Zeke Crofton-MacDonald

TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Wolastoqey

PANEL: Centering Wabanaki Voices in America's 250th

BIOGRAPHY
Osihkiyol (Zeke) Crofton-Macdonald is a Wolastoqey person from the Houlton Band of Maliseets in Maine (Metaksonikewiyik) and the Oromocto First Nation (Welamukotuk) in New Brunswick, Canada. Zeke has spent his life advocating for Native rights in the United States and Canada. He is currently serving as the Tribal Ambassador for the Houlton Band of Maliseets in Maine. He serves as the President of the Wabanaki Alliance and as Tribal Commissioner for the Houlton Band on the Maine Indian Tribal State Commission (MITSC). Zeke graduated from the University of Maine in 2015 where he received a BA in History and attended graduate school at the University of New Brunswick to continue his work in History. He focused his graduate studies on Wabanaki Treaty History. Before assuming his duties as Ambassador, Zeke worked for the Welamukotuk First Nation in Resource Development Consultation, with the Wolastoqey Nation New Brunswick as a co-researcher documenting treaty hunting and harvesting rights, as a research associate at the Atlantic Canada Studies Centre at the University of New Brunswick, and worked for the Houlton Band of Maliseets with the Indian Child Welfare Act.

James Eric Francis Sr.

TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot Nation

PANEL: Centering Wabanaki Voices in America's 250th

BIOGRAPHY
James Eric Francis Sr. serves as the Director of Cultural and Historic Preservation, Tribal Historian, and Chair of the Penobscot Tribal Rights and Resource Protection Board for the Penobscot Nation. As a historian, he explores the relationship between Maine Native Americans and the land. Before his current roles, James contributed to the Wabanaki Studies Commission, assisting with the implementation of Maine’s Native American Studies Law in schools. He co-produced the documentary *Invisible*, which highlights the racism faced by Native Americans in Maine and the Canadian Maritimes. James is a member of the Abbe Museum’s Board of Trustees and Abbe Council, and he is a co-founder and Chair of Local Context, an initiative dedicated to supporting Indigenous communities in managing their cultural heritage and intellectual property. Additionally, he serves on the UMaine Hudson Museum Advisory Board and chairs the Maine Archives Board. James is also a visual artist, working as a historian, photographer, filmmaker, painter, and graphic artist.

Siera Hyte

TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Cherokee Nation

PANEL TITLE: Centering Wabanaki Voices in America's 250th

BIOGRAPHY
Siera Hyte is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. She is an artist, a writer, and the inaugural Schiller Family Curator of Indigenous American Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia. Hyte formerly held the role of Manager of Programs and Fellowships at the Lunder Institute for American Art and Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Colby Museum in Waterville, Maine. Her background in education includes working as a museum educator at the Missoula Art Museum, as a Lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin, and as a K-6 art teacher.