Lumbee senior focuses on traditional ways of healing

An enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe from the small town of Rowland, Lyric Locklear ’25 describes Robeson County as her home. “Not only did I grow up there, but it’s where people look like me and sound like me. All of my friends and family live there,” she said.

Locklear remembers working on the farm with her father during the hot summers, learning about how plants grow and the chemicals used to help them grow. This experience piqued her interest in science outside the classroom. Knowing she enjoyed helping others and science, her family members persistently encouraged her to pursue higher education.

“Carolina is a prestigious school; it was where I wanted to go. I have always been a fan, and with my financial aid award I was able to attend,” said Locklear, who is a Carolina Covenant and a Pogue scholar.

Now she is a senior majoring in psychology and minoring in medical anthropology. After graduation, Locklear hopes to attend medical school to study naturopathic medicine, viewing patients’ physical, spiritual, emotional and intellectual well-being. She hopes to use traditional Indigenous medicine and practices to incorporate holistic health into Native communities. She has witnessed the health concerns of her Native people and aims to focus on serving that population.

With holistic health, Locklear hopes to find a new and effective way to help those struggling with substance abuse. She emphasizes that using Indigenous methodologies to cure these issues will energize culture revitalization in communities. More Native people will be using traditional ways to heal and cure themselves.

Since coming to Carolina, Locklear has taken many roles. Within the Lumbee Tribe, she’s an avid volunteer. She particularly enjoys her service to the tribe’s powwow, Dance of the Harvest (or Spring) Moon. She gained certification as a youth mental health first aid instructor and strives to use this role to spread awareness and teach the Lumbee community how to support the youth with first aid and mental health.

The UNC American Indian Center is a safe haven for Locklear. “It reminds me of the elders in my hometown community and reminds me of my grandma’s house, a Lumbee grandma’s house. The AIC staff are friendly and welcoming and are the backbone of the Native community on the UNC campus,” she said.

At the center, she works in the cultural garden and served as powwow co-chair for the 2023-24 academic year for the Carolina Indian Circle, a student group on campus where Native students fellowship and form a community with each other. “CIC is about us sharing spaces as Native students. We share our culture and heritage and make memories,” she said.

Reflecting on her Native culture, Locklear pointed to the way Zianne Richardson, a Carolina alum and enrolled citizen of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe recently crowned Miss Indian North Carolina, responded to a question during the pageant. Asked how she would “walk in two worlds,” Richards answered that Indigenous people don’t walk in two worlds. Native people are Indigenous, and they remain Indigenous no matter what they do or where they go.

“I want people to understand that I’m not just Indigenous at the AIC or CIC but everywhere I go. I’m Indigenous in classrooms, in interviews and when hanging out with friends,” Locklear said. “I know we often feel like we have to change ourselves to fit in, whether that be our accent or the phrases we use. But my hope is for us Native people to be our authentic selves and walk into all spaces being who we are.”