Lumbee, a historical Indian tribe whose ancestors were Indians of indeterminate tribal affiliations, Anglos, and African Americans. The name is taken from the Lumber (formerly Lumbee) River.
Location From colonial times to the present, Lumbee Indians have lived in and near Robeson County, in southeastern North Carolina, and also in several counties in northeastern South Carolina. This region was formerly characterized by extensive marshland. There are also Lumbee communities in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Detroit.
Population In the mid-1990s there were about 48,000 members of the Lumbee Indian tribe.
Language The Lumbee have always spoken English.
Historical Information
History Lumbee Indians have lived in North Carolina since at least the mid-eighteenth century. Their origins are obscure. They are probably descended from Cheraw Indians and other local Siouan speakers. Their ancestors may also include British settlers from the "lost" colony of Roanoke, Virginia (1587), who may have joined Hatteras Indians living on Croatoan Sound. There are at least 20 surnames of Roanoke colonists among contemporary Lumbees. Their ancestors may also include Cherokee, Tuscarora, and Croatoan Indians.
The marshy character of the Lumber and Pee Dee River area made it a likely haven for refugees of all sorts. Lumbee Indians, free frontier farmers, were first encountered by British and Scots settlers in the early eighteenth century. At that time they had no Indian traditions or customs, although their skin color was suggestive of an Indian origin. They maintained little contact with Anglo settlers, most of whom were more interested in the better and more accessible land farther west.
In the 1760s, the Lumbee experienced increasing competition with Highland Scots settlers. Land incursions were resisted where possible, but Lumbees soon lost much land to the Scots and to the tidewater planters, often by fraudulent means. The state of North Carolina formally disenfranchised them, along with other "persons of color," in 1835.
During the Civil War, Lumbees were conscripted into service as forced labor; when they resisted they were attacked by soldiers. Lumbee resistance to this oppression was led by Henry Berry Lowry (or Lowerie), who led raids on plantations to feed the poor of all races. Lowry kept up his campaign for justice even after the war, taking on as well the Republican (Reconstruction) Party, which sided with the Democrats and branded Lowry’s organization as bandits. He eluded capture at least until his disappearance in 1872.
The Lumbees pressed their claim for state and federal recognition after war’s end, but with the defeat of the multicultural Lowry movement, their identity turned more inward. They accepted a status as a third racial caste, with more rights than African Americans but not as many as whites. In 1885 the North Carolina General Assembly recognized them as "Croatoan Indians" and allowed them to operate their own schools, segregated from whites but apart from African Americans. A normal (teacher training) school was also opened, which later became a college and, around 1970, Pembroke State University. In 1911 the North Carolina legislature dubbed them "Robeson County Indians." This was changed to "Cherokee Indians of Robeson County" until protests by the Cherokees forced a withdrawal of that name. The people filed an unsuccessful request for federal recognition as the Siouan Tribes of the Lumber River.
Most Lumbees continued farming until after World War II. They were recognized by the state of North Carolina as Lumbee Indians in 1953. Partial recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and do not receive most federal services. The Lumbee Regional Development Association, Inc., has been determined to be ineligible to petition for official BIA recognition. The Lumbee Indians have been recognized by the state of North Carolina since 1953.
Daily Life Lumbees have held important political offices, including that of mayor, in Pembroke. Kinship networks help the people maintain a Native American identity. Most Robeson County Lumbees belong to all-Indian Protestant churches. The annual homecoming and parade in July bring thousands of people together from all over the country. Local schools (students and teachers) are mostly Lumbee. There is a community newspaper. As members of the Eastern Seaboard Coalition of Native Americans, the Lumbees (and other un- or incompletely recognized tribes) attempt to obtain some BIA benefits.
In 1958, thousands of Lumbees stood up to the Ku Klux Klan and drove it from Robeson County. Charlie Warriax (left) and Simeone Oxendine (right) proudly display the Ku Klux Klan banner they confiscated when the Lumbees broke up a KKK rally near Maxton, North Carolina. Oxendine, a Veterans of Foreign Wars district commander, is wearing a VFW hat.
Contemporary Information
Government/Reservations The Lumbee River Regional Development Association is located in Robeson County, North Carolina. Fourteen elected directors represent nine county districts. The directors elect their officers.
Economy Lumbees are integrated into the local economy at all levels.
Legal Status Lumbees have been federally acknowledged since 1956, but they are not fully federal recognition came in 1956, although the tribe was prohibited from receiving federal benefits. In 1958, thousands of Lumbees stood up to the Ku Klux Klan and drove them from Robeson County. They lost control of their school system in the 1960s. The tribe formed the Lumbee River Regional Development Association, a nonprofit corporation, in 1968.
