4 Klansmen injured by gunfire; 3 journalists and 1 witness injured
Arrested
1 Klansman arrested by police
Location within North Carolina
The Battle of Hayes Pond, also known as the Battle of Maxton Field or the Maxton Riot, was an armed confrontation between members of a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) organization and Lumbee people at a Klan rally near Maxton, North Carolina, on the night of January 18, 1958. The clash resulted in the disruption of the rally and a significant amount of media coverage praising the Lumbees and condemning the Klansmen.
In 1956, James W. "Catfish" Cole, a KKK member from South Carolina, established the North Carolina Knights, a Klan organization aimed at defending racial segregation. In early 1958 Cole focused his efforts on upholding segregation in Robeson County, North Carolina, which had a triracial population of Native Americans, whites, and blacks. Many of the Native Americans were members of the recently recognized Lumbee Tribe, a group having its origins in other Indigenous peoples but had grown into a single community around the county. Cole oversaw two cross burnings meant to frighten the Lumbees from racial mixing, and scheduled a Klan rally which he hoped would have a large turnout.
Cole and his Klansmen widely advertised their event, driving throughout the county in a truck outfitted with a loudspeaker to broadcast their plans. The announcements infuriated the Lumbee community and some decided to try to disrupt the meeting. Fearing violence, local law enforcement officials pleaded with Cole to suspend his plans, but he refused. On January 18, 1958, Cole and about 50 Klansmen, most of whom were followers of his from South Carolina, gathered in a leased cornfield near Hayes Pond, a place adjacent to the town of Maxton. Several hundred Lumbees, many armed, arrived and encircled the group and jeered at them. After an altercation in which the single light in the field was destroyed, the Lumbees began firing their weapons and most of the Klansmen fled. Cole hid in a swamp while the Lumbees seized Klan regalia and carried them to Pembroke to celebrate. Police restored order on the field and arrested one Klansman.
Afterwards, Cole and the arrested Klansman were indicted and convicted for inciting a riot. The event was widely covered in the local and national press, which blamed the Klan for the disorder and praised the Lumbees for their actions. Cole never organized another public rally in Robeson County after the incident. In 2011 the Lumbee Tribal Council declared January 18 a "Tribal Day of Historical Recognition".
Background
Robeson County and the Lumbee Tribe
The Lumbee people in southeastern North Carolina originated from various Native American groups which were greatly impacted by conflicts and infectious diseases dating back to the period of European colonization. Those who survived these disruptions grouped together as a homogeneous community.[1] Culturally, this group was not particularly distinct from proximate European Americans; they were mostly agrarian, and shared similar styles of dress, homes, and music. They also spoke English and were mostly Protestants. Their identity was rooted in kinship and shared location.[2] Through intermarriage, they acquired some white and black ancestry.[3] In 1830, the United States government began a policy of Indian removal, forcibly relocating traditional-living, "tribal" Native American populations in the American South further west.[4] Native Americans in Robeson County, North Carolina, owing to their assimilation into Euro-American culture, were not subject to removal.[5] However, from this point on they were increasingly subject to racial discrimination.[5][6]
In 1835 the Constitution of North Carolina classified the eastern Carolina Native Americans as "free persons of color". Under this system they were denied the right to vote, bear arms, or attend white schools.[1] During the American Civil War, the Confederate States Army conscripted them for labor, though some resisted, leading to the Lowry War. In 1885, following Native Americans' refusal to attend black schools, the state of North Carolina recognized this group as Croatans and established a separate school system for them.[7] This tripartite segregation was unique in the American South, though whites generally regarded both the Native Americans and blacks as "colored".[8] Some other county facilities were separated for "Whites", "Negroes", and "Indians".[9] In 1913 the North Carolina General Assembly reclassified the Indians as Cherokees.[10]
Hundreds of Native Americans from Robeson County fought for the United States during World War II in white units (blacks were segregated into different outfits). Many returned with a willingness to pursue social change.[11] Some of them, especially the war veterans, disliked Robeson County's segregation.[12] Other leaders lobbied for the adoption of a unique name to identify their group.[10] In the early 1950s, some led by minister D. F. Lowry formed an organization, the Lumbee Brotherhood, to unite the community. The chosen name, "Lumbee", was derived from the Lumber River, which ran through Robeson County. Lowry and his supporters argued that this was a suitable label, since the community had its origins in various indigenous groups but all resided near the river.[10][13] In 1952 the name Lumbee was approved by the Native Americans in a referendum, and the following year the General Assembly formally recognized the label.[10] In 1956 the United States Congress formally extended partial recognition to the Lumbee Tribe, affirming their existence as an indigenous community but disallowing them from use of federal funds and services available to other Native American groups.[14] By 1958 Robeson County had a triracial population consisting of approximately 40,000 whites, 30,000 Native Americans (including Lumbees and Tuscaroras), and 20,000 blacks.[15]
Ku Klux Klan activity
In 1954 the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Brown v. Board of Education, ruling that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. The ruling sparked a significant amount of pro-segregation activity among whites in the South, who formed various groups to oppose integration.[16] It also led to a resurgence in Ku Klux Klan (KKK) activity. The Klan was a white supremacist and nativist movement which sought to defend racial segregation. It had different formal organizational incarnations, but all groups generally espoused white supremacy and a commitment to Protestant Christianity.[17] The KKK was historically violent, and by the 1950s Klan violence was looked down upon by North Carolina officials.[18] There had been a Klan presence in Robeson County in the early part of the decade before it was forced out under pressure from District Solicitor Malcolm Buie Seawell and the federal government.[19]
In 1956 James W. "Catfish" Cole, a former member of the U.S. Klans, organized a new Klan chapter called the North Carolina Knights. With Cole leading them as their "Grand Wizard", they held their first rally in the small Robeson County community of Shannon, where Cole defended segregation.[20] He was able to use segregationist rhetoric to grow his following throughout the following year.[9] He also began promoting the Klan in the town of Monroe in Union County, where black civil rights activists were seeking to end segregation in public facilities. In October 1957 Cole's group attacked a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People member's house in the town, but were repelled by gunfire from armed black activists led by Robert F. Williams.[21][22] In early 1958 Cole refocused his efforts on upholding segregation in Robeson County.[9] He hoped to use this campaign to shore up support for his organization.[18]
Klansmen in robes with burning cross. This photo was probably taken on January 13, 1958, in either St. Pauls or Lumberton.
On January 13, 1958, Cole and several Klansmen invited local journalist Bruce Roberts to cover their itinerary for the evening in Robeson. In St. Pauls, they burned a cross near the home of a Native American woman who was dating a white man.[lower-alpha 1] They also burned a cross in Lumberton, near the home of an Indian family that had recently moved into a white neighborhood. Cole informed Roberts that he was planning a large Klan rally the following Saturday night somewhere in or near the town of Pembroke, the center of Robeson's Lumbee community, where he would condemn the "mongrelization" of the races.[24]
Roberts reported on the events and the planned rally in the January 14 edition of the Scottish Chief, the newspaper of the small town of Maxton. Nearby publications quickly repeated the story. Cole hoped the rally would attract hundreds or thousands of Klansmen. Rumors circulated that Robeson gun stores were selling large quantities of ammunition on Tuesday, raising fears of a violent confrontation.[24] One Klansman went into the offices of the Scottish Chief and the Lumberton Post to ask them to advertise the rally.[25] They also posted fliers to display their intentions.[18] To further publicize the event, Cole and other Klansmen drove throughout the county in a truck outfitted with a loudspeaker, broadcasting their plans. The loudspeaker announcements infuriated the Lumbee community.[18][24]
Fearing violence, Robeson County Sheriff Malcolm McLeod went to Cole's home in South Carolina and pleaded with him to suspend the rally, but Cole refused,[26] telling him, "It sounds like you don't know how to handle your people. We're going to come show you."[18] Unable to find someone willing to lease him land in Pembroke, Cole rented a small cornfield from a white farmer who lived near Hayes Pond.[24] Hayes Pond was a former mill pond located along Big Shoe Heel Creek, south of Maxton,[27] approximately 10 miles (16km) from Pembroke.[24] Maxton Chief of Police Bob Fisher, who was opposed to the Klan's presence, sent letters to state and federal authorities to ask for their assistance,[28] while the town board of commissioners passed a resolution condemning the Klan and denouncing the rally.[29]
At a barbershop in Pembroke, a group of Lumbee men met and suggested confronting the Klansmen in Maxton so that they would not disturb their town.[21][lower-alpha 2] Other Lumbees discussed the situation in the local Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall.[18] Accounts of how organized the Lumbees were in their response vary. In the 1960s anthropologist Karen Blu interviewed several Lumbee participants, and none mentioned the names of any leaders in this effort. She wrote that "one man" who was cited as a leader by the press was frequently criticized by her respondents for apparently professing that role.[31] According to local activist Willa Robinson, black people who worked in the same businesses with Klansmen and were familiar with the KKK gave the Lumbees intelligence about the meeting.[32] National news organizations such as the Associated Press, United Press International, and the International News Syndicate crafted reports printed in North Carolina and across the country which spoke of potential violence at the rally.[33]
Battle
Hayes Pond, the location of the battle, in 2019
Cole scheduled the rally to begin at 8:30p.m. on January 18, telling his followers to expect a crowd of at least 500 supporters. At about 7 p.m. around 10 Klansmen drove up and parked in the middle of the field. They exited their vehicles carrying guns; one was wearing Klan robes.[34] They were confident, and one of them told a reporter from The News and Observer, "You'd better be careful. We'd hate to shoot the wrong man."[35] Numerous local and state newspaper journalists were present, as were photographers[36] and some radio and television broadcast reporters, including personnel from WTSB-Lumberton.[37] The Klansmen set up a light pole and a public address system both wired to a portable generator, a banner emblazoned with the letters "KKK",[35] and a cross which they planned to burn.[18] Sheriff McLeod arrived with 16 deputies to maintain order. He told them that if Lumbees attacked the Klan they should "take [their] time" in breaking up a clash.[9] A further dozen North Carolina State Highway Patrol officers under Captain Raymond Williams, some armed with submachine guns, waited about a mile down the road out of sight, ready to mobilize in case of violence.[38]
Over the course of the next hour, more Klansmen drove into the field to join those already present.[35] Some of them brought their wives and children, though they remained in their cars to keep warm.[26][39] Most of them were from South Carolina, and few, if any, were from Robeson County.[18] At the same time, cars carrying three to six Lumbees each began parking along the side of the road. They remained in their vehicles to stay warm. By 8 p.m. the Klansmen, numbering about 50, realized they were outnumbered and grew anxious. Cole rehearsed his speech—which condemned racial integration—while the public address system played Christian hymns. At about 8:15p.m., the Lumbees exited their vehicles and began streaming towards the field. Historian Christopher Oakley estimated that 300–400 Lumbees were present, most of them men.[35] Historian Malinda Maynor Lowery listed the presence of 500 Lumbee men—many of them World War II veterans—and 50 women.[26] Some accounts recall 1,000 Native Americans present.[28] Many of the men were armed with rifles, shotguns, pistols, and knives. As the Lumbees drew closer they began to jeer the Klan, shouting "We want Cole!" and "God damn the KKK!"[26] The Klansmen responded by calling the Lumbees "half-niggers".[26] McLeod pulled Cole aside and said, "Well, you know how it is. I can't control the crowd with the few men I've got. I'm not telling you to not hold a meeting, but you see how it is."[35] According to The News and Observer reporter Charles Craven, Cole told the sheriff, "I want to get my wife and babies out...Somebody's going for them...My little babies."[40]
Lumbees confronting Klansmen around the light pole
Cole refused to suspend the meeting, and by 8:25 most of the Klansmen and Lumbee had circled around the light pole.[35] Sources disagree on how the physical confrontation started. According to Oakley, shortly before 8:30 two young Lumbee men ran forward, smashed the light pole, and shut off the public address system. This plunged the field into darkness and led to a momentary silence.[38] According to Sanford Locklear, he and his brother-in-law, Neil Lowry, approached Cole and asked him why he was there. Cole said, "We come to talk to these people," to which Locklear responded, "Well, you're ain't gone [sic] talk to these people tonight."[26] Cole reaffirmed his intention to speak, which Locklear again rejected. Locklear then pushed Cole with his rifle and said, "And don't you move. If you do, well, I'll kill you."[26] Lowry then shot out the light on the pole, and Locklear kicked the public address system.[26] Initial newspaper reports of the affair stated that one Lumbee smashed the light with the butt of his shotgun, and this version corresponded to media photographs. Newsweek was the first publication to report that the light had been shot out.[41]
The Lumbee then began firing their guns—mostly into the air[42]—and shouting.[26] Some fired at the tires of the Klansmen's cars.[43] News photographers then began taking photos of the ensuing commotion.[39] Cole quickly retreated into the nearby swamp, leaving his wife, Carolyn, and his three children behind.[26] According to Oakley, most of the Klansmen did the same,[39] while Lowery wrote that many of them got in their cars and drove away erratically in an attempt to escape, some crashing into ditches.[26] Carolyn got her car stuck in a ditch; Lumbee oral tradition maintains that they had to help her push her car out, while Craven recalled seeing her run away with her three children as several Lumbee men jokingly "pretended" to free her car from the rut.[44][45]
Sheriff Malcolm McLeod (left) and Captain Raymond Williams (right) urging the crowd to disperse
Robeson County sheriff's deputies then fired two tear gas grenades in an attempt to disperse the crowd.[39][43] Several minutes later Williams led the highway patrol officers onto the field and restored order.[39] McLeod announced over loudspeaker that there was still time to go home and watch Gunsmoke on television.[43] He also found Klansmen hiding in the brush and directed them out of the area.[18] By 9 p.m., the wind had dissipated the tear gas and the crowd had been cleared. The police confiscated two trunkloads of firearms from the Lumbees and Klansmen.[39] James Garland Martin, a Klansman who served as Cole's sergeant-at-arms,[46] was found by deputies lying in a ditch[47] and subsequently arrested for public drunkenness and carrying a concealed weapon.[48][lower-alpha 3] Cole remained in hiding for two days.[46] Four Klansmen received minor gunshot wounds during the affair.[8] Three reporters were also injured, as was a LakotaU.S. Army soldier who had traveled from Fort Bragg to witness the events.[50]
After the shooting stopped, several Lumbees spoke with the press and posed for photographs. Some took the Klan's public address system[51] and their cross.[49] Simeon Oxendine, a World War II veteran and the son of Pembroke's mayor, and Charlie Warriax, stole the KKK banner.[46] Later that night Lumbees celebrated in Pembroke, driving in a motorcade and marching through the streets[18] before gathering in front of the police station in Pembroke to hang and burn an effigy of Cole.[51] Oxendine and Warriax drove to the city of Charlotte with the KKK banner and entered the offices of The Charlotte Observer shortly after midnight. They gave an interview with the reporter on duty and posed with the banner in the photography studio.[52] One picture from the shoot of Oxendine and Warriax wrapped in the banner was sent to other newspapers over the Associated Press wire and published a week later on a full page spread in Life.[53]
Aftermath
Reactions
North Carolina Governor Luther H. Hodges (left) condemned the actions of the Ku Klux Klan, and Alabama Governor Jim Folsom (right) issued a statement praising the Lumbees.
The local black community was pleased with the results of the clash, while the white community was relieved.[54] North Carolina Governor Luther H. Hodges responded to the incident by calling Sheriff McLeod and Pembroke Mayor J. C. Oxendine to assure them of his help if the situation required it. He then released a statement to the public, condemning the Ku Klux Klan as a violent group[55] and stating that responsibility for the disorder "rests squarely" on Klan leaders.[46] Other white observers—both locally and nationally—had mixed feelings about responsibility, expressing sympathy for the Lumbees' actions but suggesting that Cole's First Amendment rights may have been violated.[46] Mayor Oxendine received telegrams, letters, and phone calls of approval from Native and non-indigenous Americans from around the United States. Alabama Governor Jim Folsom issued a statement reading, "The white man has mistreated the Indian for 400 years. This is one time I'm glad to see and hope the Indians continue to beat the paleface."[56]
The day after the failed rally, large North Carolinian newspapers such as The News and Observer and The Charlotte Observer ran stories on the clash.[36] Most were favorable to the Lumbees and portrayed the Klansmen as antagonists. Initial reports in state and national newspapers were melodramatic and portrayed the Lumbees using stereotypes associated with Western Plains Indians.[57]The Santa Fe New Mexican misidentified the Lumbees as part of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.[58] The local media in Robeson County did not publish on Sundays, thus it was not until later in the week that the Scottish Chief and The Robesonian released their reporting.[33] Their stories covered the affair and preceding events in detail and avoided the use of caricatures, treating the Lumbees as they did other community residents.[59] On January 23 the Scottish Chief issued an editorial titled "Setting the Record Straight," which criticized the national sensationalism, saying, "all too frequently news mediums are searching for a colorful angle to a story and in doing so stretch or add to the facts."[60]
Local editorials sided with the Lumbees, framing the clash as a conflict between locals and outsiders, though the editorial board of The Robesonian downplayed local discontent with segregation, proclaiming there was "no racial rift" between Native Americans and whites in Robeson County.[61] Editorial pieces from around the United States ridiculed the Klan for their behavior. The Anti-Defamation League reported that the affair "sent a ripple of laughter clear across the country."[42] Reflecting on the national praise for the Lumbees' actions at Hayes Pond in contrast to the muted response to the armed black resistance to the KKK in Monroe in 1957, Robert Williams wrote, "The national press played up the Indian-Klan fight because they didn't consider this a great threat—the Indians are a tiny minority and people could laugh at the incident as a sentimental joke—but no one wanted Negroes to get the impression that this was an accepted way to deal with the Klan."[62]
Legal proceedings
On January 20 Sheriff McLeod declared that he would seek the arrest of Cole for the disorder. The following day a Robeson County grand jury indicted Cole, Martin, and others unknown to the state for inciting a riot. Cole, who was by then in South Carolina, posted bail, declared his intent to fight extradition back to North Carolina, and said he would host a new rally, saying, "It will be the greatest rally the Klan has had. I expect there will be more than 5,000 Klansmen there and probably more. Klansmen all over the South are pretty upset."[63] This never occurred.[64] Cole was eventually extradited with the permission of the South Carolina governor and held on bond.[65]
On January 23, Martin was tried for the drunkenness and weapons charges[64] before the Recorder's Court in Maxton by Judge Pro Tem Lacy Maynor, the second Native American in Robeson County to ever be elected to a judgeship. Martin denounced the Klan for abandoning him in the field and vowed that he would leave the organization.[47] Maynor thought that the circumstances of the situation were "tragic"[66] and gave Martin a suspended 60-day sentence and a $60 fine.[64] In his sentence the judge told him, "You have helped to bring about nationwide advertisement to a people who do not want that kind of advertisement—who only want to create a community that would be an asset to our nation. If your organization had something worthwhile to offer, we would be happy to have you. But the history of your organization proves that it has nothing to offer".[66]
Cole and Martin both faced the riot charges in the Robeson County Superior Court in Lumberton.[46] Cole argued in his defense that he had legally rented the field, had a right to hold a rally, and that the Lumbees had provoked the situation while McLeod had provided inadequate security. The prosecutors argued that the Klan had aggravated public sentiment by burning crosses in the county and employing inflammatory speech, billed the rally as a public event (thus it was not a private meeting), and that, according to statements made by Martin, had encouraged Klansmen to bring weapons with them.[64] About 350 Lumbees sat in the gallery during the trial. The prosecutor asked the jury, "Gentlemen, you had better stop this. If you don't, there will be more bloodshed."[46] He then pointed to the audience and said, "If you think you can take [any] Kluxer [...] and drive that crowd around, you've got another think a-coming".[46] In March, the jury found Martin and Cole guilty.[64][lower-alpha 4] The judge delivered Cole the most stringent sentence of 18–24 months incarceration, while Martin was given a lesser punishment.[46] Cole appealed his case and was freed on bond pending its reconsideration.[68]
Impact on the Ku Klux Klan
Cole never organized another public rally in Robeson County after the incident.[46][lower-alpha 5] In the wake of Cole's and Martin's arrests as well as some disagreements about organization finances, some members of the North Carolina Knights split off and created their own Klan chapters.[70] Cole attempted to rebrand his organization as a militant, "fighting outfit", and used this to recruit new members across the state with some success.[68] Throughout North Carolina, Klan leaders told their members to expect armed resistance to their work and prepare themselves accordingly.[55] In early 1959 Cole was arrested in South Carolina for posing as a private investigator and shortly thereafter lost his appeal in North Carolina for the riot charge and was imprisoned.[71] His incarceration curtailed Klan recruiting and though the North Carolina Knights elected a new grand wizard to replace him, coordinated policing by the State Bureau of Investigation and other agencies—encouraged by Hodges—led to a decline in Klan membership.[72] North Carolina KKK organizations later resurged in the mid-1960s.[73] In 1966, Klansmen declared their intent to hold another rally at the same field near Maxton,[74] provoking the ire of Lumbees.[75] State authorities received reports of Lumbees stockpiling weapons, and a superior court issued an injunction, prohibiting the meeting.[74] Klan challenges to the order were dismissed.[76] North Carolina Knights Grand Dragon Bob Jones told the press, "We want to ally with the Indian and see he gets some civil rights from the government. The Indians have never had an ally and if we're going to give civil rights to the Niggers, we're going to give them to the Indians."[74] Simeon Oxendine was dismissive of these remarks, saying, "I don't think Jones is in a position to give anything to anyone. I think the constitution gives us our rights,"[74] and the Native Americans in the county were unreceptive to the invitation.[77]
Legacy and commemoration
Our histories will long record That perilous advance, When many a Klansman left the field With buckshot in his pants.
—Excerpt from Malvina Reynolds' 1958 song on the event, "The Battle of Maxton Field".[78]
The clash has been generally remembered under two monikers: the "Battle of Hayes Pond" or the "Battle of Maxton Field".[79] The media dubbed it the "Maxton Riot".[80] The incident brought national attention to the Lumbee people, with Lumbee historian Adolph Dial later saying, "Until the Klan thing, people didn't even know there were Lumbees."[81] In the aftermath of the battle, most Lumbees recalled it as a purely local affair and an action of self-defense for their community from hostile outsiders; they did not see it as a symbolic protest, an attempt to gain national attention, or as a component of the larger American civil rights movement.[82] Local whites also tended to view the Klan rally as the work of outsiders from South Carolina.[83] In 1958, California-based folk singer Malvina Reynolds wrote a song about the incident, entitled, "The Battle of Maxton Field", which satirized the Klan,[8] and was later covered by folk musician Pete Seeger to commercial success.[79]
Battle of Hayes Pond highway marker
Since 1958, several Lumbee authors have written accounts of the battle, and the Lumbee Tribe included a recounting in its 1987 petition for full federal recognition to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.[36] Newspapers in North Carolina have periodically cited the clash in their discussions of the Klan and white supremacy.[8] In 2003 the Lumbee Tribe presented 100 "Lumbee Warriors"—persons verified to have been involved in the Hayes Pond battle—with a medal of honor.[37][84] In 2011 the Lumbee Tribal Council passed an ordinance declaring January 18 a "Tribal Day of Historical Recognition".[85][86] On June 26, 2018, North Carolina erected a highway historical marker at the convergence of NC Highway 130 and Maxton Pond Road near Maxton to commemorate the event.[8]
In October 2021, politician Charles Graham, a Lumbee from Robeson County, released a video advertisement for his 2022 campaign in North Carolina's 9th congressional district which recounted the battle.[87] The video went viral on the internet, garnering over 4 million views within 24 hours,[88] and 8 million within three days on the social media platforms Twitter, Facebook and TikTok, becoming the most viewed congressional advertisement ever.[89] Graham said he used the event in his campaign to showcase "history where people of all walks of life came together to stand against absolute evil."[90]
Explanatory notes
↑ According to historian Malinda Maynor Lowery, the cross was burned near the home of a white woman who was dating a Native American man.[21]
↑ Unlike Pembroke, Maxton had few Lumbee residents and it was not regarded as an "Indian place".[30]
↑ Martin maintained that he was not drunk and only disorientated due to tear gas.[49]
↑ Lowery described the jury as "all-white",[46] while Oakley wrote that it was triracial.[64] Craven reported the final jury to be all-white, as two Indians in the jury pool were struck for cause by the judge, while the defense struck two more Indians and one black person.[67]
↑ According to Lowery, no known Klan rallies have taken place there since.[46]The News & Observer reported that a Klan rally was held in the county in 1984.[69]
Robeson County is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of North Carolina and is its largest county by land area. Its county seat and largest community is Lumberton. The county was formed in 1787 from part of Bladen County and named in honor of Thomas Robeson, a colonel who had led Patriot forces in the area during the Revolutionary War. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 116,530. It is a majority-minority county; its residents are approximately 38 percent Native American, 22 percent white, 22 percent black, and 10 percent Hispanic. It is included in the Fayetteville-Lumberton-Pinehurst, NC Combined Statistical Area. The state-recognized Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is headquartered in Pembroke.
Pembroke is a town in Robeson County, North Carolina, United States. It is about 90 miles inland and northwest from the Atlantic Coast. The population was 2,823 at the 2020 census. The town is the seat of the state-recognized Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, as well as the home of the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.
Prospect is a census-designated place (CDP) in Robeson County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 690 at the 2000 census. Located due northeast of Pembroke, Prospect is a traditionally Methodist community, with its church members largely becoming representatives for the entirety of the American Indian-Methodist community. Prospect is noted for one of its native sons, Adolph Dial, whose contributions to American Indian Studies have led to an heightened awareness of the local Lumbee Tribe and Native Americans throughout the Southeastern United States.
Maxton is a town in Robeson and Scotland counties, North Carolina, United States. The population was 2,426 at the time of the 2010 U.S. Census.
The University of North Carolina at Pembroke is a public university in Pembroke, North Carolina. UNC Pembroke is a master's level degree-granting university and part of the University of North Carolina system. Its history is intertwined with that of the Lumbee nation.
The Lumbee are a Native American people primarily centered in Robeson, Hoke, Cumberland, and Scotland counties in North Carolina.
James William "Catfish" Cole was an American soldier and evangelist who was leader of the Ku Klux Klan of North Carolina and South Carolina, serving as a Grand Dragon.
The Croatan were a small Native American ethnic group living in the coastal areas of what is now North Carolina. They might have been a branch of the larger Roanoke people or allied with them.
The Lowry War or Lowrie War was a conflict that took place in and around Robeson County, North Carolina, United States from 1864 to 1874 between a group of mostly Native American outlaws and civil local, state, and federal authorities. The conflict is named for Henry Berry Lowry, a Lumbee who led a gang of Native American, white and black men which robbed area farms and killed public officials who pursued them.
Julian Thomas Pierce was an American lawyer and Lumbee activist. Born in Hoke County, North Carolina, he became the first person in his family to go to college and worked for several years as a chemist at shipyards in Virginia before obtaining his Juris Doctor degree. Following two years of work for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, he moved to Robeson County, North Carolina to direct a legal aid organization and in that capacity co-authored a petition to the federal government asking for the extension of federal recognition to the Lumbee tribe. In 1988 he resigned from his job to pursue a candidacy for a new Superior Court judgeship. Running against the local district attorney and over the objections of the county sheriff, he was found murdered in his home several weeks before the primary election. While his murder was officially determined to be the result of an interpersonal dispute, the circumstances of his death remain unclear, with his friends and family having advanced suspicions that he was assassinated for political reasons.
The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is a state-recognized tribe in North Carolina. The tribe represents Lumbee people. They do not hold federal recognition as a Native American tribe.
The Lumbee Regional Development Association (LRDA) is a nonprofit corporation, chartered by the State of North Carolina in 1968, 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 effective domain includes, but is not limited to, the Counties of Robeson, Hoke, Scotland, and Bladen, i.e., North Carolina’s Planning Region N. Federally funded programs are currently administered by the Lumbee citizens of these neighboring counties, from the LRDA offices in Pembroke, North Carolina. LRDA currently serves over 20,600 people each year. In July 2009, it had 62 full-time employees.
Malcolm Gray McLeod was an American law enforcement officer who served as the Sheriff of Robeson County, North Carolina from 1950 to 1978. Born in Lumberton, he worked as a service station operator and a grocery salesman before deciding to run for the office of sheriff in 1950, pledging to modernize the office and crack down on bootlegging. He won, and in his early tenure worked closely with District Solicitor Malcolm Buie Seawell to destroy thousands of illicit alcohol distilleries and oversee hundreds of arrests for bootlegging. In 1958 he maintained order during a civil disturbance at the Battle of Hayes Pond. Over the course of his tenure the size of the sheriff's department expanded and he hired several black and Native American deputies. In 1971 McLeod established a drugs division in the department to combat the narcotics trade. At the time of his retirement in 1978 he was the longest-serving sheriff in Robeson County's history.
Walter Hubert Stone was an American law enforcement officer who served as the Sheriff of Robeson County, North Carolina from 1978 to December 1994. Stone was raised in Robeson County, and in 1953 became a municipal police officer. He served as police chief of Fair Bluff from 1954 to 1957, when he was hired as a county sheriff's deputy. He was promoted to the job of detective before being elected Sheriff of Robeson County in 1978. He restructured the organization of the sheriff's department, assigning sergeants and detectives to districts in the county. During his tenure the county experience a significant level of drug trafficking, and he oversaw the doubling in size of his office's drug enforcement division and worked closely with District Attorney Joe Freeman Britt to prosecute narcotics-related offenses. A Democrat, he became a leading figure in local politics and was often sought by candidates for his support.
The Lumber River Conference of the Holiness Methodist Church is a Methodist connexion within the holiness movement.
Glenn Allen Maynor is an American retired law enforcement officer and politician who served as Sheriff of Robeson County, North Carolina from 1994 until 2004.
On February 1, 1988, two armed Tuscarora men, Eddie Hatcher and Timothy Jacobs, took hostages in the offices of The Robesonian newspaper in Lumberton, Robeson County, North Carolina. At the time, Robeson experienced a significant level of drug trafficking and increasing public distrust of the county sheriff's office, especially from the area's significant Native American population. Hatcher believed he had evidence of corruption in the local justice system and, fearing for his life, enlisted the aid of Jacobs to try to raise awareness about his concerns. The two held the staff of the county daily newspaper hostage for 10 hours before extracting an agreement from North Carolina Governor James G. Martin to investigate corruption allegations in Robeson.
Scuffletown was a community in Robeson County, North Carolina, United States in the 1700s and 1800s dominated by Lumbee Native Americans. The exact location of the community, the date of its creation, and the origin of its name are unclear. The community, which had no formal government, encompassed swampy territory dotted with small farms and simple cabins. Most Scuffletonians were poor and made livings by growing crops, hunting and fishing, picking berries, or performing labor for neighboring farmers.
The Old Main is a historic building on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Pembroke in Pembroke, North Carolina. Completed in 1923, it was the first brick building on the university's campus, then known as the Cherokee Indian Normal School of Robeson County. The building originally hosted classrooms, auditorium space, and administrative offices. After administrative officials moved to a new building in 1949, the structure acquired the "Old Main" name. Since it was used for other community events, it gained additional importance to the primarily Native American student body at the school. Old Main was slated for destruction in 1972, but this decision was overturned after protests by community members. A fire, likely the result of arson, gutted the building in 1973. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and fully restored and reopened in 1979. It presently hosts several university departments and student media outlets.
Jarrod Lowery is an American politician who is serving as a Republican member of the North Carolina House of Representatives from the 47th district. He was elected to the seat in the 2022 election against Democratic opponent Charles Townsend He is also a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. He has been part of Pat McCrory's senior staff, as a Regional Outreach Liaison. In 2017, he became Regional Director for North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey.
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