Star City Sangoma | Ancestral Perspective LLC
On November 13th, something powerful happened in Roanoke.
I walked into the Melrose Library Community Room prepared to share my research on Afro-Indigenous history in Virginia, but I could have never predicted the way the community would show up. People kept coming – some I knew, many I didn’t – and by the time we began, the room was full. I felt the weight of our ancestors in that space, and I also felt deep gratitude that our people were hungry for truth, healing, and understanding.
Before we opened a single slide, we opened with drumming and meditation – not as a performance, but as grounding. I wanted everyone in the room to release the stress of the day and prepare their minds, bodies, and spirits to receive information that had been hidden, erased, or distorted for generations. The moment the drum sounded, the entire energy shifted. People breathed deeper. Shoulders relaxed. The room softened. It became a healing space, not just a presentation.
Once we began exploring the history – the paper genocide led by Walter Plecker, the reclassification of Afro-Indigenous families, the Indian slave trade, and the deep presence of Siouan-speaking peoples across Virginia – people leaned in. Many took notes, asked questions, and made connections to their own family stories. One participant said the presentation helped answer questions they had carried for years about their lineage. Another shared that learning about the earthworks and mounds of Virginia changed the way they understood this land.
The response afterward humbled me. Multiple attendees said, “This needs to be in colleges and universities.” Others expressed gratitude that someone from the community was willing to do the research, dig through records, travel to historic sites, and weave history with spirituality in a way that didn’t feel distant or academic, but living and real.
This presentation took months of preparation – hours of reading, interviewing elders, traveling to historic sites, visiting museums, and sitting with the land itself. I put my heart and soul into making sure that what I shared honored both the ancestors and the descendants. My goal was simple:
Give our community knowledge we could grow from. Knowledge that brings healing, not division. Knowledge that reconnects us to land, family, and identity.
What happened that night showed me that Roanoke is ready for these conversations? People want to understand their roots. They want clarity around their family trees. They want to know what happened to the dark-skinned Native people of Virginia, why so many records disappeared, and how identity was intentionally altered on paper. They also want pathways for healing.
And that’s the heart of my work – as a Sangoma priest, metaphysical practitioner, and cultural educator.
My mission is not just to share history, but also to help people reconnect to themselves, to their ancestors, and to this land in a way that restores dignity and honors truth.
I left the Melrose Library that evening with a full heart, grateful for every person who attended, participated, asked questions, and brought their spirit into the room. The smiles, the conversations, and the sense of community reminded me that healing is not a solo journey – it’s something we do together.
This is just the beginning.
We plan to bring this presentation to more spaces across the region – libraries, colleges, museums, and community centers. The momentum is here, and the hunger for truth is real.
To everyone who attended: thank you.
To everyone who has been seeking answers about their ancestry: keep going.
And to our ancestors who walked this land long before a census was ever written: we honor you by remembering.
The only way out… is in.
