Digital Scholarship and Initiatives

On Monday, May 23, 2011, Sharon Hunt became the first woman to hold the top leadership position in the Lumbee Tribe. Hunt replaced chairman Purnell Swett, who resigned for health reasons.

Judge Gary Locklear, chief justice of the Lumbee Supreme Court, administered the oath of office to Hunt during the brief ceremony held at the Tribal Housing Complex.

“My goal is to address the administration and operational issues of the tribe, and to facilitate a resolution (of issues) without delay,” the chairwoman said in a brief statement immediately after taking office. “I am honored to serve in the capacity as chairwoman of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. I will make every effort to foster professionalism and unity for our tribal government.”

“I’m pleased that things went smoothly,” Locklear said referring to the transfer of leadership from Swett to Hunt. “It’s a new day for us. We need to clean the slate. There should now be more cooperation between the executive and legislative branches of government. Hopefully we can go forward and resolve problems, especially those brought to our attention in the HUD monitoring report.”