The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina has lengthy stood as a proud and resilient Indigenous neighborhood, acknowledged for its distinctive cultural id and ongoing wrestle for federal recognition. Nonetheless, a lesser-known however equally vital facet of their historical past is their deep-rooted connection to African Individuals.
The Lumbee individuals are descendants of Europeans and freed/enslaved Africans, forming a wealthy and sophisticated heritage that challenges typical narratives about race and id in America. This mixing of cultures created a novel ethnic group that, whereas self-identifying as Indigenous, carries vital African ancestry.
Early beginnings: A cultural crossroads
In 1756, the Normal Meeting handed a legislation imposing a tax on all free Negroes, Mulattos, and Mestizos.” This required them to pay a tax based mostly on their racial classification. This capitation tax remained in place till 1865, requiring them to pay it for 109 years.
On April 20, 1794, free African Individuals in Marlboro County, South Carolina, petitioned the legislature to repeal this discriminatory tax. Signers included Richard Evins (Evans), Nathaniel Conbie (Cumbo), George Collins, Cudworth Oxendine, William Swett and lots of others. Some who supported the petition, akin to Joseph Bass and Levi Gibson, have been thought of white.
Scuffletown, later generally known as Pembroke, North Carolina, grew to become a refuge for these people fleeing South Carolina’s oppressive tax on free individuals of colour.
African American folklore additionally hyperlinks the Lumbee neighborhood to the Underground Railroad. One oral custom tells of mixed-race youngsters, the results of relationships between enslaved girls and their enslavers, who have been despatched by way of the railroad till they arrived in Scuffletown. Their presence there was reportedly on account of slave mistresses looking for to rid themselves of reminders of their husbands’ indiscretions.
Throughout the 1860s and 1870s, a infamous outlaw group terrorized Robeson County, garnering nationwide consideration. Newspapers and wished adverts described them as “Negroes.” Their chief, Henry Berry Lowry, gave an interview whereas imprisoned in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1889, by which he described his ancestry as a mixture of Portuguese and African as an alternative of Indian.
Census information from the identical period recognized Lumbee ancestors as “mulattos.” Within the 1800s US census, a “mulatto” was outlined as somebody of combined African and European ancestry, usually thought of to have not less than some seen hint of African descent, and was first formally added as a class within the 1850 census; census takers have been instructed to categorize people as mulatto based mostly on their look, primarily judging their “diploma of black blood” by way of visible commentary.
Resistance and id in a segregated south
All through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Lumbees confronted systemic racism and exclusion. Their ambiguous racial classification made it troublesome for them to navigate a segregated society. Whereas some Lumbee sought to distance themselves from their Black ancestry to achieve social and authorized recognition as an Indigenous group, others embraced their multiracial heritage.
Throughout Reconstruction and the Jim Crow period, Lumbee individuals resisted racial discrimination and efforts to drive them into Black colleges and establishments. By the Eighties, they’d turn into a big voting bloc that sought to keep away from classification as “Negro.”
The idea of Indian id as distinct from African Individuals gained traction in 1885 when North Carolina Democrats sought to impose Jim Crow legal guidelines. Hamilton McMillan, a Democrat from Robeson County, ran for the Normal Meeting and sought Lumbee votes by promising them a faculty and a historic id.
McMillan capitalized on the resentment amongst free African Individuals, who disliked being compelled into the identical colleges as previously enslaved individuals. He helped move a legislation permitting them to ascertain their very own separate colleges. To strengthen their id, McMillan revised an present historic narrative about Virginia Dare and the “Misplaced Colony” of Roanoke, claiming that the colonists had combined with pleasant Indigenous individuals, forming the ancestors of these residing in colonial Robeson County. He named them “Croatan Indians.”
The Indian schedule within the 1800s census was a particular part of the census that included further questions on American Indians. The schedule was added to the final census and was normally positioned on the finish of the county. There have been no Indians listed in Robeson County till 1900 – after McMillian’s revisionist historical past.
White residents ridiculed the title, calling them “Cros” after Jim Crow, prompting the neighborhood to rename themselves “Cherokee Indians of Robeson County” in 1913, “Siouan Indians of Lumber River” in 1934-1935, and at last, “Lumbee Indians” in 1956, when the U.S. Congress granted them restricted recognition. The latter title modifications have been partly on account of opposition from federally acknowledged Cherokee and Sioux tribes, who lobbied towards Lumbee efforts to make use of these names – and in later years have fought towards their full federal recognition.
Within the Thirties, the U.S. authorities tried to categorise people racially utilizing assessments such because the “comb take a look at.” If a comb handed easily by way of an individual’s hair, they may qualify as Indian; if not, they have been labeled as Negro. This follow divided many households alongside racial traces.
The battle for federal recognition and racial politics
When securing recognition below the Lumbee Act of 1956, the tribe agreed to not pursue monetary advantages related to federal recognition. Nonetheless, in 1969, they renewed their efforts to acquire full federal standing.
A serious level of competition of their wrestle for recognition has been their mixed-race ancestry. Some opponents have used their African lineage to problem their Indigenous id, reinforcing outdated concepts about racial purity in Native American id. Traditionally, payments recognizing the Lumbee have handed within the Home however stalled within the Senate, reportedly on account of whispers that they’re “African American.”
Throughout the 2016, 2020, and 2024 presidential elections, Donald Trump’s marketing campaign acknowledged the importance of Lumbee votes, aggressively courting the 55,000 members of the tribe. On January 23, 2025, President Trump issued a memo titled “Federal Recognition for the Lumbee Tribe.” Whereas it gave the looks of progress, it didn’t change the basic want for congressional approval. The chief order was largely symbolic.
Regardless of these political maneuvers, the Lumbees proceed to say their sovereignty, emphasizing that Indigenous id is rooted in neighborhood, tradition, and self-determination slightly than racial purity.
Within the period of DNA testing, youthful Lumbee generations usually categorical confusion when their outcomes present no hint of Indigenous ancestry. This underscores the complexities of racial id and the way it’s outlined past genetics.
A legacy of energy and unity
Right now, the Lumbees have fun their wealthy heritage. Their historical past exemplifies the resilience of mixed-race communities which have thrived regardless of systemic efforts to erase or delegitimize their identities. Recognizing the Black presence in Lumbee historical past gives a fuller understanding of America’s racial complexity and honors all those that formed this enduring legacy.
Robeson County and Pembroke right this moment
Regardless of their wealthy cultural heritage, Robeson County and the city of Pembroke proceed to face vital financial and social challenges. The county stays one of the impoverished areas in North Carolina, with excessive unemployment charges, restricted entry to high quality healthcare, and protracted instructional disparities. Many Lumbee households wrestle with generational poverty, and financial alternatives stay scarce, forcing many younger individuals to depart in quest of higher prospects.
Pembroke, as the center of Lumbee tradition, is house to the College of North Carolina at Pembroke, which serves as a beacon of instructional development for the neighborhood. Nonetheless, the financial advantages of the college haven’t totally translated into widespread monetary stability for residents. The city has additionally confronted points with infrastructure growth, small enterprise assist, and crime, which proceed to have an effect on its total progress and prosperity.
Neighborhood leaders and advocates are working to handle these challenges by way of initiatives geared toward financial revitalization, cultural preservation, and improved entry to training and healthcare. Whereas progress has been sluggish, there’s a continued effort to construct a brighter future for Lumbee individuals and the broader Robeson County neighborhood.
The Lumbee story: A testomony to Black and indigenous interconnectedness
At a time when discussions of racial and ethnic id are extra related than ever, the Lumbee story serves as a robust reminder of the interconnectedness of Black and Indigenous histories in the US. Their journey is certainly one of survival, resistance, adaptation, and pleasure in a heritage that defies simple categorization.
