Day Five of tour brought us to Robeson County, one of the most persistently impoverished counties of the state. It is also a culturally and historically significant place, home to the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. The Lumbees have a fascinating history as a people who have been in the region long before white settlers arrived, then morphed and adapted to the onslaught of colonialism, the Civil War, and the Jim Crow South, while continually maintaining their community in Robeson County. As of this writing (December 2025), they’ve just been confirmed by the Senate to receive federal tribal status, something they’ve wanted for over a century. Both Harris and Trump promised the Lumbees federal recognition as part of their 2024 campaigns.

University of North Carolina at Pembroke is in Robeson County, and I had personally visited before to give a performance and class. Although UNCP is not officially a tribal college, it was founded as Indian State Normal College, a school by and for Lumbees (who were not called Lumbees at the time). The school has always played a central role in Lumbee infrastructure and organizing. The school remains very diverse today, with roughly 30% White, 30% Black, 13% Indigenous, and 10% Hispanic students.

I loved my time at UNCP, and knew I wanted to return to Robeson County on this North Carolina tour. I also wanted to bring Gather Hear to Lumbee people. Gather Hear has made efforts to meaningfully engage with indigenous communities in the past, with various degrees of success. It can be hard to find open avenues of communication with tribal leadership. For one, I’ve found that a lot of information is often not online or outdated. Second, it’s hard to establish a working partnership without a preexisting relationship or introduction from someone.

For the Robeson County concert, I paired up with UNCP piano professor Mark, someone who understands and supports the Gather Hear mission. On our concert, Mark and his colleague Lindsay would be sharing a new piece for narrator and piano based on a Lumbee children’s story, composed by Lindsay.

With Mark’s help, and with a lot of effort on our end (A lot of emails, phone calls, and voicemails that led nowhere. Eventually Mark showed up unannounced at the tribal office for face-to-face conversations), we were able to get the Lumbee administrators onboard and host a concert. The first time I talked on the phone with someone in the office, I was taken by surprise by the almost incomprehensibly thick Southern drawl of the speaker. In my limited imagination and having never had contact with Southern indigenous people, I was not expecting that. But if you think about it, of course it makes sense.

Our venue was one of the Lumbee community centers in rural Maxton. There was no information on the building online, but upon arrival we found a beautiful, newly built gym! Plus a skittish stray cat in the parking lot who followed us around (some stray dogs would poke their heads in the doorway throughout the concert as well).

The location was quite removed from anything else, and we wondered who might show up. The Lumbee Tribe had posted about the event a few times on Instagram, but it wasn’t gaining much traction. Nearing showtime, a Lumbee man in a stylish outfit walked into the gym alone, looking uncomfortable that there was no one inside except Mark, Lindsay, Chris, and I. Eventually a woman joined him (with beautiful indigenous earrings), and he was at ease. I chatted with them and found out that the man is a locally well-known hip-hop artist named Kash Kow! I asked him if he wanted to share a song during the concert, to which he agreed. So cool. 

In the end we had a small but great group. UNCP faculty and students, a mom (who works in public school music education) and her kids, and even the parents of one of my former Gather Hear concert presenters in Massachusetts! Mark, Lindsay, and Ka$h Kow’s performances made the concert truly one-of-a-kind and appropriate to the setting. Thank you so much. 

After the concert, we went to dinner with Ka$h Kow’s friend Allyson. She is an US Army veteran who fights for veterans’ rights, competes in pageants, makes art, and also travel to NFL games to perform as color guard in the Native American Women Warriors group. It was endlessly fascinating talking to her; this concert really felt like a gathering of old friends (even though I’d never met most of them before), and we’re so grateful to everyone who was part of it.

N.B. I have learned so much about Lumbee history and culture through Malinda Maynor Lowry’s book, “The Lumbee Indians: An American Struggle.” I highly recommend it.