Baltimore City Public Schools -

In honor of the month, City Schools spoke with Zoe Ayers, a Baltimore City College senior from the Coharie and Lumbee Tribes of North Carolina. Zoe wants everyone to know Native Americans are here in Baltimore. “You don’t really read about it, smaller tribes especially, in textbooks. One time in third grade, we went to the museum, but that was it,” she says. 

Native Americans have a significant place in Baltimore’s history, and thousands of Lumbee Natives migrated to Upper Fells Point and Washington Hill after World War II. It’s the history Zoe wants more of her peers to learn. “I feel like some students are kind of familiar with some aspects of Native culture, but it would be cool for more students to want to learn about it,” she said. 

Zoe is working on connecting more with her heritage. Last year, she danced for the first time at the Baltimore American Indian Center powwow. “I’ve been going to powwows since I was little, and I really wanted to dance,” she said. Although she’s not participating this year due to not having her powwow regalia, she’s excited to learn how to make her own regalia. “I want to do my own beadwork, so that’s what I’m getting into.” 

Photo Right: Zoe and her cousin Talie Jackson (pictured behind her) dancing at the BAIC powwow last year.

“I’m half Native and half African American, so I get both sides of the cultures, and I like that. I can experience both cultures instead of just one,” Zoe says. “I’m already thinking about designs where I can incorporate Native culture and feathers and relate that to African American culture and being Black.”  
 
Zoe enjoys her classes in social anthropology, environmental science, and the history of Africa. “I don’t think I test well in anthropology, but I like the topics, and I find them interesting,” she says. She’s applying to colleges and hopes to become a therapist for teens and young adults. She aims to earn a master’s degree and open her own practice. In her spare time, Zoe is part of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. G.E.M.S. (Growing & Empowering Myself Successfully) program and is looking forward to the cotillion at the end of the year. 

City Schools celebrates our students and staff's rich, diverse history daily and their contributions to history and the future.

Photo Left: Zoe received the 2022 Native American Youth of the Year Award from the Governor’s Office/The Maryland Commission on Indian Affairs. Pictured: Mrs. Kerry Hawk Lessard is the Executive director of Native American LifeLines and Zoe.