Brittany Hunt, a member of the Lumbee tribe, will serve as the keynote speaker for UNC Charlotte’s observance of American Indian Heritage Month. She will deliver remarks at 5 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 13, in the Popp Martin Student Union Theater.
“I hope to make students more aware of Native American people and issues to help them directly confront some of the stereotypes they may hold,” said Hunt, a second-year Ph.D. student in curriculum and instruction and an adjunct lecturer in social work at the University. “I want to encourage students, staff, faculty and community members alike to be more conscious of Native (American) people as they conduct research, write, teach or just interact in general in their daily lives.”
Hunt’s research interests include American Indians in education, specifically how the K-12 system disenfranchises and erases Native American history in the classroom and those effects on American consciousness and Native American cultural identity. A graduate of Duke University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, Hunt completed a master’s in social work from UNC Chapel Hill.
Prior to her time at UNC Charlotte, Hunt served as the assistant director of Native American Student Affairs at N.C. State University. She also worked as a high school social worker and interned for UNC’s American Indian Center, the Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity and the Udall Foundation in Washington, D.C.
Born in Lumberton, North Carolina, Hunt is a member of the Lumbee tribe, which is made up of 55,000 members who reside primarily in Robeson, Hoke, Cumberland and Scotland counties. The tribe is currently seeking full recognition from the United States.
American Indian Heritage Month is a national observance that celebrates and recognizes the accomplishments of the people who were original inhabitants, explorers and settlers of what is now known as the United States. Hunt’s Nov. 13 presentation, sponsored by the UNC Charlotte Office of Identity, Equity and Engagement, is free and open to the public.