Native American Studies Center (USC Lancaster)
banner
usclnas.bsky.social
Native American Studies Center (USC Lancaster)
@usclnas.bsky.social
The USCL Native American Studies Center houses the world's largest collection of Catawba pottery, along with art, artifacts, and archives from other South Carolina tribes.
We’re pleased to welcome back Catawba artist DeLesslin George-Warren to the Center this month for a special canoe-making demonstration!

See DeLesslin at work from 10am-4pm on Saturday, Feb. 21!
February 5, 2026 at 4:05 PM
“During these events, he falsely claimed to be a Pueblo Indian or a Native American from New Mexico and represented that the jewelry he sold was handmade by himself or other Pueblo Indians.”

nativenewsonline.net/sovereignty/...
Florida Man Sentenced for Falsely Selling Imported Jewelry as Pueblo Indian–Made
Chadwick M. Elgersma, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Jose Farinango Muenala, 47, of Casselberry, Florida, pleaded guilty on January 28, 2026, to misrepres...
nativenewsonline.net
February 4, 2026 at 1:44 PM
We’re pleased to welcome back USC Lancaster Instructor of Criminal Justice Deborah Rowell to this month's W. Brent Burgin Lecture Series!

Presented in person and virtually. To attend via Zoom, register via this link: bit.ly/3XYCWF9
February 3, 2026 at 9:03 PM
📅 Saturday, Feb. 21 | 10am-4pm
🎨 Artwork by Blue Heron Clay and Amanda Wilson
📍 Native American Studies Center | 119 S. Main Street, Lancaster, SC
🎟️ Free and open to the public!
February 3, 2026 at 3:54 PM
The latest episode of the Florida Historical Society’s Florida Frontiers podcast features USCL Asst. Professor of History & Center Historian Dr. Evan Nooe.

Click the link below to listen (Nooe’s interview begins around the 14:30 mark):

myfloridahistory.org/frontiers/ra...
February 2, 2026 at 8:42 PM
“The administration is forcing National Park Service staff to censor everything from climate science at Glacier to the mistreatment of Native Americans at the Grand Canyon, a place of worship and origin for many Tribes.”
www.npca.org/articles/112...
Erasure of History and Science Spreads At National Parks Across the Country
The administration is forcing National Park Service staff to censor science and history at parks. This is a violation of the core tenets of the National Park Service’s mission.
www.npca.org
January 30, 2026 at 3:21 PM
“He hopes its release will halt what he alleges are violations of laws including the National Historic Preservation Act, the National Environmental Protection Act and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.”

avlwatchdog.org/forest-servi...
The whistleblower, the Forest Service, and an endless battle in North Carolina’s mountains • Asheville Watchdog
On April 22, 2021, 19 acres burned on a sloping face south of Double Knob, a modest peak nestled just south of the Buncombe-Henderson County line. A day later, mountainside still aflame, Scott Ashcraf...
avlwatchdog.org
January 29, 2026 at 7:13 PM
“The yearlong program will offer monthly, hands-on culture classes open to residents and visitors alike, focusing on Indigenous arts, foodways, music, dance, and environmental knowledge rooted in the Lowcountry.”

www.berkeleyobserver.com/2026/01/28/w...
Wassamasaw Tribe Brings Indigenous Culture to Goose Creek in 2026 | The Berkeley Observer
The Wassamasaw Tribe of Varnertown Indians is proud to announce its 2026 Culture Classes and Community Programming calendar, a yearlong series of free, public offerings centered in Goose Creek.
www.berkeleyobserver.com
January 29, 2026 at 2:08 PM
“The coin represents the Oneida people’s critical role in the founding of the U.S., the Nation said in a news release.”
www.syracuse.com/news/2026/01...
U.S. Mint releases coin commemorating famous Oneida heroine
The coin honors an Oneida woman who helped George Washington during the Revolutionary War.
www.syracuse.com
January 28, 2026 at 2:38 PM
“Indigenous communities, including the Occaneechi, Sissipahaw and Shakori tribes, used the path for trade and travel in the 17th and 18th centuries.”
www.chron.com/culture/arti...
North Carolina Buc-ee’s draws more ire, this time from Indigenous group
Construction is already underway, however.
www.chron.com
January 27, 2026 at 9:05 PM
Now on YouTube! Watch our January Lunch and Learn presented by David Rahahę·tih Webb (Tuscarora Indians of Kahtenuaka Territories):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjEs...
Jan. Lunch and Learn: “Indigenous Carolinians"
YouTube video by Native American Studies Center
www.youtube.com
January 27, 2026 at 3:10 PM
“Along with Peltola, if Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan wins her U.S. Senate race in Minnesota, both would make history as the first Native women in the U.S. Senate.”

ictnews.org/politics/mar...
Mary Peltola seeks to be first Alaska Native woman in Senate - ICT
Former U.S. representative, Yup’ik, will challenge sitting Republican Dan Sullivan for the hotly contested seat that Democrats are hoping could help them retake control of the Senate
ictnews.org
January 26, 2026 at 2:47 PM
“After accomplishing that longstanding goal, the Tribe will now enter a period of transition over the next months of years — a period which has already begun.”
www.robesonian.com/news/336896/...
January 23, 2026 at 2:28 PM
Join us tomorrow as David Rahahę·tih Webb (Tuscarora Indians of Kahtenuaka Territories) presents a talk about his new book, “Indigenous Carolinians: A History from Original Peoples to Present-Day Tribes.”

Attend in person or join via Zoom (register at bit.ly/4rG2BAg).
January 22, 2026 at 7:17 PM
Sign up for our February session today!
January 22, 2026 at 2:18 PM
“Seminole State College has received a $17 million unrestricted gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott through her foundation, Yield Giving, the largest single donation in the college’s 94-year history.”

www.sscok.edu/media/ssc-re...
January 21, 2026 at 2:04 PM
“A representative of the Catawba Nation, the state’s only federally recognized Native American tribe, showed children feathers, rattles and drums tribal members would have used during the Colonial era.”
scdailygazette.com/2026/01/16/m...
'Most exciting field trip': 4th graders visit SC Statehouse to learn about American Revolution • SC Daily Gazette
Surrounded by reenactors and demonstrations, students got a hands-on experience on what Colonial times were like.
scdailygazette.com
January 20, 2026 at 8:06 PM
“This new narrative happens to also cleave closer to many indigenous Americans’ oral histories.”

www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025...
How a Pennsylvania rock shelter upended archaeology and changed our understanding of the first Americans
South Africans live down the road from some of the oldest human ancestors. Mrs Ples strode around the Gauteng hills almost three million years ago. A few hundred years before that, Lucy sharpened rock
www.dailymaverick.co.za
January 15, 2026 at 7:03 PM
Next Friday!

Presented in person and virtually; register at bit.ly/4rG2BAg
January 14, 2026 at 2:07 PM
“Repatriation theme permeates new Indigenous stories at festival, which bids farewell to ‘Sundance Kid’”

ictnews.org/arts-enterta...
Indigenous films to screen at 2026 Sundance Film Festival - ICT
Repatriation theme permeates new Indigenous stories at festival, which bids farewell to ‘Sundance Kid’
ictnews.org
January 13, 2026 at 2:37 PM
“Winter is a special season for Indigenous peoples across the country and world.”
ictnews.org/news/winter-...
Winter stories: ‘Bring the tobacco, turn off the recorder’ - ICT
The cold weather offers a time for stories, ceremony, and games
ictnews.org
January 12, 2026 at 8:20 PM
“An important cultural site is close to being returned to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians after a city council in North Carolina voted unanimously Monday to return the land.”

apnews.com/article/noqu...
A town in North Carolina is returning land to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
The Noquisiyi Mound in Franklin, North Carolina, is close to being returned to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
apnews.com
January 9, 2026 at 8:04 PM
“Denver will be the site of the United States' first-ever American Indian Cultural Embassy.”

www.cbsnews.com/colorado/new...
Planning to begin in Denver for American Indian Cultural Embassy
Denver will be the site of the United States' first-ever American Indian Cultural Embassy. Funding for the project was approved by Denver voters in November. The vision is for the embassy to welcome N...
www.cbsnews.com
January 9, 2026 at 2:22 PM
“Live Science reports that artifacts unearthed in the Fones Cliffs area of Virginia’s Rappahannock River may provide evidence of a village described by English colonist John Smith, who was elected president of the Jamestown council in 1608.”
archaeology.org/news/2025/12...
News - Evidence of Native American Villages Unearthed in Virginia - Archaeology Magazine
ST. MARY’S CITY, MARYLAND—Live Science reports that artifacts unearthed in the Fones Cliffs area of […]
archaeology.org
January 8, 2026 at 6:08 PM
“Sampson is the first Native American to be elected to the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.”

www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/colle...
UH's Kelvin Sampson gets Hall of Fame nod in home state of North Carolina
Kelvin Sampson became the first Native American elected to the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.
www.houstonchronicle.com
January 8, 2026 at 2:24 PM