Passing the older generation's stories to the next generation is the goal of the Lumbee Women, who are putting on a production of their stories at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke this month.

The play tells the story of six women, no one younger than the age of 65, and how they grew up in the close-knit Lumbee tribal community during the time of the Jim Crow South.
Each woman will tell her own story. Some are humorous, others heartbreaking — most are a mixture of both. Accompanying each tale will be music performed by a group of Lumbee musicians. The music will range from American Indian flute to gospel.

Darlene Holmes Ransom is one of the founders, producers and one of the women performing in the play. She helped create “lumBEES: Women of the Dark Water” here in Fayetteville. Ransom was inspired by the play,

“The Dames You Thought You Knew" at Cape Fear Regional Theatre.

“So after the show was over, we went backstage, and I talked to Bo Thorpe, who was the director," Ransom said. “I said, ‘I want to do this with Lumbee women.’ And she said, ‘You bring me the women, we'll do the show.’”

The six “Bees” are Roberta Bullard Brown, Dolores Jones, Jinnie Lowery, Dr. Jo Ann Chavis Lowery, Della Maynor and Ransom herself. Ransom told Up & Coming Weekly that over the five years of creating, producing and finalizing the show, the women formed a sisterhood.

“It was a very long process. A lot of hours. Thousands of hours. If the chairs and the walls and the tables could talk in Bo's home, the stories they would tell. Some of the stories were too raw to be on stage. Some of the ladies shared things they never shared before because every time, it would become a safe place to share your story, to say things and tell things about experiences that happened. Growing up brown in a Black and white world. Because our experiences were so different then, you know, than the norm.”

The play debuted at CFRT in 2019. It was sold out — something Ransom never expected.

“I get chills when I think about it. We're still in awe that somebody wants to hear our story," Ransom said. “And so after it was over, I mean, everybody loved it. There were so many demands for us to travel with it. We've been asked to go to theaters all over. Even to travel with it out West.”

However, as with most things in early 2020, everything shut down due to the pandemic. There were talks and even plans of having the production occur again last year, but then COVID-19 numbers rose, and for the safety of everyone, they canceled it.

But now, after three years, the Lumbee women will be telling their stories — this time at UNC Pembroke.
But this upcoming performance won't be the end of this group.

“So we're doing bumper stickers, we're doing a book, and we want to do a coloring book, and we want this to grow, you know, because we are seasoned. We know that we can't travel across the country and all the venues, but this needs to grow another generation. They have to tell their story,” Ransom said. “So that is our hope to start mentoring the next Lumbee Women of the Dark Water.”

The production of “lumBEES: Women of the Dark Water" will be held at the Givens Performing Arts Center. The play begins at 7:30 p.m. on July 8 and 9 and at 3 p.m. on July 10. Tickets are $20. For more information about the show or to purchase tickets, go to www.uncp.edu/gpac.