Us-We

Howell Woodard, my great-grandfather never had a formal education, but he was the wisest person I've ever known. He was a Skaru:re herbalist, tracker, and warrior, who knew every plant and animal on the land and waterways. He earned money taking rich men hunting and fishing on Contentnea Creek, the Pamlico Sound, and the Outer Banks where he was born. Long before pronouns, he taught me "Us-We." I remember him sitting me on his knees, with a serious look. He pointed to my little chest and said, "us-we." Then he pointed to himself and said, "us-we." His "us-we" turned into stories about the Banks, his life, stories of his elders entrusted to him, and cautionary tales about how to hide in plain sight and avoid being captured by slavers.

He was my great-grandfather, and he knew his great-grandfather. I'm First Nations because of Howell Woodard's presence in my life -- Us-We are Skaru:re from the time before "The Big Troubles" (the massacre at Fort Neyuheru:ke) causing the people to scatter. Us-We also acknowledges people living on our ancestral land who helped us survive including some Abolitionists, Quakers, and Hebrews.

My ancestors are known as Gatekeepers because we stayed behind so that others could escape. We hid out in plain sight as free people of color for the most part. A great-great-grandmother was a slave in Greene County. I met her as a child, and remembering her eyes still makes me cry. She had the saddest eyes I've ever seen, and she always wanted to hold and rock me in her lap. She asked me not to forget her. She was a Skaru:re captive used as a breeder and her story is tragic and painful but she survived it. Her blood gives me endurance and fortitude.

Pictured L-R: Moi, Patricia Brayboy, Missing Name, Pura Fe, Allison Lowery & Missing Name

The Beginning: Women Sacred River Drum Society on Lumbee Land

Indigo dyeing came back to the people in Roberson County on the land of my Lumbee sister friend and fellow artist, Patricia Brayboy. Pura Fe and the Woman Scared River Drum Society sponsored the workshop. Later workshops were held in Wilson County near the historical Tuscarora Toisnot Township. Even though Algonquin natural dyeing traditions were preserved and passed down in my family bloodline, I don’t own the knowledge. It belongs to all Algonquin people and was once practiced by many women living on the Coastal Plains of Eastern North Carolina and on Johns and Kiawah Islands in South Carolina.

Images Below Show Our Indigo Dyed Dresses
We Wear These To Stomp Dance With Turtle Shell Rattles On Our Legs

How Us/We Came To Participate
In Teaching This Workshop

"DJ" ~ Doris Jones (Doris Lee Woodard), Home Economics Teacher 42 years >> Her Teaching Philosophy > We all learn, then we teach, we share in community, and we heal ourselves and our land. She practiced this belief and taught countless students and community members to sew and cater food in Nash and Edgecombe Counties and after integration at Rocky Mount Senior High. As she was dyeing she repeatedly asked me to share our stories and what saved us as a people, meaning growing and harvesting natural color and stitching (both hand and machine, as well as crochet and weaving). The land heard her prayers and opened up opportunities that are helping me heal myself and share with others. DJ would say, "It's easy to lose a culture, just stop knowing how to make cloth!" She's right, of course. That's why I'm doing this!

Honoring Pura Fe,
Indigenous Blues Recording Artist

This video is a tribute to Pura Fe, an internationally renowned Skaru:re (Tuscarora) blues and indigenous singer with family ties to North Carolina. Pura Fe uplifts, supports, and encourages so many people all over the world. To many of us in Eastern North Carolina she is our teacher, mentor, and Sweat Lodge sister.

Pura Fe introduced Sage Paul Cardinal to me and my natural dyeing, which got me to my first indigenous fashion week in 2018. The event changed my life. My return to IFAF 2024 to teach natural dyeing on wool honors Pura Fe. If it wasn't for her, this opportunity would not be happening for me. Thank you Pura Fe and abundant blessings each and every day.

Honoring Dr. Carolyn Pierce,
Chana Smith & Machapunga People

Dr. Carolyn Juanita Pierce was my BFF4E, who is now in heaven. It's her Algonquin Southeastern Woodlands historic research supporting our cultural knowledge of the importance of blankets in a woman's life cycle and for resurrecting The Turn Around Ceremony. Dr. Pierce, called Calo by me, formed a spiritual Woman's Warrior Mississippian Cultural Braid with me, her daughter, and granddaughter. We were "3 NDN Women & a Baby!" who sojourned the Atlantic Coast Pow Wow Trail. As a child on Johns Island, I was also part of a spiritual braid of 3 NDN Women (Yat, Momma Mary, and Grand Mere), where I was the "baby." This video tribute honors the behind-the-scenes support and guidance given related to transferring knowledge about creating authentic Eastern Woodlands naturally dyed wool blankets.

Seed 2 Runway Teaching Artists

This workshop is meant for indigenous women of color who need to heal multi-generational trauma through land-based fiber art practices. Historical techniques were transferred to me by indigenous women of color on Daniel Hill and in Wilson County, NC, by ancestors who were Treme Creoles in New Orleans, and by Geechee women ancestors on Johns and Kiawah Islands, SC. We were school teachers, natural dye practitioners, needlewomen, piece goods creators, weavers, quilters, sewing queens, moonshine makers, washing and ironing women, cooks, bakers, and farmers who did crochet and hand embroidery. We also sang The Blues in Juke Joints on the Chitlin' Circuit and played large handmade tambourines in Church on Sundays. We survived living in rural, isolated Southern communities by hiding in plain sight as indigenous people creating fiber arts based on our cultural connections to the land of our ancestors.

Four Directions Of Mississippian Culture

Representing 9th Ward Rising >> A Group of Circular Fashion Designers & Community Activists Demonstrating Post-Apocalyptic Survivance Through New Orleans Community Performance Art

Representing North > Fire Keeper > Little Wolf

Volunteer Teaching Assistant: @thatgirljazz | Jazzyme Cry, Teaching Artist, Fashion & Fabrics Designer, Natural Dye Practitioner, Eco-Print Maker, Photographer | Post-Apocalyptic New Orleans Artist, Mississippian Culture | Read More

Jazzmyne Cry is a multi-disciplinary artist based in New Orleans, LA. Her recent explorations have brought her into the realm of scultptural installations and interior design. She studies natural dye techniques and processes with me and is gaining invaluable skills that she shares with others. As much as I share with Jazz, she shares with me. We continue to shape circular fashion as part of a collaborative group of 9th Ward designers, artists and musicians.

Representing South > Earth Seed > Little Otter

Volunteer Teaching Assistant: @earthseedfood | JAS Ross, Post-Apocalyptic New Orleans Vegan Chef, Teaching Artist, Herbalist, Land-Based Medicine Knowledge Keeper, Natural Dye Practitioner, Urban Gardener, Mixed Media Installation Artist | Mississippian Culture

Representing West > Kokum > Miss Voodoocali

Volunteer Teaching Assistant: Norma Hendrick, Indigenous Mississippian Culture, Pattern Design & Garment Construction Teaching Artist, Former Fashion Model, Fashion & Fashion Accessories Designer, Master Dressmaker

Norma Hendrick is an indigenous fashion educator. She helped establish the Fashion & Textiles department at and currently teaches sewing, draping, and pattern-making in New Orleans. Norma studied in Los Angeles under Helen Armstrong concentrating on Flat Pattern Making, and with Sharon Tate on Design Room Procedures. Norma worked in the design room of Lillies of Beverly Hills and was a former model as well.

Representing East
Water Carrier > Neyuheru:ke Aunty

Indigenous Knowledge Keeper and Teaching Artist. She transfers knowledge about historical traditional textile practices followed by Algonquin Southeastern Woodlands people of color. Jones uses dyes from plants, flowers, berries, nuts, and roots, as well as earth pigments to create natural colors on cloth. As a textile artist, she combines machine and hand stitching with hand embroidery on eco-friendly, sustainable plant and animal fibers supporting traditional land-based fiber art practices.

An academically trained fine arts artist with a BFA in Studio Art with concentrations in ceramic sculpture and painting from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Carola is an accomplished art historian and teaching artist in K-12, community college, and university settings, including online instruction. She loves creating color and holds a deep passion for traditional indigenous textiles.

As a founding member of the international Seed To Runway Project, she teaches how to grow and harvest local plants and flowers for color and medicine by reconnecting with ancestral land and developing entrepreneurial skills. She is a writer, studio artist, Pow Wow dancer, working traveler, bundle binder, and storyteller who lives on the First Contact land that witnessed the first indigenous mass massacre at Fort Neyuheru:ke in March 1713 on Contentnea Creek Homeland.