Henry Berry Lowrie
The Lumbee are the
largest Indian tribe east of the Mississippi, numbering 35000 registered
members and another 30000 who claim membership, according to Andrew Lawler, in his book, "The Secret
Token." See posts: The Lost Colony,
Nov. 11, 2018, and Virginia Dare, Nov. 21, 2018. In this fascinating book Lawler
tells the story of the Roanoke Colony,
the first British colony in the new world, and how its mysterious disappearance has fostered spooky stories of alien
abduction, demon possession and fantasies justifying white supremacy.
Lawler devotes one
chapter of his book to the Lumbee Indian tribe, who have incorporated into
their traditions a completely different twist to the Roanoke story. According
to the Lumbee, the Roanoke settlers didn’t disappear at all. Rather, they were
rescued by the Croatoan Indians, the ancestors of the Lumbee. Today Virginia
Dare is referred to as the Lumbee’s mother, and Lumbee sons are named Manteo in
honor of the Croatoan warrior who returned to England with the first Roanoke
party and then came back with the settlers to intercede for them with his
people.
This tradition has served the Lumbee well over the years. During the Civil War a male member
of the tribe was executed for refusing to dig a trench alongside
African-American slaves, and after the war his son led a rebellion against the
Ku Klux Klan and it’s persecution of people of color. The man, Henry Berry Lowrie, was
never caught. In fact, he once robbed a bank of the reward money collected for
his capture.
During the period of
Indian Removal, the notorious Trail of Tears, the Lumbee were left in place,
probably because white settlers didn’t covet their swampy land.
Later, in the 1880’s,
a North Carolina legislator, Hamilton McMillan, wrote a book based on the tradition that
the Lumbee had rescued the Roanoke settlers. In his book,
McMillan noted that
many of the Lumbee had names similar to those of the settlers, for instance
Berry, the name of the leader of the rebellion. He also cited a story of
uncertain origin, of an Indian tribe found during the colonial period who spoke
English. He then pointed out similarities of the dialects of contemporaneous
Lumbee to “Old Saxon English.” As a result of McMillan’s theories, legislation
was passed giving the Lumbee recognition as a tribe, voting rights, and better
schools. He also made Democrats of them, insuring his tenure in the state legislature.
The Lumbee have a
river named for them, the Lumber River, and a branch of the University of N.
Carolina is located in the town of Pembroke, in the heart of Lumbee country. While
recognized in N. Carolina, the Lumbee are not recognized by the federal government,
not surprising since recognition would involve providing special benefits to
tribal members.
The origins of the
tribe are vague. The word Lumbee comes from a Siouan word meaning “dark water.”
They are located in an area that was originally swampy and remote, which became
a refuge for escaped slaves, poor whites, and mixed blood people of color. It
was a place where they could survive by hunting and fishing, and where they
could escape persecution.
Efforts to link the
Lumbee to the colonists have frustrated historians and archeologists, since
there are few written records, and no archaeological trace of the colonists. Tribal
members are suspicious and reluctant to participate in DNA studies, partly because
of fears that it might jeopardize their continuing efforts to obtain federal
recognition, but limited studies have been done and they are surprising. They
show a high percentage Northern European and African ancestry, but no Native
American!
Lawler quotes an
Episcopal priest who claims Lumbee ancestry. “I am Proudly Lumbee,” he said , “but recognize that it is an identity
constructed by my ancestors to secure a better deal for themselves in the Jim
Crow South.”
I think he has every
right to be proud.
