Arrangement
Currently the collection is organized by the creators- Series 1: Ashley Minner, Series
2: Stanton Lewis, Series 3: Bernice Blue Lowry, Series 4: Joseph Jesse Locklear. Series
1: Ashley Minner (Digital) contains 9 folders containing 372 jpegs and 7 pngs, organized
by albums. The albums titles are Blue Book, Brown Book, Green Book, Lumbee Albums,
Maroon Book, Lumbee Album, Red Album, White Album, Fixture Album. Series 2: Stanton
Lewis and Dorothy Chavis contains the 2005 oral history interview of Stanton Lewis
and Dorothy Chavis by Miki Kim. Series 3: Bernice Blue Lowry contains digitized documents
including postcards, newspaper clippings, and reports collected by Bernice Blue Lowry.
Series 4: Joseph Jesse Locklear contains the family history, documents, and photos
of Joseph Jesse Locklear, a Lumbee Native American.
Provenance Information
Provenance and Acquisition Information
Ashley Minner gifted accessions MSS2020-11 and MSS2022-05. Tiffany Chavis gifted MSS2021-15
the oral history of Dorothy Chavis and Stanton Lewis. Erica Roberts MSS2021-10 in
memory of Bernice Blue Lowry. Lilian Locklear Alston gifted MSS2021-12 in memory of
Joseph Jesse Locklear.
Processing Note
The collection was initialized by Ashley Minner while she was doing her doctorial
research. Additional materials were transferred to the archive by Erica Roberts, Lilian
Locklear Alston, and Tiffany Chavis.
Descriptive Rules Used
Describing Archives: a Content Standard (DACS)
Archives Processing Manual: Description (2015): The processing manual used in Special Collections for all descriptive platforms, including
PastPerfect.
