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.
Lumberton is a city in Robeson County,North Carolina,United States. As of 2020,its population was 19,025. It is the seat of Robeson County's government.
The Lumbee are a Native American people primarily centered in Robeson,Hoke,Cumberland,and Scotland counties in 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.
The North Carolina Democratic Party (NCDP) is the North Carolina affiliate of the Democratic Party. It is headquartered in the historic Goodwin House,located in Raleigh.
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.
Mark Allen Davis is an American attorney and jurist. He has served as an associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court (2019-2020) and previously as a Judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Davis currently serves as Special Superior Court Judge for Complex Business Cases on the North Carolina Business Court.
Arlinda Locklear is an American lawyer of Native American origin from the Lumbee tribe. Locklear,who is often cited as the first Native American woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court,has actually followed in the footsteps of Lyda Conley,who was the first Native American and Native American woman admitted to argue a case before the US Supreme Court. Locklear is noted as an expert in Native American law and tribal recognition litigation. She represented the Lumbee tribe in its quest for federal recognition from 1987 until 2010.
Kristin Bernhardt Cooper is an American lawyer who has been First Lady of the state of North Carolina since January 1,2017.
Anita Earls is an American civil rights attorney who has served as an associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court since 2019. She previously served as the executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice,as well as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice during the Clinton administration. On November 6,2018,Earls defeated Republican incumbent Justice Barbara Jackson in a three-candidate election to win a seat on the state's highest court.
Three justices of the seven-member North Carolina Supreme Court and five judges of the 15-member North Carolina Court of Appeals were elected by North Carolina voters on November 3,2020,concurrently with other state elections. Terms for seats on each court are eight years. These elections were conducted on a partisan basis.
Malcolm Buie Seawell was an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party,he served as North Carolina Attorney General from 1958 to 1960. Seawell was raised in Lee County,North Carolina. After law school,he moved to Lumberton and joined a law firm. From 1942 to 1945 he worked for the U.S. Department of War in Washington,D.C. He then returned to Lumberton and successfully ran for the office of mayor in 1947. He held the post until the following year when he was appointed 9th Solicitorial District Solicitor. While working as solicitor Seawell gained state-wide prominence for his aggressive efforts to prosecute the Ku Klux Klan (KKK),and was credited for ultimately pushing the organization out of Robeson County. Governor Luther H. Hodges later made him a judge before appointing him Attorney General of North Carolina in 1958 to fill a vacancy.
Ruth Dial Woods is an American educator and activist. A member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina,she was the first woman to serve as the associate superintendent of the Robeson County Public Schools and to receive an at-large appointment to the University of North Carolina Board of Governors. After teaching in the public school system of Robeson County for 27 years,she joined the faculty at Fayetteville State University. In addition to her work as an educator,Woods was involved in the Civil Rights Movement,the Women's liberation movement,and the American Indian Movement. She has served as a community development consultant for the United States Department of Labor and as a consultant for the Lumbee Tribal Council for administration of tribal programs. The recipient of numerous awards and honors for her work in human rights and education,in 2011,she was inducted into the North Carolina Women's Hall of Fame.
Horace Locklear is an American politician and former attorney who served in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1977 until 1983. A member of the Lumbee tribe,he was the first Native American to practice law in North Carolina.
Henry Ward Oxendine was an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives for the 21st District from 1973 to 1976. A member of the Lumbee tribe,he was the first Native American to serve in the North Carolina General Assembly.
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.
Two justices of the seven-member North Carolina Supreme Court and four judges of the fifteen-member North Carolina Court of Appeals were elected by North Carolina voters on November 8,2022,concurrently with other state elections. Terms for seats on each court are eight years. These elections were conducted on a partisan basis.
Allison Jean Riggs is an American state court judge. She was appointed by Governor Roy Cooper to the North Carolina Court of Appeals,and later to the North Carolina Supreme Court.
At least one justice of the seven-member North Carolina Supreme Court and at least three judges of the fifteen-member North Carolina Court of Appeals are scheduled to be elected by North Carolina voters on November 5,2024,concurrently with other state elections. Terms for seats on each court are eight years. These elections are conducted on a partisan basis.
