Lumbee

The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is a state recognized tribe of approximately 55,000 enrolled members, most of them living in Robeson and the adjacent counties in southeastern North Carolina. The Lumbee Tribe is the largest tribe in North Carolina, the largest state tribe east of the Mississippi River, and the ninth largest in the nation. According to the 2000 US Census report, Pembroke, NC is made up of 89% Lumbee Indian and Robeson County itself is almost 40% Lumbee Indians.

Lumbee

Official Logo of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina
Total population
55,000
Regions with significant populations
United States
Languages
English
Related ethnic groups
Keyauwee, Cheraw

The Lumbee Indians have been officially recognized by the state of North Carolina since 1885 and participate at the state level in many ways, including in the North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs. They also participate at the national level in many ways, including in the National Congress of American Indians and the National Indian Education Association. The Lumbee Indians were designated on June 7, 1956 when the U.S. Congress passed HR 4656, The Lumbee Act.The Lumbee are one of eight state-recognized Native American tribes in North Carolina. The Lumbee are heavily concentrated in Robeson County on the southern border of the state. Over the years, the Lumbee have migrated to other areas, primarily for employment. Thus there are sizeable settlements in Cumberland, Sampson, Hoke, Scotland, and Columbus Counties; in Greensboro, Charlotte, Detroit, Baltimore, Claxton, Georgia (between 1865 and the 1920's, to work turpentine and cotton), and a spurious group in Shasta County, north central California called the United Lumbee Nation which claims Lumbee origin. They chose the Lumbee name in 1952, drawing inspiration from the original name of the primary waterway traversing Robeson County, also referred to as Drowning Creek, and now the Lumber River because of the extensive 19th-century timber trade in the region. Many of the Lumbee still refer to the river by its original name, the Lumbee River, Siouan for dark water.

The Lumbee of Robeson County were officially recognized as Indians in 1885 by the State of North Carolina. They were initially declared by family Myths to be "Croatan Indians," based on their own family oral traditions at that time. In 1956, the United States Congress passed H.R. 4656, known as the Lumbee Act, which federally designated the Lumbee as an Indian people. The act did not provide for customary services through the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the Lumbee delegation before congress claimed only to want a name designation to call its tribe and nothing else (espinal,congressional meeting with delegates in 1957). Since then, the Lumbee have sought full federal recognition through congressional legislation.

Congressional legislation extending federal recognition to the Lumbee is supported by many federally recognized tribes. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is a federally recognized tribe in North Carolina, and it has opposed Lumbee efforts to gain full federal recognition, mainly due to the fact that other recognized tribes fear that if another tribe is added to the mix, their share of federal money will decrease.. However, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has at several times outwardly supported the Lumbee in their effort to gain full federal recognition. On four separate occasions, starting as early as 1910 through 1932, the Lumbee formerly known as the Croatans, brought at least four bills before Congress to be recognized, re-named and enrolled as Cherokee Indians and/or Cherokee Indians of Robeson County. On January 6, 2009, US Representative Mike McIntyre introduced legislation (H.R. 31) intended to grant the Lumbee Indians full federal recognition. On June 3, 2009, the US House voted 240 to 179 for full federal recognition for the Lumbee tribe, acknowledging that they are the descendants of the Cheraw tribe. Later that year on October 22, 2009, the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs approved a bill for federal recognition of the Lumbee but the bill did not make it to the floor for a vote in the next session.

In December 2011, Paul Brooks was elected as chairman of the Lumbee tribe. He is the fifth chairman to serve in the decade since the tribe established its government.

History

American Indians in the area that is now known as Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina have a long history, but most of it has not been documented using "Western" methods of recording, namely the written word. Therefore, much of Indian culture before contact with Europeans is not known, and there are not many "facts" or "records" to tell the story of early contact with Europeans. Lumbees don't necessarily need "facts" to know where they come from and how they got to where they are. They just listen to the stories, traditions and landscape that have always been around them through out their existence.

Early references

Native American occupation of Robeson County extend back as far into the past as anywhere else in North Carolina. There are no obvious gaps in the artifact collection from Paleo-Indian times through early, middle, and late Archaic, early, middle, and late Woodland times, and into the historic period. Indian people have always occupied the land which is now considered Robeson County. Review of this archaeological record reveals several important things in addition to the apparently consistent occupation. One of these is the presence of diverse cultural influences in prehistory. This is especially important given that arguments against Lumbee recognition have sometimes been based on the assertion that the Lumbee represent a post-Columbian amalgamation of Indian people from various sources including Siouan, Algonkian, and Iroquoian people. However, archaeological evidence collected here suggests that diverse cultural influences have been fairly common for a much longer time than these few hundred years of United States history.

Beginning in the middle Archaic period between six and eight thousand years ago relatively unusual artifacts such as an Eva-like basal-notched projectile point began to appear among the more predictable local artifact assemblages. The presence of stone and, later, ceramic artifacts suggests cultural exchange from elsewhere continued through the archaeological record. Artifacts more commonly found in Florida, Tennessee, and Virginia, on the outer Coastal Plain as well as in the Piedmont and the mountains, have been found alongside more typical artifacts in Robeson County, all of which suggests that the region has for thousands of years been a zone of cultural interaction.

One false argument used against Lumbee recognition has been based on the assertion that the word Lumbee is an invented word, that it comes from the word lumber, as in Lumberton, the seat of Robeson County. Some people take this assumption from the belief that the federal government first formally accepted the word in 1956. Opponents of full federal recognition for the Lumbee have used this line of thought as one of their main arguments. They seem to use it to mean that the word Lumbee did not really exist before the 1950s, and thus the Lumbee people did not either. But this is far from the whole story. The earliest written reference of the word Lumbee is in the 1888 work of Hamilton Macmillan. Lumbee elders in the 1880s had been taught when they were young that the river was the Lumbee, which suggests that the word had been in use earlier than anybody in the 1880s could remember—all of which would seem to make Lumbee a very old word. Other writers around the turn of the twentieth century tell us of this same oral history. Angus McLean wrote in the 1880s that when “white settlers first arrived they found located on the waters of the Lumbee, as Lumber River was then called, a tribe of Indians speaking broken English. Like Macmillan, McLean had nothing to gain from the use of the word Lumbee. O. M. McPherson, an Indian agent for the federal government, wrote that “the Lumber River was anciently called the Lumbee. The Lumbee River is a branch of the Pedee and the similarity of the names would suggest the same origin. All these small Siouan tribes were originally parts of, or confederated with, the Cheraws.” Agent McPherson concluded that the Indians of Robeson County were of predominantly Siouan origin, which now seems to come much closer to the truth than McLean’s conclusion that they were Cherokees. But neither Macmillan, McLean, nor McPherson had any special investment in the word Lumbee. They were just repeating what they had been told—not that the word Lumbee was recently derived from the word lumber as some people nowadays want us to believe, but that the original name of the river was Lumbee. It is highly reasonable to conclude that Lumbee was also the original name of the indigenous people of this place. The supposition seems especially true in light of the fact that several other eastern Siouan nations who lived in the general region also shared their names with the rivers along which they lived, such as the Santees, Pee Dees, Waterees, Catawbas, and many others.

A colonial proclamation in 1773 listed the names of Robeson County inhabitants who took part in a "Mob Railously Assembled together," apparently defying the efforts of colonial officials to collect taxes. The proclamation declared the "Above list of Rogus [sic] is all living upon the Kings Land without title." Later a colonial military survey described, "50 families a mixt crew, a lawless People possess the Lands without Patent or paying quit Rents." Surnames of people listed in these records have been proved to be the direct ancestors of the Lumbee; these family surnames are still present to this day among the Lumbee.

The earliest document showing Indian communities in the area of the Lumbee River is a map prepared by John Herbert, the commissioner of Indian trade for the Wineau Factory on the Black River, in 1725. Herbert identifies the four Siouan-speaking communities as the Saraws, Pee dee, Scavanos, and Wacomas

One of the greatest controversies about the Lumbee centers around who lived where, and when. There is a widespread idea among some Indian and non-Indian people that Native Americans moved into what is now Robeson County and settled here along the Lumbee River sometime after Columbus. To a certain extent, that is true. Historical references indicate that some Indian people did move in from other locations. Such references point to movements of Cheraws who spoke a Siouan language, Hatterases who spoke an Algonkian language, and Tuscaroras who spoke an Iroquoian tongue. Their movements into the region happened between the time of John White’s “Lost Colony” in the 1580s and the Civil War in the 1860s, and apparently consisted of fairly small numbers of people. The problem arises if one stops thinking at that point. One shortcoming of the “Indians-moved-in-and-settled” theory is that it overlooks important evidence. The theory implies, and some people seem now to believe, that the land of the Lumbee was a vacuum, that no one was here until Indian people from elsewhere “moved in and settled.” Such conclusions are simply inconsistent with archaeological evidence that shows that this area was already occupied by Native Americans before the reported movements of the Cheraws, Hatterases, Tuscaroras, and possibly others. In addition to the presence of Indian people for millennia, clearly a late prehistoric occupation was here along the Lumbee River that is illustrated by the presence of at least thirty-one archaeological sites with late Woodland artifacts. Artifacts at these sites suggest Indian occupation of present-day Robeson County between AD 1200 and 1750. In short, Native Americans were along the land that surrounds the Lumbee River long before anybody else could have “moved in and settled.”

The first explorers of North Carolina were the Spanish,they made mention of a group of natives living around drowning creek (Lumbee River) in the 1500's. In 1754, North Carolina Governor Matthew Rowan proclaimed the county of Anson a "frontier to the Indians". Drowning Creek formed the border between Anson and Bladen counties and the settlement was located on the Anson side of the border. In 1771, a convicted felon by the name of Winsler Driggers was captured "near Drowning Creek, in the Charraw settlement "and was hanged under the Negro Act (South Carolina Gazette October 3, 1771). This mention, along with no evidence that a new settlement was established or the old settlement was abandoned, does not confirms that the settlement on Drowning Creek in 1754 was a Cheraw settlement.

When the Scots and Irish came to what became Robeson County in the mid-eighteenth century, the Indians already had many European trade goods, including metal tools, and were getting on with the business of making a living for their families as farmers. They had been farmers of maize, beans, and squash long before the Europeans came, and they could farm a living right along if given the chance. Some elements of the old culture did not change much. One of the traditional elements of Lumbee culture that did not change is that sense of personal and community identity to which Lumbee people have so fiercely held. They have always known they were Indians. A number of Lumbee people, especially elders, still have knowledge of herbal remedies passed down for generations. Arthur Barlowe in the late sixteenth century, and John Lawson in the early eighteenth century noted that sassafras was a common treatment among the Indians of the Carolinas. A study in the mid-1980s of health among a large sample of Lumbee people revealed that sassafras was still the most commonly used herbal remedy. There are and always have been specialists in traditional healing in the Lumbee community

Culture and traditions

Lumbee Homecoming

Lumbee Homecoming is a tradition among the tribe that has been held annually since 1970. Homecoming is especially important in that it brings together members of families, many from great distances, for a weeklong celebration of Lumbee culture. Festivities include a parade, a pow wow, pageants, and other cultural events.

Communities

Lumbee Communities were linked together by their extensive kinship ties, church affiliations, their sense of themselves as Indians, and their control of their educational system, all of which served as a mechanism for defining tribal membership and maintaining tribal boundaries. Communities are basically self-governing. One form of self-governance in the early 1900's was exhibited by a fraternal organization known as the Red Men's Lodge. By 1914, there were lodges in Prospect, Magnolia, Pembroke, Saddletree, Oxendine, and Union Chapel. Lodge members maintained social order, carried out ceremonies, marched in parades, and conducted funerals. The 1987 Lumbee Petition states that, "[w]ith so many prominent leaders it is easy to understand how the lodges could maintain order and, at the same time, protect the tribal members from organized violence from whites in the area"

Lumbee Patchwork

Lumbee Patchwork is a traditional handcraft of the Lumbee people. Drawing on the abundant flora around them, the adapted the end of the Long Leaf Pine cone into a design for their blankets, rugs, and clothing. There are many areas where this patchwork can be seen: the UNCP Native American Resource Center, Native American Powwow's, cultural events, quilting bee's, and culture classes around Robeson county. In 1993, the Lumbee patchwork dress was recreated for Miss Lumbee Natasha Wagner, who went on to become the 8th Miss Indian USA. Designed by Hayes Alan Locklear and created by Kat Littleturtle, the Lumbee patchwork dress stands the test time and is now a standard for the Lumbee Misses and cultural symbol for all Lumbees.

Cohesiveness

This "sticking together" is exemplified in several ways: settling in the same area of cities outside Robeson County (such as Baltimore); marrying within the tribe; forming political parties and church conferences; and fighting problems and discriminations as a group (for example, the school sit-ins to oppose desegregation and the Save Old Main movement). This is linked to pride in being Indian. This includes a sensitivity to insult, a quickness in reacting to it, a willingness to stand up for themselves, and a tendency to settle issues, when necessary, with fighting or violence. This is usually only manifested when there are attacks on the Lumbee identity.(as we saw during the Henry Berry Lowry era, the Ku Klux Klan routing, and the Robesonian hostage-taking).

Religion

For the Lumbees, church is more than a religious experience; it is their most important social activity. The churches have Sunday schools, youth organizations, senior citizen's programs, Bible study programs, and choir practices to mention a few. Since congregations tend to draw members from several different elements, these activities serve to integrate. It is not uncommon for members of the same household to attend different churches, and this behavior further acts to bring the tribal membership together. Most churches have choirs that, in addition to singing on Sunday, occasionally appear at other churches to share in the religious experience. Churches take great pride in their choirs, as Lumbees generally take pride in the singing abilities of their members. Nearly every week there is a gospel sing somewhere in the community and many churches schedule a sing once a month. Lumbee religion is primarily Christian. One study has documented Lumbee Methodism back to 1787. Church membership and participation are very strong forces in Lumbee life. The Lumbee created two Indian church conferences—the Burnt Swamp Baptist Association (founded around 1880) and the Lumbee River Conference of the Holiness Methodist Association. Bruce Barton documented 104 Lumbee churches in 1984; there are undoubtedly more now and have been more in earlier years. Ministers are highly revered. Prospect Methodist Church, with 603 members in 1990, is purportedly the largest Native American church in the nation. When a sizeable number of Lumbee people move to another city, they often tend to settle in a particular section or neighborhood. They also establish a Native American church; this happened in Baltimore, Greensboro, Fayetteville, Charlotte, and Claxton, Georgia.

Language

Unfortunately, the Lumbee have suffered from a kind of linguistic double jeopardy. They gave up their ancestral language heritage to accommodate the political and economic pressures of colonial encroachment—an accommodation that has severely hindered their pursuit of full federal recognition as a Native American group. The language they molded is rejected as bad English. Although the Lumbee lost their ancestral tongue generations ago, they have developed a unique Lumbee English dialect. They look to history as the primary force that shaped a dialect characterized by particular patterns of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. Though the Lumbee live side-by-side with European Americans and African Americans, they developed a unique dialect of American English, which is called Lumbee English or Lumbee Dialect. This dialect differs in a number of ways from the surrounding Southern White and African American varieties, including in the pronunciation of words and in the way words are put together to form sentences. The Lumbee do not use only words that no other group uses, their dialect does include some words, pronunciations, and ways of combining words that are not used by whites or African Americans in Robeson County. The most noticeable of all the differences that separate Lumbee English from other dialects heard in Robeson County is the vocabulary.

Scholarly research

18th century

In 1754, a surveying party reported that Anson County was "a frontier to the Indians." Bladen County abutted Anson County. The border between then Bladen and Anson counties was the present-day Lumbee River, which meant half of present-day Robeson County was apart of Bladen and the other half was apart Anson. The same report said that no Indians lived in Bladen County.

Land patents and deeds filed with the colonial administrations of Virginia, North and South Carolina during this period show that individuals now claimed as Lumbee ancestors migrated from southern parts of Virginia and northern parts of North Carolina. In the first federal census of 1790, the ancestors of the Lumbee were enumerated as Free Persons of Color. In 1800 and 1810 they were counted in "all other free persons."

In 1885, Hamilton McMillan wrote that Lumbee ancestor James Lowrie received sizable land grants early in the century and by 1738 possessed combined estates of more than two thousand acres (8 km²). Dial and Eliades claimed that another Lumbee ancestor, John Brooks, established title to over one thousand acres (4 km²) in 1735, and Robert Lowrie gained possession of almost seven hundred acres (2.8 km²). But, a state archivist has noted that no land grants were issued during these years in North Carolina. The first land grants to documented individuals claimed as Lumbee ancestors did not take place until more than a decade later, in the 1750s. The Lumbee petition for federal recognition did not use material from McMillan's claims.

Land records show that beginning in the second half of the 18th century, persons since identified as ancestral Lumbee took titles to land described in relation to Drowning Creek (Lumber River) and prominent swamps such as Ashpole, Long, and Back Swamp. According to James Campisi, the anthropologist hired by the Lumbee tribe, this area "is located in the heart of the so-called old field of the Cheraw documented in land records between 1737 and 1739."

The location of the Cheraw Old Fields is documented in the Lumbee petition for recognition based on Siouan descent, prepared by Lumbee River Legal Services in the 1980s.

Pension records for veterans of the American Revolutionary War in Robeson County listed men with surnames later associated with Lumbee families, such as Samuel Bell, Jacob Locklear, John Brooks, Berry Hunt, Thomas Jacobs, Thomas Cummings, and Michael Revels. In 1790, ancestral Lumbee such as Barnes, Bell, Braveboy (Brayboy), Brooks, Bullard, Chavers (Chavis), Cumbo, Hammonds, Hunt, Jacobs, Lockileer (Locklear), Lowrie (Lowry/Lowery), Oxendine, Revils (Revels), Strickland, and Wilkins were listed as inhabitants of the Fayetteville District; they were enumerated as "Free Persons of Color" in the first federal census. Indians living off reservations (sometimes identified as landless Indians) were not designated separately on the census until 1870; they were included in the category of free people of color.

Antebellum

Following the Nat Turner Slave Rebellion of 1831, the state legislature passed amendments to its original 1776 constitution, abolishing suffrage for free people of color. This was one of a series of laws passed from 1826 to the 1850s which the historian John Hope Franklin characterized as the "Free Negro Code," erecting restrictions on that class. Free people of color were stripped of various political and civil rights which they had enjoyed for almost two generations. They could no longer vote, bear arms without a license from the state, serve on juries, or serve in the state militia. As these were obligations traditionally associated with citizenship, they were made second-class citizens.

In 1853, the North Carolina Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the state's restrictions on free people of color's bearing arms without a license. Noel Locklear, in State v. Locklear, was convicted for the illegal possession of firearms. In 1857, William Chavers from Robeson County was arrested and charged as a free person of color for carrying a shotgun without a license. Chavers, like Locklear, was convicted. In their cases, both stated they objected to the law being applied to them, because the legal definition of colored was by Black (Negro) blood not Indian blood.

The twentieth-century anthropologist Gerald Sider published accounts of "tied mule" incidents told to him by local people; they said that such discriminatory acts had caused losses of land for Lumbee ancestors during the 19th century. Also, historians have found that Lumbee ancestors lost land during the 19th century due to well-documented causes, such as failure to pay taxes.

Civil War

North Carolina seceded from the Union and joined the Confederate States of America. Largely excluded from Confederate military service because of their status as nonwhites, the Lumbee sympathized with the Union cause. Many Lumbee were forcibly conscripted as laborers for the Confederate Army where they were held in virtual slavery at Fort Fisher near Wilmington. The Lumbee attempted to evade conscription, skirmishing with the Confederate Home Guard in what was known as the Lowrie War. Union historians praise the contributions of the Lumbee, many of whom aided the Union cause as scouts and spies. Other Lumbee served the Union Army as porters and cooks.

A yellow fever epidemic in 1862-63 killed many slaves' working on the construction of Fort Fisher near Wilmington, North Carolina, then considered to be the "Gibraltar of the South." North Carolina's slave owners resisted sending more slaves to Fort Fisher, intensifying efforts by the Confederate Home Guard to conscript the Lumbee and other able bodied nonwhites. Documentation of conscription among the free people of color in Robeson County is difficult to locate, because the Confederate Home Guard captured Lumbee on sight.

Although the few Lumbee who aided the Confederacy served mostly as slave laborers, several are documented as drawing Confederate pensions for their service. Larger numbers sought to avoid coerced labor by hiding in the swamps. During that period, some men from Robeson County operated as guerrillas for the Union Army, sabotaging the efforts of the Confederacy and robbing local whites. Many Lumbee women followed the Union Army after it occupied Robeson County and continued to march southward, serving Union soldiers in a variety of ways.

The Lowrie War

Jamie Oxendine (Lumbee) poses with U.S. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur during the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian, 2004

Henry Berry Lowrie was and continues to be a hero to the Indians of Robeson County. His defense of the crimes against Indian people was not based on their tribal identity, but on the issue of the fact that they were in the same situation as himself and his family based solely upon their race.

In order to understand the actions of Henry Berry and his gang, one must first understand the times they were living in. The 1830's were a time of termination and extermination for the American Indians in the east and across this nation. This was the era of the Trail of Tears and the mass absorption of Indian lands and civil rights. Laws, public opinion, and social circumstances all demeaned the status of any non white in the country. And the spark that lit the flame of racism and injustice in Robeson County was the 1840 General Assembly law prohibiting non-whites from owning firearms.

Without the right to carry a gun, The Lumbee were left without a way to defend themselves and with a prohibited means of hunting. Soon "tied mule" incidents began to occur. The concept was that a white farmer would allow his cattle to graze on an Indian farm or tie his mule somewhere on Indian land. The white farmer would them file a complaint, accusing the Indian of theft of the mule or cattle. With the complaint filed the Indian farmer would be arrested. In order to clear himself of the charges, the Indian land owner had two choices: he could sell a section of his farm to the 'victim' as payment for the allegedly stolen cows or mule. Or, he could work off the price of the cattle or mule through a system of indentured servitude.

The Hero of the Lumbee: The Story of Henry Berry Lowrie

Without justice, defense, or the items necessary for the basics of survival, you enter the world that Henry Berry and his family grew up and existed in. In 1864, a Confederate officer accused Allen Lowrie and his sons of stealing hogs and butchering them for their meat. The local Home Guard was sent in to investigate the matter, and they allegedly found firearms on the property. Attacking the Allen Lowrie Family was a wise idea on the part of the white farmer. The Allen Lowrie Family was a wealthy, well respected Native family, with an enormous estate for that time of over 2,000 acres. To shatter them would maintain the fear level in the rest of the Native community. Allen and his sons were arrested and Mary Cumba Lowrie and her daughters were physically assaulted. William and Allen were executed for their crimes. Henry Berry was not home during this violation. He arrived to find his mother and sisters assaulted, his brother and father murdered. He promised to to find justice for his family's death and the dishonor committed upon his entire family.

Shortly after the murders on the Lowrie farm, Henry Berry's gang was beginning to form. Composed of three Lowrie brothers: Henry, Steve, and Tom; two Lowrie cousins: Calvin Oxendine and Henderson Oxendine; two brothers-in-law: Andrew and Boss Strong; two Black men: George Applewhite and Eli Ewin (known as Shoemaker John); John Dial and William Chavis, and a White man, Zach McLaughlin, the Lowrie gang was ready to evoke justice based on the very principles that this nation was founded on: "...with Liberty and Justice for All.". With their families in their hearts, justice in their hands, and a love of this land they called home, Henry Berry and his gang began the pursuit of righting the wrong that was shouldered on his family and the other nonwhites of the county.

Henry and his band supported themselves on the kindness of their community and the community did what it could to lend its support. With the Civil War gaining strength , the Confederate soldiers and government were beginning their swing into power in the South. Non-whites were seen as free labor in the Confederate effort. The slightest indiscretion would see any healthy male sentenced to doing time along the Cape Fear creating barricades and strengthening the forts.

Hunger was quickly overtaking the minorities of Robeson County. Unable to hunt with a gun, unable to farm without the fear of being seen by a Confederate authority who would demand the healthy men for service, a food shortage began that Henry Berry could not ignore. Soon into the his siege, Henry Berry and his band began to realize the strain that their entire community was feeling. Most of the Indian owned land was being left untended, crops were abandoned and the young men were no where in sight. Seeing the struggle that the Robeson County natives were under, Henry Berry and his followers began to make visits into the more affluent sections of Robeson County. They would take from those who had more and then pass out the surplus to the needy families in the community. Many families could not have survived if it weren't for those raids by the band of Henry Berry.

Lowrie's gang continued its actions into Reconstruction. Republican governor William Woods Holden outlawed Lowrie and his men in 1869, and offered a $12,000 reward for their capture: dead or alive. Lowrie responded with more revenge killings. On December 7, 1865, he married Rhoda Strong. Arrested at his wedding, Henry Berry escaped from jail by filing his way through the jail's bars.

Lowrie's band became a powerful force opposing the postwar conservative Democratic power structure, which was pro-white supremacy. The Lowrie gang robbed and killed numerous people of the establishment. Because of this, they gained the sympathy of the non-white population of Robeson County. The authorities were unable to stop the Lowrie gang, largely because of this support.

Many consider him a Robin Hood, for he robbed (and killed) the powerful in Robeson County. He was also captured three times and found a way to escape each time—once, filing through jail bars. Legend says he single-handedly routed 18 militiamen in one gunfight near the Lumbee River. His last robbery and disappearance contribute greatly to his mystique: In 1872, he mysteriously disappeared after robbing the local sheriff’s office and taking $28,000.

His death is disputed. Some believe he died during or shortly after the heist, but others reported seeing him a few years later sitting quietly at a funeral. In the 1930s, some claimed that he was still alive. One thing for certain, the S12,000 award for his capture was never claimed.

Post-Reconstruction to present

Education and recognition

In 1868 the legislature elected during Reconstruction created a new constitution, which established a public education system for the first time in North Carolina. In an effort to re-establish white supremacy, the following year the state legislature required segregated schools to be established for whites and blacks (in the whites' view of the binary society, free people of color, or African descended, were essentially included in the latter category because of slavery history). The ancestors of the Lumbee, long free, objected to having to send their children to school with the children of newly emancipated slaves.

Following Reconstruction, in 1885, through the effort of the Democratic representative Hamilton MacMillan, the North Carolina legislature formally recognized the people in Robeson County as "Croatan Indians." It authorized them to establish separate schools for their children. By the end of the 19th century, the "Indians of Robeson County" (as they then were named) established schools in eleven of their principal settlements.

In 1887, the Indians of Robeson County petitioned the state legislature to establish a normal school to train Indian teachers for the county's tribal schools. With state permission, they raised the requisite funds, along with some state assistance, which proved inadequate. Several tribal leaders donated money and privately held land for schools. Robeson County's Indian Normal School has evolved into Pembroke State University and later still, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

In 1899, North Carolina Congressional representatives introduced the first bill in Congress to appropriate federal funds to educate the Indian children of Robeson County. They introduced another bill a decade later, and yet another in 1911. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs, T.J. Morgan, responded to Congress and the Croatan Indians, writing that, "so long as the immediate wards of the Government are so insufficiently provided for, I do not see how I can consistently render any assistance to the Croatans or any other civilized tribes." [sic, civilized tribes were defined in contrast to Indians on reservations.] Remnant Indians who were not on reservations were considered United States citizens and the responsibility of state governments, not the federal government.

By the first decade of the 20th century, a North Carolina Representative introduced a federal bill to establish "a normal school for the Indians of Robeson County, North Carolina," to be paid for by the federal government. Charles F. Pierce, U.S. Supervisor of Indian Schools in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, opposed the legislation since, "[a]t the present time it is the avowed policy of the government to require states having an Indian population to assume the burden and responsibility for their education, so far as is possible. The federal government had a relationship and responsibility only to those Indians resident on Indian reservations, who were considered legally to have tribal rather than U.S. and state citizenship.

Ku Klux Klan conflict

During the 1950s, the Lumbee received widespread publicity by making nation wide news when they came into conflict with the Knights of the Ku Klux Clan, a white supremacist organization headed by Klan Grand Dragon James W. "Catfish" Cole. Cole began a campaign of harassment against the Lumbee, claiming they were "mongrels and half-breeds" whose "race mixing" threatened to upset the established order of segregated Jim Crow South. After giving a series of speeches denouncing the "loose morals" of Lumbee women, Cole burned a cross in the front yard of a Lumbee woman in St. Pauls, North Carolina, as a "warning" against "race mixing." Emboldened, Cole called for a Klan rally on January 18, 1958, near the town of Maxton. The Lumbee, led by recent veterans of the Second World War, decided to disrupt the rally.

The "Battle of Hayes Pond", also known as "the Klan Rout", made national news. Although Cole had predicted over 5,000 Klansmen would show up for the rally, less than 100 and possibly as few as three dozen actually attended. Approximately 500 Lumbee, armed with guns and sticks, gathered in a nearby swamp, and when they realized they possessed an overwhelming numerical advantage, attacked the Klansmen. The Lumbee encircled the Klansmen, making whooping noises and then opening gunfire. Four Klansmen were wounded in the first volley, none seriously. The remaining Klansmen panicked and fled. Cole himself fled into the swamps and was subsequently arrested and tried for inciting a riot. The Lumbee celebrated the victory by burning Klan regalia and dancing around the open flames. The news coverage was so great that the Lumbee, for a time, operated a public relations office in Pembroke to handle inquiries

The Battle of Hayes Pond, which marked the end of Klan activity in Robeson County, is celebrated as a Lumbee holiday.

Organization and seeking federal recognition

The people achieved state recognition as "Croatan Indians" in the 1880s. In 1911, at the request of the tribe, the North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation changing their name to "Indians of Robeson County." In 1913, over the objections of the existing federally recognized Cherokee tribes in Oklahoma, the North Carolina legislators added "Cherokee" to the name of the Robeson County tribe. The tribe petitioned for federal recognition as "Cherokee" Indians, but it was denied. From 1913 to 1932, the tribe gained introduction of bills in Congress to change their name to Cherokee and give federal recognition, but these did not gain approval.

In the early 20th century, North Carolina requested federal assistance for information related to the status of Indians in the state. The Southeast tribes had been subject to Indian Removal in the 1830s. Those remaining in the state were considered state and federal citizens; there were no Indian reservations in the state. The legislature was chiefly reviewing issues related to the state's treatment of the remaining Cherokee.

In 1915, the report of Special Indian Agent O.M. McPherson of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, was sent to the North Carolina legislature. He primarily reported on the Cherokee in the state. He noted that the Indians of Robeson County had developed an extensive system of schools and a political organization. He thought that, as state-recognized Indians, they were eligible to attend federal Indian schools. But, as they were highly assimilated, speaking English and working in the common state culture, he doubted that the federal Indian schools could meet their needs. Congress did not provide any additional funding to support education for Indians in North Carolina.

In 1924, the Cherokee Indians of North Carolina petitioned for federal recognition as "Siouan Indians;" their request was rejected by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Congressional committees continued to refuse to have the federal government assume educational responsibility for the Indians of Robeson County, as they were state citizens and the state's responsibility.

Federally commissioned reports

In the last century, there were numerous federally commissioned studies conducted by anthropologists, ethnologists, and historians regarding the Lumbee tribe.

In 1912, legislation was introduced to the Senate to establish a school for the tribe. When the bill was sent to committee, the committee requested information from the Department of the Interior. The Indian Office sent Charles F. Pierce, the Supervisor of Indian Schools, to Robeson County to conduct a study of the tribe. Pierce reported that the state and county were providing funds to educate the 1,976 school-age Indian children. He also stated in his report that "…one would readily class a large majority [of the Lumbee] as being at least three-fourths Indian".

On April 28, 1914, the Senate called for an investigation into the status and conditions of the Indians of Robeson and adjoining counties. The Indian Office sent Special Indian Agent O.M. McPherson to the county to obtain information regarding the educational system of the tribe. In his report, submitted to the Senate on January 4, 1915, he wrote: While these Indians are essentially an agricultural people, I believe them to be as capable of learning the mechanical trades as the average white youth. The foregoing facts suggest the character of the educational institution that should be established for them, in case Congress sees fit to make the necessary appropriation, namely the establishment of an agricultural and mechanical school, in which domestic science shall also be taught.

John Reed Swanton, a noted anthropologist-historian, was called upon in the 1930's to provide his opinion of the origins of the Lumbee tribe. His opinion was as follows: The evidence available thus seems to indicate that the Indians of Robeson County who have been called Croatan and Cherokee are descended mainly from certain Siouan tribes of which the most prominent were the Cheraw and Keyauwee, but they probably included as well remnants of the Eno, and Shakori, and very likely some of the coastal groups such as the Waccamaw and Cape Fears. It is not improbable that a few families or small groups of Algonquian or Iroquoian may have cast their lot with this body of people, but contributions from such sources are relatively insignificant. Although there is some reason to think that the Keyauwee tribe actually contributed more blood to the Robeson County Indians than any other, the name is not widely known, whereas that of the Cheraw has been familiar to historians, geographers and ethnologists in one form or another since the time of De Soto and has a firm position in the cartography of the region. The Cheraws, too, seem to have taken a leading part in opposing the colonists during and immediately after the Yamasee uprising. Therefore, if the name of any tribe is to be used in connection with this body of six or eight thousand people, that of the Cheraw would, in my opinion, be most appropriate.

In 1935, Indian Agent Fred Baker was sent to Robeson County in response to a proposed resettlement project for the Lumbee and an attempt to organize as a tribe under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Baker reported that: …I find that the sense of racial solidarity is growing stronger and that the members of this tribe are cooperating more and more with each other with the object in view of promoting the mutual benefit of all the members. It is clear to my mind that sooner of later government action will have to be taken in the name of justice and humanity to aid them.

D'Arcy McNickle, from the United States Office of Indian Affairs, came to Robeson County in 1936 to collect affidavits and other data from Lumbee people registering as Indian under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. McNickle stated, "…there are reasons for believing that until comparatively recently some remnant of language still persisted among these people".

In the 1960's, Smithsonian ethnologists Dr. William Sturtevant and Dr. Samuel Stanley describe the Lumbee as "…larger than any other Indian group in the United States except the Navajo", and give a population of 31,380 Lumbee (from North and South Carolina) in 1960.

Indian New Deal

The federal Indian Reorganization Act in 1934 was chiefly directed at Native American tribes on reservations. It encouraged them to re-establish self-government, which had been diminished since the founding of reservations and the supervision by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

At this time, the Indians of Robeson County renewed their petition for federal recognition as a tribe. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) sent John R. Swanton, an anthropologist from the Bureau of American Ethnology, and the Indian Agent Fred Baker to evaluate the claim of the Indians of Robeson County to historical continuity as an identified Indian community. In 1934, the future Lumbee revived their claim to Cherokee identity, joining the National Congress of American Indians under the name, "Cherokee Indians of Robeson County.

Swanton speculated that the group were of Cheraw and other eastern Siouan tribal descent, as these were the predominant Native American peoples historically in that area. At this point, the Indians of Robeson County split on their identification as Native Americans: one group supported the Cheraw theory of ancestry. The other faction believed they were descended from the Cherokee, although the tribe had historically occupied territory in the mountains and western part of the state rather than the area of Robeson County. North Carolina's politicians abandoned support for the federal recognition effort until the tribal factions agreed.

In 1952, under the leadership of D.F. Lowrie, the tribe voted to adopt the name "Lumbee." The North Carolina legislature recognized the name change in 1953. The tribe petitioned for federal recognition.

Lumbee Act

The Lumbee Act, also known as H.R. 4656, passed by Congress in late May 1956 and signed by President Dwight David Eisenhower, recognized the Lumbee as having Native American origins and being an Indian people. It withheld recognition as a "tribe", as agreed to by the Lumbee leaders. The Lumbee Act designated the Indians of Robeson, Hoke, Scotland, and Cumberland counties as the "Lumbee Indians of North Carolina." HR 4656 stipulated that "[n]othing in this Act shall make such Indians eligible for any services performed by the United States for Indians because of their status as Indians." It also forbids a Government relationship with the Lumbees and forbids them from applying through the BARS, B.I.A. process for recognition. This restriction as to eligibility for services was a condition which tribal representatives agreed to at the time in order to achieve recognition as Indians. The Lumbee have never been a sovereign nation or had a treaty with the federal government. They lived the same as any other colonial and U.S. citizens as individuals. Lumbee spokesmen repeatedly testified that they were not seeking financial services; they said they only wanted recognition as American Indians.

Petitioning for full federal recognition

In 1987, the Lumbees petitioned the U.S. Department of the Interior for full federal recognition. This is a prerequisite to receive the financial benefits accorded federally recognized Native American tribes. These were generally associated with tribes who had reservations established for them and a history of a tribal relationship with the federal government. The petition was denied because of the Lumbee Act.

The Lumbee resumed lobbying Congress, testifying in 1988, 1989, 1991 and 1993 with bids for full federal recognition by congressional action. All of these attempts failed in the face of opposition by the Department of Interior and by the recognized Cherokee tribes, including North Carolina's Eastern Band of the Cherokee, some of the North Carolina Congressional delegation, and some representatives from other states with federally recognized tribes.

Some of the North Carolina delegation recommended an amendment to the 1956 Act that would enable the Lumbee to apply to the Department of Interior under the regular process for recognition. The tribe made renewed bids for recognition with financial benefits in 2004 and 2006. In 2007 North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Dole introduced the Lumbee Recognition Act.

On January 6, 2009, US Representative Mike McIntyre introduced legislation (H.R. 31) to grant them full federal recognition. The bill has since garnered the support of over 180 co-sponsors, including that of both North Carolina Senators (Richard Burr and Kay Hagan). On June 3, 2009, the US House of Representatives voted 240 to 179 for federal recognition for the Lumbee tribe, acknowledging that they are the descendants of the Cheraw tribe. The vote will go on to the US Senate. On October 22, 2009, the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs approved a bill for federal recognition of the Lumbee. The bill includes a no-gaming clause. The bill still needs approval by the full Senate and the President before becoming law. The Senate adjourned for 2010 without taking action.

The Lumbee people are still fighting for full Federal Recognition. They are a proud Native American tribe that has survived oppression, persecution, and segregation for over a century.

Theories of origins

Lost Colony of Roanoke

In 1885, the politician Hamilton McMillan proposed the theory that the Lumbee were descendants of England's "Lost Colony of Roanoke", who intermarried with what he described as the "Croatan" Indians. The Roanoke colony disappeared during a difficult winter, but reportedly left the word "Croatoan" cut into a tree. This is considered legend and not supported by any mainstream historians. The scholarly consensus is that the colonists died of starvation on the island. Mainstream historians and anthropologists have uniformly rejected the McMillan "Lost Colony" theory of origins of the Lumbee. The Lumbee have largely discarded the theory in their petitions for federal recognition as a tribe.

The state legislature passed a bill in 1885 to recognize the tribe as the "Croatan Indians of Robeson County. Following Reconstruction and the success of a biracial Populist movement, the Democrats were seeking to consolidate their political power in North Carolina. McMillan's success in gaining an Indian classification for these free people of color gave them a distinct social status. They were seeking separation from descendants of slaves, a mere quarter of a century after the Civil War. The Croatan Indians voted for the Democrats and were authorized to have Indian schools in Robeson County.

Lewis Barton, a 20th-century local historian in North Carolina, says that records of the disappearance of the English colony are not inconsistent with accounts in the 1730s of Native-European mixed-bloods in Robeson County. As noted above, his theory is not supported by mainstream historians.

Siouan descent

The 1915 McPherson Report said in reference to the Cheraw (quoting the Handbook of American Indians, 1906): “Their numbers in 1715, according to Rivers, was 510, but this estimate probably included the Keyauwee. Being still subject to attack by the Iroquois, they finally—between 1726 and 1739—became incorporated with the Catawba…. They are mentioned as with the Catawba but speaking their own distinct dialect as late as 1743 (Adair). The last notice of them in 1768, when their remnant, reduced by war and disease to 50 or 60, were still living with the Catawba.” The McPherson Report also noted that the Catawba and smaller tribes suffered high fatalities in smallpox epidemics of 1738.

John Swanton continued research on Native Americans of the Southeast. In 1933, he wrote that the Siouan-speaking Keyauwee and Cheraw of the Carolina Piedmont were the most likely Indian ancestors of the people known from 1885 to 1912 as Croatan Indians. He suggested likely remnants of the Waccamaw and the Woccon of the central coastal region of North Carolina. In the 21st century, these tribes are extinct as groups, except for a small band of Waccamaw. They live on the shores of Lake Waccamaw and have been recognized by the state.

Swanton traced the migration of tribes in the East. In addition to the Keyauwee, Cheraw, Bear River, Waccamaw, and Woccon already mentioned, he noted that the Eno and Waxhaw migrated from Piedmont, South Carolina northeast to the north-central part of North Carolina, then back south again to a point on the Pee Dee River just south of the border of the two Carolinas.

By the 1770s, the Indians that were once distinct tribal communities called Cheraw, Keyauwee, Hatteras, Waxhaw, Sugaree, Eno, and Shakori found themselves on the Lumbee River, near the border that now divides North and South Carolina. Some of these Indians calling themselves Cheraw, Saura, or Sara, moved further southward to join with the Catawba, but the majority of this Indian group settled near the pines, web of wetlands, and river that bear the name of the Lumbee.

Tuscarora descent

Some Robeson County residents identify with the Tuscarora, who historically inhabited an area to the north near the Roanoke and Neuse rivers. Having migrated south from present-day New York and the Great Lakes area, the Iroquoian-speaking tribe had become established in North Carolina prior to the period of colonization. After defeat by British colonists and their Indian allies in 1713 in the Tuscarora War, about a third of the surviving Tuscarora gradually migrated north to New York. By 1722, they had been accepted by the Iroquois League as its sixth nation. Tuscarora tribal leaders in New York determined that the migration was complete by 1802, that any Tuscarora still in North Carolina were now separate and not under the same council fire. Essentially, they declared that any Tuscarora who had failed to migrate to New York by that time would no longer be considered members of the tribe. About a third of the Tuscarora remained in North Carolina, but moved south from the ancestral homelands around the Roanoke River to the Lumbee River and Coharie River, forming the Lumbee and Coharie people.

Cherokee descent

In his unpublished 1934 master's thesis, graduate student Clifton Oxendine put forward the theory that the Lumbee descend from Iroquoian-speaking Cherokee. Citing "oral traditions" among some Lumbee, Oxendine suggested that the Lumbee were the descendants of Cherokee warriors who fought with the British under Colonel John Barnwell of South Carolina in the Tuscarora campaign of 1711-13. He said the Cherokee settled in the swamps of Robeson County when the campaign ended, along with their Tuscarora captives. These individuals, he theorized, were the ancestors of the Lumbee.

The Oxendine theory of Cherokee origin has been uniformly rejected by mainstream scholars. First, there were no Cherokee listed in the record of Barnwell's company. Second, the Lumbee do not speak Cherokee or any other Indian language. Third, Oxendine's claims of oral traditions are completely unsubstantiated; no such oral traditions survive or are documented by any other scholar. Although at one point embracing the idea of Cherokee origin, the Lumbees themselves have abandoned this idea in their attempts to obtain tribal recognition.

The federally recognized Cherokee Nation categorically rejects any connection to the Lumbee, dismissing the Oxendine claims as "absurd" and disputing that the Lumbee are Indian at all. Even though they are a partial federal and state recognized tribe.

Government

According to its constitution, adopted in 2000 when the tribe organized its government, the Lumbee elect their tribal council and chairman. The terms are for four years. Paul Brooks, the chairman at the time of this writing, elected in December 2011.

Services

After state recognition, the tribe established a normal school to train teachers for Indian schools in Robeson County. The Lumbee Tribe operated primary and high schools for its children. That has developed and been integrated into the state's University of North Carolina system. The University at Pembroke is now open to all races.

Veteran Affairs

Veterans Affairs of the Lumbee Tribe offers assistance with educational benefits, community resources, and assistance for homeless veterans. They can also help with concerns such as: how to get into the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, how to get prescription medications from the Veterans Affairs pharmacy, and how to arrange transportation to the VA Medical Center for appointments.

Elder Services

The mission of The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina Elder Services is to assist Elders in maintaining an independent, healthy, and productive life by providing opportunities for services though a network of various community resources. Elder Services will support and uphold quality of life for our Elders though love, respect, and honor.

Youth Services

Youth Services provide the children of the Lumbee Tribe a healthy, positive enviroment. The Lumbee Tribe is committed to protect and support the tribal youth through their growth into becoming contributing members in the community. Programs offered include:

• Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina Boys and Girl Club (located at multiple locations within Robeson County)
• Cultural Enrichment Classes
• Tobacco Prevention & Cessation Program
• Homicide and Motor Vehicle Death Program

Teen Impact/Volunteerism and Community Service

Teen Impact is a tribal based community service club for teenage members of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. The Volunteer Program of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina assists and mentors the teen volunteer as he/she donates service hours to a community cause of their choice

Department of Energy

The Tribal Low Income Energy Assistance Program(LIEAP) provides a one-time payment to assist eligible American Indian families pay their heating cost. The application process is held the first two weeks of November each year.

Housing

The mission of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina Housing Program is to provide opportunities for affordable, safe and sanitary housing options for Lumbee Indian families in the service areas of Cumberland, Hoke, Robeson and Scotland Counties. Programs offered under the Lumbee housing program include:

• Housing/Rehabilitation Program
• Section 184 Loan Guarantee Program
• Down Payment Assistance Program
• Home-ownership Program
• New Construction Program
• Transitional Housing Program
• 37-Stock Program
• Emergency/Rental Assistance Program
• Mortgage Assistance Program
• Housing RFP's

Lumbee Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation Services

This program provides vocational rehabilitation to any Lumbee Indian with a disability livig in the Lumbee Tribal area. The objective of the program is to prepare for, obtain or retain gainful employment. It is our goal to improve the quality of life for Lumbee Indians witht is our goal to improve the quality of lifr for Lumbee Indians with disabilites.

Tuscarora Tribe of North Carolina

In the 1920s, some rural Robeson County inhabitants made contact with individual members of the Mohawk Nation, traditionally part of the Iroquois Confederacy when it was based in present-day New York. They began to organize and form a government under the Tuscarora, independent of the Indians of Robeson County (the later Lumbee). The group has not been recognized by the United States government nor by the federally recognized Tuscarora Nation of New York. By the second half of the twentieth century, after internal conflict, several independent bands had formed in North Carolina under the Tuscarora name.

Because of the historic determination in the 19th century by the Tuscarora Tribal Council that remnants of the people in North Carolina were no longer part of the tribe, the federally recognized Tuscarora Nation of New York contests the efforts by people in Robeson County to claim or be recognized under Tuscarora tribal identity. The Tuscarora Nation asserts that descendants of the people who remained behind cannot be recognized as successors to the tribe and its traditions. As of 2010, the North Carolina bands united in the interim Tuscarora Nation One Fire Council in Robeson County; they are organizing their government prior to seeking state and federal recognition as a separate sovereign tribe, not enrollment in the Tuscarora Nation of New York.

See also

• List of notable Lumbees
• Timeline of Lumbee history

References

• "Bad medicine for the Klan: North Carolina Indians break up Kluxers’ anti-Indian meeting", Life, 44 (27 January 1958), pp. 26–28.
• Blu, Karen I. The Lumbee Problem: The Making of an American Indian People. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-8032-6197-6.
• DeWitt, Robert M. The Red Wolf Series (comics), New York, beginning 1971
• Dial, Adolph L. and David K. Eliades. The Only Land I Know: A History of the Lumbee Indians, Syracuse University Press, 1996. ISBN 978-0-8156-0360-3.
• Evans, William McKee. To Die Game: The Story of the Lowry Band: Indian Guerillas of Reconstruction. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1977. ISBN 978-0-8071-0379-1.
• Hauptman,Laurence M. “River Pilots and Swamp Guerillas: Pamunkey and Lumbee Unionists,” in Between Two Fires: American Indians in the Civil War. New York: Free Press, 1995. ISBN 978-0-684-82668-4.
• Hawks, Francis. History of North Carolina. Vol. I. Fayetteville, NC: E.J. Hale & Son, 1858.
• Hoffman, Margaret M. Colony of North Carolina (1735–1764), Abstracts of Land Patents, Volume I. Roanoke Rapids, NC: Roanoke News Company, 1982. ISBN 978-1-85471-282-0.
• Houghton, Richard H., III. “The Lumbee: ‘Not a Tribe.’ The Nation. 257.21 (20 December 1993)
• Lawson, John. A New Voyage to Carolina. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1967. ISBN 978-0-8078-4126-6.
• Locklear, Lawrence T. “Down by the Ol’ Lumbee: An Investigation into the Origin and Use of the Word ‘Lumbee’ Prior to 1952.” Native South 3 (2010): 103-117.
• McMillan, Hamilton. Sir Walter Raleigh's Lost Colony: An Historical Sketch of the Attempts of Sir Walter Raleigh to Establish a Colony in Virginia, with the Traditions of an Indian Tribe in North Carolina. Indicating the Fate of the Colony of Englishmen Left on Roanoke Island in 1587, Wilson, NC: Advance Press, 1888.
• McPherson, O.M. online text Report on Condition and Tribal Rights of the Indians of Robeson and Adjoining Counties of North Carolina. 63rd Congress, 3rd session, January 5, 1915. Senate Document 677 (This was submitted to the legislature of North Carolina, as they were considering issues related especially to the Cherokee and other tribal groups).
• Milling, Chapman J. Red Carolinians. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1940.
• Norment, Mary C. The Lowrie History, As Acted in Part by Henry Berry Lowrie, the Great North Carolina Bandit. Weldon, NC: Harrell's Printing House, 1895.
• Oxendine, Clifton. A Social and Economic History of the Indians of Robeson County North Carolina, M.A. Thesis, George Peabody College for Teachers, 1934.
• Rights, Douglas L. The American Indian in North Carolina. Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, 1957.
• Ross, Thomas E. American Indians in North Carolina: Geographic Interpretations. Southern Pines: Karo Hollow Press, 1999. ISBN 978-1-891026-01-0.
• Sider, Gerald M. Living Indian Histories: Lumbee and Tuscarora People in North Carolina. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003 (reprint). ISBN 978-0-8078-5506-5.
• Thomas, Robert K. “A Report on Research of Lumbee Origins."; Lumbee River Legal Services. The Lumbee petition. Prepared in cooperation with the Lumbee Tribal Enrollment Office. Julian T. Pierce and Cynthia Hunt-Locklear, authors. Jack Campisi and Wesley White, consultants. Pembroke: Lumbee River Legal Services, 1987.
• Townsend, George Alfred. The Swamp Outlaws, or, The North Carolina Bandits: Being a Complete History of the Modern Rob Roys and Robin Hoods. New York: Robert M. DeWitt, 1872.
• U.S. Bureau of the Census. The First Census of the U.S.: 1790. Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States: North Carolina. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1908.
• Robert, Lawrence C. "The State of Robeson" New York: J.J. Little and Ives Company, 1939.
• Cameron, Jno. D. "The Croatan Indians of Robeson," North Carolina: The Fayetteville Observer, February 12, 1885
• Gorman, C. John “Gorman Papers,” State archives,c. 1875 and with the Gorman family, Durham N.C. c. 1917
• History of the Old Cheraws, Alexander Gregg 1819-1893
• BIA BARS.. H.R.4656 shall, from and after the ratification of this Act, be known and "Designated" as Lumbee Indians of North Carolina,Whereas these people are naturally and understandably proud of their heritage, and desirous of establishing their social status and preserving their history .Public Law 570 | Chapter 375

June 7, 1956 | [H. R. 4656] 70 Stat. 254

• 1.PETITION OF CROATAN INDIANS.. To the Congress of the United States,December 1887. For recognition as "Croatan Indians"

"The undersigned, your petitioners,a part of the Croatan Indians..Swear Descent from the Lost Colony of Roanoke" The Bill did not pass. 2. 1910 (January 24).Introduction of a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives to change the tribe's name from Croatan to Cherokee. The bill did not pass. 3. 1913 (July 10).Introduction of a bill in the U.S.Senate to change the tribe's name from Indians of Robeson County to Cherokee Indians of Robeson County. The bill did not pass. 4. 1924 (March 20).Introduction of a bill in the U.S. House to change the tribal name to Cherokee. The bill did not pass. 5. 1932 (May 9).A bill was introduced in the U.S.Senate to recognize and enroll the tribe as Cherokee Indians.The bill did not pass.

External links

• Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, Official Web Site
• Tuscarora Nation One Fire Council, Official Website
• The Center for Lumbee Studies
• "Lumbee Language and the Lumbee Indian Culture", Native Languages
• "The Lumbee Indians": An annotated bibliography
• "Lumbee for Kids"
• Strike at the Wind Outdoor Drama