VOL. XVIII. NO. 47
VSSA
APRIL 21, 1951
Publication date. Saturday
Subscription, S5.00 per >car.
( arl Gocrch. Publisher.
La»>crs Bldg.. Raleigh. N. C.
Entered n* ‘econd-class matter June 1. 1033. at the PoatoHtec ul Halelith, North Carolina, under the Act of March 3. 1B79
The Indians of Robeson County
The request for a elionge in the tribal name
of these Indians recalls the fact that their
origin is still as much of a mystery as it has
bet'll throughout the years.
Lust week a delegation of Indians
from Robeson County appeared before
a legislative committee in Raleigh in
connection with a bill that had been
introduced by Senator Watts of that
county which would Icgali/c them to
be known by the name of I.umbce
Indians — for the Lumbee or Lumber
River that flows through that section
of the state.
These Indians have been known
by several names — Croaian, Eastern
Branch of the Chcrokces. Robeson
County Indians, and so on. Actually
they have no connection with the
Cherokces in the western part of the
state, and the latter somewhat resent
the use of the word. Cherokee, by the
Indians down in Robeson.
The legislative committee decided
to let the Indians think over the matter
for a couple of years and then, if they
still favor the name of Lumbee, a
change could be made. Seems that
there lias been more or less of a rush
during the last month or so relative to
adopting the new name. Those who
opposed an immediate change strongly
advocated that time be given for fur¬
ther consideration and deliberation.
Possible Solution
This tribe of Indians in Robeson
County has been the subject of much
discussion. An interesting article con¬
cerning them appears in Douglas
Rights' book. The American Indian
in North Carolina.
Commenting on the fact that the
fate of the Lost Colony of Sir Walter
Raleigh's ill-fated expedition lias re¬
mained a mystery, Mr. Rights says
that for years the opinion prevailed
that some of these colonists found
refuge among the Robeson County In¬
dians.
In the latter part of the nineteenth
century, the belief was expressed by
several interested citizens that the In¬
dians residing in Robeson County were
descendants of the ancient people
among whom the lost colonists found
refuge.
North Carolinians generally would
like to hold this belief and see it estab¬
lished beyond question. Mr. Rights
continues, but the thread of evidence
of a connection between these Indians
and the Lost Colony is so slender that
it will not hold together. Like the
search for the Lost I rihes of Israel,
the quest for the Lost Colony would
be expected to fall upon any likely
prospect.
It so happens that the Robeson
County Indians and their affiliates arc
the only existing group in North Caro¬
lina hitherto unidentified. Why should
they not be the long-sought survivors
of the friendly Indians who received
John White's colonists?
English Names Common
In support of the affirmative side
of the question, it has been advanced
that a large percentage of the English
names of the Colony is found among
these Indians.
(Common names of Robeson Coun¬
ty Indians today include Lowry, Atkins.
Thompson, Kitchen, Cole, Drake.
Moore. Humphrey. Bridgcr, Ransom,
Locklear, Oxcndinc, Cummings, Goins
and Bntboy.)
Against this,' Mr. Right says, “it
may be said that the names have been
long familiar in Carolina, and inter¬
marriage with while settlers would be
expected to extend such names among
mixed-bloods.”
Survival of the pronunciations and
idioms of early English has been noted,
but this has been found also in other
isolated regions of the State. . . .Some
of the pronunciations noted are dis¬
tinctly Scotch, to be expected in a
neighborhood which had a large pop¬
ulation of Highland settlers. . . .
The question hinges upon whether
or not the friendly Indians of Manteo’s
tribe, usually identified as the Hattcras,
in some way migrated from Algon-
quain territory on the sandbanks of the
Atlantic to the swamp regions of upper
Little Pccdec River in the present
county of Robeson. . . .Lawson (John
Lawson, English historian) commented
on the appearance of mixed-bloods
among the Hattcras. . .and believed
them to have been survivors of the
Lost Colony. . . .
Language Lost
Unfortunately, the ancient language
of the Robeson County Indians has
disappeared. If in any way their form¬
er speech can be resurrected, there
will be a clue to their identity which
would go a long way toward settling
the matter."
Mr. Rights quotes Stephen B.
Weeks, historian and Lost Colony au¬
thority, as saying that the Robeson
Indians "from 1783 to 1835 had the
right to vote, performed military duties,
and built churches."
But. the Weeks statement continued,
the franchise was denied, by the con¬
stituent convention of 1835, to all "free
persons of color." To effect a political
(Continued on page 22)
THE BTATE. April 21. 1951
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