Mod 2 Academic Journal Blog

                                Mod 2 Academic Journal Blog

From the online resources provided in module two of our course, I choose to review The Museum of the Native American Resource Center at the Universtiy of North Carolina: Pembroke (UNCP).  This website provides links to Native oral histories, art, and other archival materials within the website itself.  The website was created by the University of North Carolina: Pembroke, and the purpose of it is to educate the public about the prehistory, history, culture, art, and contemporary issues of American Indians, with special emphasis on the Robeson County Native American community (UNCP).  
The perspective of this website is that of the Native Americans point of view because the museum provides a wide range of historical information about Native cultures.  For example, the website states that the intentions of the museum are to collect and preserve the material culture of Native Americans; to encourage other Native American artists; and to cooperate with other agencies concerned with Native Americans (UNCP).
I believe this resource was selected for this course specifically because its content is rich in historical value and relevant to the preservation of Native culture.  This website provides many links to view Native American artwork, crafts, first-person memories in the form of video and/or text interviews, and examples of Native literature, and music.  Also, the website includes links to historical information and a story of a hero named Henry Barry Lowrie.   For example, when I clicked on the “art” link, I was taken to a page within the resource to view over a dozen pieces of artwork.  I was able to click on each individual work of art, which were mostly paintings by Alceon Jones, of Lumbee heritage (UNCP).  The website displayed pictures of crafts such as a spinning wheel and handwoven baskets, among other crafts. 
As mentioned above, you can click on the music link and listen to actual Native music such as “Locha,” “Shaman’s Call,” and “Amazing Grace.”  Unfortunately, my daughter’s computer I was working from did not have the program necessary to open music files!  We are also able to view videos like “Never Too Far,” of Lumbee men and World War II.  Viewing authentic Native American artwork, phots, listening to their music, and hearing first-person accounts of memories, helps bring to life the Native American experience and culture, which reinforces the mission that the UNCP strives to do with this website, highlighting the features of The Museum of the Native American Resource Center.  
The website has several of the qualities that make an academic resource credible, according to Guidelines for Evaluating the Acaddemic Quality of Internet Resources (2002):  the information is up-to-date, timely, and maintained; the resources’ links work; the resource site has proper grammar/text; the site is easy to use and readable; and it provides accessible contact for questions and feedback through an address, telephone number, or email link - this website provides all three modes of communication.  
I would say that this website has not changed my view of native communities, but that it has added to my view of Native communities, specifically, the prejudice they endured throughout history.  For example, we know that the Knights of the Klu Klux Klan (K.K.K) down south were made up of treacherous racist men who lynched Black men simply because they were Black, but I did not know that Native Americans were not exempt from their hatred.  On January 18, 1958 in Robeson County, North Carolina, the K.K.K. organized a rally in an Indian community with an agenda to show “how much power they had or what they could really do and they said they were going to educate the Indians ,” according to William Sampson, a Lumbee Indian man who was there that night (UNCP).  However, according to James W. “Catfish” Cole, a K,K,K leader, the rally was set to “put the Indians in their place, to end race-mixing (Graham 2005).  At that time in N.C., the population in Robeson County had a “uniquely tri-racial population:“ there were about 40,000 Whites, 30,000 Native Americans, and 25,000 African Americans, each group with its own separate school system (Graham 2005).  When the local Indians found out about the K.K.K rally, they joined - armed with guns, with Black men to confront the group.  The opposing groups confronted each other, shots were fired, and the klansmen ran away.  The next morning it was reported that no one was injured.  Since then, the K.K.K had maintained their distance in that area.
Overall, I thought this resource was academic and credible, providing many links to expand upon one’s knowledge of Native American history and culture, or to teach first-time learners of Native culture in a positive, unbiased way, supported by factual evidence, but enhanced by first-person accounts.
                 

                                    Works Cited
Graham, Nicholas. The Lumbees Face the Klan. Learn NC, Web. 16 March 2013.
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-postwar/6068

Guidelines for Evaluating the Academic Quality of Internet Resources. Colorado State University, 2 May 2002. Web. 16 March 2013.
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/staffres/web-guide.pdf

The Museum of the Native American Resource Center. University of North Carolina Pembroke. 7 March 2013. Web. 16 March 2013.   
http://www.uncp.edu/nativemuseum/