Around Our State
Lumbee Stay Optimistic
In Recognition Battle
Tlu- I.umlx-i Rivei winds sinuously
through Rolx-son County. deep.
<l.ti k. mysterious and .1 linU- friglit-
cning. It was originally known as
Drowning Creek, with goo< I reason.
Пи-
river plays an integral pat t in the history ol
the l.umlx'e Indians and has been known
coll<x|tiiaIly as the "Lumlx*e River" for
many years.
The poet John Charles Mc Neill said ol
the river that “she is a tortuous, delic ions
lliit. Ihii she dex-s not desene the punish¬
ment put upon her by geographers, who
have perverted her sweet Indian name ol
‘I umbcc' into something that suggests
choking sawdust, rotting slalrs and the
shrill screams of the ( in itial saw."
Driving into Pembroke, one crosses the
Lumber River several times. The
approach is much like that into any other
small Southern town. ( >|x-n fields line the
highways, putu tu.ited by houses and trail¬
ers and dogs running around. There's not
a teepee in sight, no signs saying "have
vour picture taken with a real Indian!." no
totem poles. Yet Pembroke is Indian < 01111-
try. the unofficial capital ol the Lumlx-e
tiilx-. Indians make up 95 perc ent ol the
town’s population.
The attempt to “normalize" Pembroke,
to keep it from Ix-coining a tourist trap,
was a c onscious one. say townspeople.
Efforts toward authenticity and preci¬
sion arc very important to the l.umlx-e
because1 of their c urrent battle with the
federal government: the war for federal
recognition.
Of the six state-rccogni/cd ttilx-s cur¬
rently living in North Carolina, only one.
the Cherokee, enjoy the benefits of feder¬
al recognition. What that recognition
means is that the feder.il government
acknowledges the Indians ;ls a tribe,
affirms their status as American Indians,
and provides them with financial benefits.
I11 1953. the Lumlx-e were recognized
by the State of North Carolina as the
Lumlx-e. Prior to that dale they- bad lx-en
known by a variety ol names, including
the Croatan and the Cherokee of
Rolx-son County. Then, in 195b. the
United States Congress |iasscd something
called the "Lumlx-e Bill’’ which recog¬
nized the tribe but denied them any ser¬
vices from the federal government.
"I call that quasi-fcderal recognition."
says Janet Jacobs Me Iamb, a Lumbee who
once served as assistant director of the
North Carolina Commission on Indian
Allans. “Yes. you're Indian, but vou don’t
get all those Ix-nelits that the other feder¬
ally recognized Indians get.”
During the 1970s. the Federal Burc-au
ol Indian Affairs set up a prexess wherebv
unrecognized nilx-s can |x-tition to lx-
acknowledged. In the early 1980s. the
Lumbee sent the government a letter ol
intent that they would lx- pin suing feder¬
al acknowledgement through the
рюрег
channels. The Lumlx-e submitted their
|x-tition in 1987. and in 1980 it was turned
down.
flu- history ol the Lumbee Indians is a
lot like their lx-loved river dark. deep,
twisted and impossible to straighten out.
Many historians lx-lieve them to lx* the
desceudents of the < '.roatail tiilx- ol not tli-
eastern North Carolina, the Indians of the
"Lost (Colony" saga. One argument tlu-v
make is the language. The dialect ol many
Lumlx-e sounds amazingly similar to the
FJizalx-lhan "hoi-toidcis" ol the Outer
Ikinks, and they share certain collcxjuial
words. Otheis sav. no. tliey have lx-en in
Robeson Countv for the past 100 vt-ars
and have no conncciion to the Croatans.
Whatever their past, tlu-v all agree that the
future of the Lumlx-e will be much
blighter once they gain federal acknowl¬
edgement.
"I’m thinking |x»silivcly here." Lumbee
Haves Izxkleai savs. "bill. ves. it’s right
around the comer. They're going to have
to do something. Ihev’ve put us oil and
ran us in circles for loo long."
— FJiznhrlh ( hnjii t
Linville’s Hugh Morton Receives
North Caroliniana Society Award
Two of North Carolina's best-
known personalities appeared togeth¬
er recently in Chapel Hill when
Grandfather Mountain proprietor
Hugh MacRac Morton accepted the
1 99f> North Caroliniana Society
Award.
The main speaker at the awards
banquet at the Carolina Inn was for¬
mer (IBS News correspondent
Charles Kuralt, who, like Morton, was
born in Wilmington, attended the
University of North Carolina at
Chapel I (ill and became a strong sup¬
porter of his native state.
Kuralt received the same award in
1993 from the Society, which, as a
nonprofit organization, promotes the
Tar Heel
Stale’s history
and litera¬
ture. and the
North
С
a
г о
I i n a
Collection at
U N C ' s
W i I s
о
n
Library. First
Paul Green in
recognizes jx-ople
who have made extraordinary- contri¬
butions to promoting and preserving
the state’s history, culture, literature
and resources.
Morton gained renown from his
photographic, business and philan¬
thropic enterprises. He sold bis first
photographs to national publications
as a teen, and since then the credit
line "Photo by Hugh Morton" lias
become- ubiquitous. An avid photog¬
rapher ol s|X)iting events around the
state, lie is a familiar figure along the
sidelines of Atlantic Coast
Conference football and basketball
games.
Among Morton's promotional
achievements are Wilmington's
Azalea Festival, which he made into a
national event: the battleship L SS
North ('-ami inn, which he helped lure
to Wilmington as a popular historic
site: and the Cape Hatleras
lighthouse, which he has helped save.
Morton is perhaps best known for
developing Grandfather Mountain
into one of the nation's prime tourist
and nature-studv attractions.
n
Our StatrMuguM 1 496
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