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NORTH CAROLINA L I T E R A R Y R E V I E W
Fall 2023
2023 RANDALL KENAN PRIZE WINNER
COMING HOME
by Jane Haladay
AFFIRMING COMMUNITY THROUGH LUMBEE CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
EVERY ASPECT OF INDIGENOUS EXPERIENCE AND CULTURE is deter-
distinctiveness through shared stories, language, and place are the themes of two recent Lumbee children’s books, each of which is simultaneously an engaging story and a space for Lumbee children in Robeson County and beyond to read their own stories into the lives of the young protagonists, Henry and Nakoma, whose names, faces, families, and speech allow all Lumbee children to see and hear themselves and their people joyfully represented in the boys’ experiences. The National Council of Teachers of English underscores the power of such representation in its 2015 “Resolution on the Need for Diverse Children’s and Young Adult Books,” affirming that “Stories matter. Lived experiences across human cultures including realities about appearance, behavior, economic circumstance, gender, national origin, social class, spiritual belief, weight, life, and thought matter.”1 Mr. Jim, the elder in Brittany D. Hunt’s
COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR
mined by being in relationship – with humans, with more-than-humans, and with places – and relationships are created and fortified through storytelling. Down in Southeastern North Carolina, in the Lumbee community of Robeson County, asking someone “Who’z ya people?” is both an invitation to discover and understand connections through kinship and place and a kind of vetting process for figuring out who someone belongs to, which stories might be shared or embellished between individuals, families, and the larger community. Belonging, kinship, and expressing cultural 1
JANE HALADAY is a Professor of American Indian Studies at UNC Pembroke, where she teaches Native American literature and other AIS courses that incorporate service learning, writing enrichment, and international Indigenous travel study. She has published a range of critical and creative work. Among other recognitions, Jane has received UNCP’s Excellence in ServiceLearning Award (2016) and the Outstanding Allyship Award from UNCP’s American Indian Heritage Center (2021).
“Resolution on the Need for Diverse Children’s and Young Adult Books,” National Council of Teachers of English 28 Feb. 2015: web.
I am grateful to Dr. Brittany Hunt, Dr. Leslie Locklear, and Ms. Christina Pacheco for sharing their time with me to discuss their books for this article. I continue to be extremely grateful to the dedicated third-grade teachers at Union Elementary School, including Ms. Katara Bullard, Ms. Ginger Brayboy, and Ms. Karen Revels, who always find time for service-learning in their busy teaching schedules, and always treat my students and me with kindness and positivity. I am in awe of the good work they do with their students and am honored to be in community partnership