First published March 14, 2023 in Stories Beneath the Shell.
by Olivia Borgula
Early Saturday morning, Adele H. Stamp Student Union filled with organizers in matching T-shirts weaving between chairs, attendees greeting old friends and dancers carting hangers of regalia into make-shift dressing rooms next door. In the center of the room, a circle of people played the steady rhythm of a drum — the symbolic heartbeat of Native American culture.
More than 700 people packed the Colony Ballroom to attend the first powwow at the University of Maryland since 2019, which spanned six hours and aimed to honor Native American culture and resilience. Main events included the grand entry, a sweethearts dance and an Algonquian rendition of the Star-Spangled banner by a member of the Piscataway-Conoy tribe.
When the event began at 11 a.m., nearly all the seats in Stamp’s Colony Ballroom were filled. By the grand entry at 1 p.m., volunteers were carting in more chairs to accommodate the number of guests.
During the grand entry, dozens of dancers in traditional regalia filled the arena — a space blessed and reserved for dancers. Most donned elaborate headpieces and colorful, intricate patterns. They performed traditional, fancy, jingle and grass styles of dance.
Uptown Singerz and Zotigh Singers — the two drum groups at the event — sang and played a drum in the center of the room. They sat in a circle around the instrument, men on the inside ring and women on the outside. Master of ceremonies Dennis Zotigh explained that the Southern singing style is usually a lower pitch than Northern.
“The drum itself is the heartbeat, and it has its own language,” master of ceremonies Dennis Zotigh said.
In one corner of the Colony Ballroom, posters displayed information about the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia. It described the tribe’s history, saying that because it was located inland, they did not make contact with Europeans until 1650, decades after the first permanent English settlement in North America.
Denise Walters, the tribal council chair, said one of the aims of the powwow was to educate people about their tribe’s history.
“I hope [attendees] learn a lot about our culture and don’t see it as different,” Walters said. “We can bring to a broader group of people who are not indigenous seeing community and recognizing how connected we all are to each other and everything around.”
While transitioning between songs, Zotigh asked the crowd to raise their hand if they were at their first powwow — more than a dozen put their hand up.
Powwows are open to everyone, said Hana Zewdie, the coordinator for multiracial and Native and Indigenous student involvement at the Office of Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy. It’s something she wished she knew as a non-Indigenous student.
“As [non-Indigenous students] go on and leave UMD, and they see local powwows happening, I hope that they feel invited to participate in those because it’s a really usable, exciting, fun and experience,” she said. “It really helps support the Native community.”
Zewdie, one of the organizers, said UMD has hosted powwows since 1992, but they haven’t happened every year. In 2020, the event was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and last year there wasn’t the capacity to do it, she said.
Ayden Allston, the president of Native American and Indigenous Student Involvement and a senior public health science major, said she wanted to organize at least one powwow before graduating to highlight an underrepresented group on campus.
American Indian or Alaska Native undergraduate students make up less than 1% of UMD’s undergraduate population, according to a report from fall 2022 by the Office of Institutional Research, Planning & Assessment.
“Our main goal was just to share our culture … and customs with the campus and the community,” she said. “I’m just really excited about the whole day and just, you know, seeing familiar faces and stuff from people around our Native community coming here to help support us.”
University President Darryll Pines attended the powwow, handing out turtle pins as he greeted volunteers and attendees.
“I wanted to celebrate our diverse community,” he told Stories Beneath the Shell. “It’s not everyday we get to have a powwow.”
Zewdie said UMD was helpful in supporting the powwow, especially with technical and logistical assistance. Even if the groups organizing the powwow decide to move it outside of Stamp in the future, they know they’ll have the university’s support, she said.
Organizers have been planning the powwow since October. Members of the Native American and Indigenous Student Involvement group met every week with tribal elders and members of the Office of Multicultural Affairs to plan the powwow. Volunteers from both organizations helped the event to run smoothly, said Kota Harley, powwow consultant and UMD alum.
Justine Suegay was one of the volunteers. As the graduate coordinator for Asian Pacific Islander Desi American student involvement at MICA, she joined MICA to work collaboratively with the community.
“Working with the students that we do, and seeing the impact that they make … we empowered them to do what they want, and they change the university,” the higher education graduate student said.
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