Join author Gray Parsons for readings from his book Hope on Hatterask, that deals with a shipwreck off Hatteras, the maritime underground railroad and the early intermarriage of people from Indigenous, African, and European ancestries. A book signing will follow.
Gray Michael Parsons is a graduate of East Carolina University (1972) with a degree in Parks, Outdoor Recreation and Conservation. Although he lives as a Traditionally Adherent Indigenous American, he also descends from Scoth-Irish and West African peoples. After a sales and marketing career, he retired to his favorite ancestral homeland on Hatterask Island, N.C. in 2019. He currently serves as President and Founder of the Secotan Alliance; Vice-President of Epsilon Chi Nu-Pitt GAP Chapter (the first Native American fraternity in the U.S.); a Board Member of the Friends of the Outer Banks History Center; a 25 year volunteer and program contributor for the Frisco Native American Museum; and is past President of the Baltimore Native American Lifelines. He has addressed numerous gatherings as an advocate for indigenous rights and protection of our Mother Earth from the steps of the U.S. Capitol and beyond. He has been a pow-wow dancer, drummer and singer in all the Mid-Atlantic states from Tennessee and South Carolina to Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He is a proud double cancer survivor and considers all cancer patients, survivors and their caregivers members of his personal “Tribe”. Gray published “Hope on Hatterask” in 2014 and “Pampico Blue” in 2025.
The presentation is part of the museum’s Salty Dawg Speaker Series, which features presentations on North Carolina maritime history and culture. The series is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the Friends of the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum. Reservations are not required. Call 252-986-0723 for more information.