OLIVIA LOWRY SCHWARTZ

Researcher and Writer for the Website

 Olivia Lowry Schwartz, is a Native American who is a registered member of the Lumbee tribe which is located in and around Robeson county, North Carolina .  The tribe has more than 60,000 members, is the largest tribe east of the Mississippi, and the fifth largest in the nation.    She is a retired educator whose thirty-two year career was in Prince George’s County, Maryland where her last assignment was as principal of Patuxent Elementary School in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.  Her Bachelor of Science degree was earned at what is now the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.  However, this university is the results of the work of members of the tribe who began a school with $500 from the state of North Carolina and donated materials and labor from the tribe.  She also holds a Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Education from The George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

Since retirement Dr. Schwartz has been a grant reader with the Department of Education, Washington, D.C., Head Start Evaluator with the Health and Human Services Department, Washington, D.C. and a consultant to the Baltimore City Public School System addressing Native American issues. 

She serves in her local church as a Lay Speaker, has taught the Disciples Bible Class, teaches an adult Sunday School Class, was elected chair of the Church Council, is a member of the Education Committee, is the Chair of the Native American Committee, member of Heritage Committee, and a member of the Sanctuary Choir among other duties.

Dr. Schwartz has a long history of service with the church in other areas:  She is in year seven as a commissioner on the board of the General Commission on Communication,  year seven as a member of the President’s Advisory Council for the Wesley Seminary in Washington, D.C.; helped to found  the North East Jurisdictional Native American Task Force and served as president for four years and now as treasurer, Secretary for the Committee on Native American Ministries for the Baltimore/Washington Conference, was a member of the first Connectional Table at the conference center and several years ago represented the General Conference of the United Methodist Church at a White House conference on Economic Development in Indian Country.

God has blessed Dr. Schwartz with a wonderful husband, a daughter, and a grandson.

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