The hour-long tour will begin at the UNC Visitors’ Center and end at The Gift walkway near the Student Union.
Teryn Smith, who is a member of the Sappony tribe, is an intern at the UNC American Indian Center. Smith said the tour includes recorded narratives of people who have a relationship with the American Indian Center and prominent tribal leaders.
“We were on this land before the University, we’ve been here all along and we will continue to be here,” Smith said. “So we wanted to share our stories and share our experiences with the campus community and even with others outside the campus community as well.”
The tour is scheduled for the third Friday of every month from October to April and is also available by special request for groups or classes. Smith said they are targeting people of all audiences and hope to expand people’s perspectives.
“We really hope that people will have the experience and understand how we can merge native tradition with the campus environment,” Smith said. “We aren’t always in the spotlight. We want people to be more aware of Native issues and Native people and their everyday experience on campus.”
Missy Julian-Fox, director of the visitors’ center, said the idea for the tour began when she was asked to give a tour for candidates for director of the American Indian Center about five years ago.
“I became much more aware in talking to the candidates of the American Indian population on campus, in North Carolina and in the broader universe,” she said. “I just thought, ‘Wow I didn’t know all this. This is a story that really needs to be told.’”
Robert Holden, of Choctaw Chickasaw lineage, is deputy director of the National Congress of American Indians. Holden said educating people about Native perspectives is crucial to understanding a more reliable and honest national history.
