In this segment of our web guide on American Indians, we'll be focusing on the Lumbee people.
The Lumbee are a Native American people who live mainly in southeastern North Carolina. Although they are one of the largest tribes in the nation, they are not recognized by the federal government, although they have state recognition in North Carolina.
The Lumbee are concentrated in Robeson, Hoke, Cumberland, and Scotland counties in North Carolina, where they have been state-recognized as the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina since 1885. In 1956, the U.S. Congress passed the Lumbee Act, which recognized the Lumbees as American Indians but denied them the benefits of a federally recognized tribe.
However, during the early 20th century, several Lumbee migrated north into Maryland to take advantage of the vibrant economy in that area, brought about by the two World Wars and the boom times afterward. Although many of them later returned to North Carolina, others remained in Maryland, primarily in Dundalk and Baltimore, around Patterson Park.
The Lumbees are named for the Lumber River in southeastern North Carolina, and oral traditions place some of the Lumbee families within the boundaries of what is now Robeson County since at least the mid-1700s. However, when the English surveyed the area in the 1750s, they reported that there were no Indians, and, at around the same time, a Welsh timber survey crew also found no Indians there.
Pension records for veterans of the American Revolutionary War in Robeson County included several men with surnames associated with Lumbee families, but they were listed as "Free Persons of Color" in the first federal census.
Following Nat Turner's slave rebellion of 1831, the state legislature abolished suffrage for free people of color, stripping them of various civil and political rights. In 1853, the North Carolina Supreme Court stripped them of the right to possess a firearm.
Early in the Civil War, North Carolina began conscripting laborers to build defenses, including several members of the Lowrie family, a common surname among the Lumbee, then and now. Henry Berry Lowrie and several of his relatives took to the swamps, from where they conducted robberies, raids, and murders against white Robeson County residents and skirmishes with the Confederate Home Guard. Their activities became known as the Lowry War, which gained the sympathy of local Indian families and even some poor whites.
During Reconstruction, all children of color were assigned to black schools, which were dominated by the children of freed slaves. The Lumbee refused to send their children to these schools and demanded separate Indian schools, which was accomplished.
During the 195s, the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan began a campaign against the Lumbees, claiming they were "mongrels" or "half-breeds." When the KKK scheduled a Klan rally near Maxton on January 18, 1958, about a hundred Klansmen were met with about five hundred Lumbee. Four Klansmen were wounded, and the others fled. Known as the Battle of Hayes Pond, this event is celebrated as a Lumbee holiday.
The Lumbee have petitioned for recognition by the federal government several times, in 1888, 1924, 1934, 1988, 1989, 1991, and 1993, but were rejected. Bills were introduced in Congress to grant full federal recognition in 2007, 2009, and 2021, but they failed to pass both houses. During the 2020 presidential campaign, Joe Biden announced his support for federal recognition of the Lumbee tribe but has not acted on this promise as president.
Federal recognition for the Lumbee has met opposition from several American Indian tribes, including the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, the Cheyenne River Sioux of South Dakota, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, and the United South and Eastern Tribes, an intertribal council. Among other things, they fear that granting recognition to the Lumbees would set a precedent for other groups that do not meet the criteria for recognition.
The origins of the Lumbee are murky and often controversial.
One theory holds that the Lumbees were descendants of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, who intermarried with the Croatan Indians. Before disappearing during a difficult winter, a colonist carved the word "Croatan" into a tree.
In the early 1900s, the Lumbee identified as Cherokee Indians, changing their name to the "Cherokee Indians of Robeson County" in 1915. Four years earlier, they had changed their name from the "Croatan Indians" to the generic "Indians of Robeson County."
Efforts for federal recognition by the Lumbee have included claims to Catawba, Cherokee, Cheraw, Keyauwee, and Siouan descent.
Recognized or not, the Lumbee are the focus of this category.
Recommended Resources
A Fight for Recognition: the Lumbee Tribe in Maryland
Published on the Maryland Center for History and Culture website, this article tells the history and struggles of the Lumbee tribe, a Native American group that originated in North Carolina and migrated to Maryland in the 20th century. The cultural and social contributions of the Lumbees to Maryland are highlighted, especially in the Upper Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore, along with its quest for recognition by the federal government, for the preservation of its identity.
https://www.mdhistory.org/a-fight-for-recognition-the-lumbee-tribe-in-maryland/
Ashley Minner is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, and, as an artist, her work is represented in several prominent collections, including the "Ashley Minner Collection" at the Albin O. Kuhn Library of the University of Maryland in Baltimore County. An introduction, a curriculum vitae, an artist's statement, press mentions, publications, several photographs depicting her art, childhood, family, and other scenes, an email address, and an online contact form.
https://ashleyminnerart.com/
Creative Natives Lumbee Artists
Specializing in functional Native American art and jewelry, the site highlights and offers Lumbee artwork for sale from the website. The artists are introduced, and their work is displayed online, with online shopping capabilities. In separate sections of the site, Illustrations by Elena features her drawings on vinyl stickers, and JLJ Design LLC features Lichtenberg wood burning, also known as fractal wood burning artwork in various configurations. Custom orders are available.
https://www.creativenativeslumbeeartist.com/
A member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, Jessica Clark documents and preserves the everyday life of Southeastern native peoples using personal snapshots and photographs as a source. Her work consists of paintings, drawings, lithographs, and photographs, from the Lumbee perspective, which is a version of the postmodern Native, a combination of European, African, and Indigenous ancestry. Her paintings, drawings, pinecone patchwork, and digital photography are highlighted.
https://www.jessicaclarkart.com/
Published in the Special Collections & Archives of Mary Livermore Library at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, these pages highlight the Lumbee as a Native American people who originated and reside primarily in Robeson, Bladen, Hoke, Cumberland, and Scotland counties in North Carolina. Collections include the Elmer W. Hunt photographs, the Adolph Dial oral history, the Constitution of the Lumbee Tribe, Voices of the Lumbee, and the Battle of Hayes Pond.
https://libguides.uncp.edu/specialcollections/lumbee
Lumbee Holdings is fully owned and operated by the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. It has three subsidiaries providing various products and services to industry and government customers, such as engineering, construction, IT, and support services. Lumbee Holdings also helps with the development of diverse programs and services designed to benefit the tribal members, such as education scholarships, elder's group transportation, veteran's office support, and its cultural center.
https://lumbeeholdings.com/
Lumbee Indians, The: An Annotated Bibliography
Published on the website for Digital Scholarship and Initiatives, a division within University Libraries at Appalachian State University, this annotated bibliography by Glenn Ellen Star Stilling provides a comprehensive, scholarly, online resource for information on the Lumbee Indians and related topics. Content may be browsed by topic or searched for by author. An introduction, chronology, Lumbee literature, art, music, notable Lumbees, and genealogy resources are featured.
https://dsi.appstate.edu/projects/lumbee
Lumbee Regional Development Association, Inc.
The LRDA is a non-profit corporation chartered by the State of North Carolina in 1968. It is organized to analyze and develop solutions for the health, educational, economic, and general welfare problems of rural and urban Indians in and around Robeson County. Its history, board of directors, calendar of events, and economic development programs are highlighted, along with its ROSS Program to improve tribal housing, the WIOA job board, and upcoming programs and events.
https://www.lumbee.org/
Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina
State-recognized in North Carolina, the tribe represents the Lumbee people, although they do not yet hold federal recognition as a Native American tribe. With an estimated 55,000 members, the tribe is the largest American Indian tribe in the United States east of the Mississippi River. The official tribal site features the history and culture of the Lumbees, its constitution, governmental structure, tribal enrollment policies, accomplishments, tribal services, and tribal contacts.
https://www.lumbeetribe.com/
