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.
Hoke County is a county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census,its population was 52,082. Its county seat is Raeford.
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 2,973,at the 2010 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.
The Lumbee are a Native American people primarily centered in Robeson,Hoke,Cumberland,and Scotland counties in North Carolina.
Henry Berry Lowry was an American outlaw. A Lumbee Native American,he led the Lowry Gang in North Carolina during and after the American Civil War. Many local North Carolinians remember him as a Robin Hood figure. Lowry was described by George Alfred Townsend,a correspondent for the New York Herald in the late 19th century,as "[o]ne of those remarkable executive spirits that arises now and then in a raw community without advantages other than those given by nature."
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.
Waccamaw Siouan Indians are one of eight state-recognized tribes in North Carolina. They are also known as the "People of the Fallen Star." Historically Siouan-speaking,they are located predominantly in the southeastern North Carolina counties of Bladen and Columbus. Their congressional representative introduced a failed bill for federal recognition in 1948. North Carolina recognized the group in 1971.
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 law 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.
Charles Vinson Graham Jr. is an American politician who served as a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives from the 47th district. Graham,a member of the state-recognized Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina,was the only Native American who was serving in the General Assembly until the election of his successor Jarrod Lowery.
The Coharie Intra-tribal Council,Inc. is a state-recognized tribe in North Carolina. The headquarters are in Clinton,North Carolina.
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.
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.
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.
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.
North Carolina's 47th House district is one of 120 districts in the North Carolina House of Representatives. It has been represented by Republican Jarrod Lowery since 2023.
