Waccamaw Siouan Indians are one of eight
state-recognized tribes
State-recognized tribes in the United States are organizations that identify as Native American tribes or heritage groups that do not meet the criteria for federally recognized Indian tribes but have been recognized by a process established under ...
in
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
. They are also known as the "People of the Fallen Star."
Historically
Siouan
Siouan or Siouan–Catawban is a language family of North America that is located primarily in the Great Plains, Ohio and Mississippi valleys and southeastern North America with a few other languages in the east.
Name
Authors who call the enti ...
-speaking, they are located predominantly in the southeastern
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
counties of
Bladen and
Columbus. Their congressional representative introduced a failed bill for
federal recognition
This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...
in 1948. North Carolina recognized the group in 1971.
The Waccamaw Siouan Indians are considered to be
Waccamaw
The Waccamaw people were an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, who lived in villages along the Waccamaw and Pee Dee rivers in North and South Carolina in the 18th century.Lerch 328
Language
Very little remains of the Waccam ...
, as are the
Waccamaw Indian People, a state-recognized tribe from
South Carolina
)'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
. However, the two are not affiliated with each other. The Waccamaw Siouan Indians also hold no affiliation with the Waccamaw Siouxan of Farmers Union, North Carolina.
Their communities are St. James, Buckhead, and Council, with the Waccamaw Siouan tribal homeland situated on the edge of
Green Swamp about 37 miles from
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States.
With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is t ...
, seven miles from
Lake Waccamaw, and four miles north of
Bolton, North Carolina
Bolton is a town in Columbus County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 691 at the 2010 census.
History
Bolton was established in 1899 and named for the Bolton Lumber Company. It became an incorporated community in 1915.
Geograph ...
. The names of major families include: Patrick, Jacobs, Freeman, Graham, Blanks, Young, Baldwin, Spaulding, Campbell, and Moore.
Demographics
According to the 2010 Census, the total Waccamaw Siouan population in
Columbus and
Bladen counties was 1,896 (1,025 and 331, respectively). This represents 2.7% of the total combined
Native American population of
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
. Current tribal enrollment consists of 2,594 members.
Between 1980 and 2000, the two-county area experienced a small overall population increase of 6.7% compared with a 37% rate of growth for
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
. The growth in the two counties was mostly among the
Native American and
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...
populations—61% and 295%, respectively, the latter also representing immigration. There was a 7% increase in the black population, and a 0.6% decrease in the white population.
Government
The tribe is governed by the Waccamaw Siouan Tribal Council, Inc., consisting of six members who are elected by the tribal membership, with staggered terms of one to three years. The Tribal Chief's position, formerly inherited or handed down in personal appointment, is now also an elected position. The tribe has an Elders Review Committee, which conducts monthly tribal meetings to inform and educate members about issues of importance to the tribe as a whole. The opinions and suggestions of tribal members are solicited during these meetings and are incorporated into the decision-making process.
The tribal council employs a tribal administrator to handle the day-to-day operations of the tribe, with an annual budget of approximately $1 million. The administrator supervises the management of tribal grant programs and provides a monthly reporting of the status of grant activities to local, state, and federal agencies, private donors, the tribal council, and tribal members.
State and federal recognition
The Waccamaw Siouan Indians were recognized by the state of
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
in 1971, and holds membership on the NC Commission of Indian Affairs as per NCGS 143B-407. The Tribe was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) organization in 1977.
Lumbee
The Lumbee are a Native American people primarily centered in Robeson, Hoke, Cumberland and Scotland counties in North Carolina. They also live in surrounding states and Baltimore, Maryland.
The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is a state-rec ...
Legal Services, Inc., represents the Waccamaw Siouan Tribe in its administrative process for seeking federal recognition.
Location
The current tribal homeland is on the edge of Green Swamp, seven miles from Lake Waccamaw. Many stories are associated with the origins of Lake Waccamaw. According to the tribe, an immense meteor appeared in the sky coming from the southwest many thousands of years ago. When the meteor struck, it burned itself deep into the earth. The water from the nearby rivers and swamps flowed into the lake.
Language
The earliest Europeans in the Carolinas were astounded by the linguistic diversity of what is now the Southeastern United States. Within the region now known as
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
, three language families were represented, as distinct from one another as
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
are from
Uralic languages
The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian (w ...
:
*The
Hatteras,
Chowan,
Moratok,
Pamlico
The Pamlico (also ''Pampticough'', ''Pomouik'', ''Pomeiok'') were American Indians of North Carolina. They spoke an Algonquian language also known as ''Pamlico'' or ''Carolina Algonquian''.
Geography
The Pamlico Indians lived on the P ...
,
Secotan
The Secotans were one of several groups of American Indians dominant in the Carolina sound region, between 1584 and 1590, with which English colonists had varying degrees of contact. Secotan villages included the Secotan, Aquascogoc, Dasamonguep ...
,
Machapunga
The Machapunga are a small Algonquian language-speaking Native American tribe from coastal northeastern North Carolina. They were part of the Secotan people. They were a group from the Powhatan Confederacy who migrated from present-day Virgini ...
, and the
Weapemeoc
The Weapemeoc Indians were a small Native American tribe from northeastern North Carolina. They lived on the north shore of Albemarle Sound. that was first noted in literature in 1585/1586. At that time, they approximately had 700 to 800 people. T ...
of the coastal plain spoke a variety of
Algonquian languages.
*The
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
,
Tuscarora Tuscarora may refer to the following:
First nations and Native American people and culture
* Tuscarora people
**''Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation'' (1960)
* Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people
* ...
,
Coree
The Coree (also Connamox, Cores, Corennines, Connamocksocks, Coranine Indians, Neuse River Indians) were a very small Native American tribe, who once occupied a coastal area south of the Neuse River in southeastern North Carolina in the area no ...
, and
Meherrin
The Meherrin Nation ( autonym: Kauwets'a:ka, "People of the Water") is one of seven state-recognized nations of Native Americans in North Carolina. They reside in rural northeastern North Carolina, near the river of the same name on the Virgini ...
, who inhabited homelands from the
coastal plain
A coastal plain is flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and a piedmont area. Some of the largest coastal plains are in Alaska and the southeastern United States. The Gulf Co ...
to the
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...
, spoke a variety of
Iroquoian
The Iroquoian languages are a language family of indigenous peoples of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking.
As of 2020, all surviving Iroquoian ...
languages.
*The
Catawba Catawba may refer to:
*Catawba people, a Native American tribe in the Carolinas
*Catawba language, a language in the Catawban languages family
*Catawban languages
Botany
*Catalpa, a genus of trees, based on the name used by the Catawba and other N ...
,
Cheraw,
Cape Fear, Eno, Keyauwee,
Occaneechi
The Occaneechi (also Occoneechee and Akenatzy) are Native Americans who lived in the 17th century primarily on the large, long Occoneechee Island and east of the confluence of the Dan and Roanoke rivers, near current-day Clarksville, Virginia. ...
,
Tutelo
The Tutelo (also Totero, Totteroy, Tutera; Yesan in Tutelo) were Native American people living above the Fall Line in present-day Virginia and West Virginia. They spoke a Siouan dialect of the Tutelo language thought to be similar to that of thei ...
,
Saponi
The Saponi or Sappony are a Native American tribe historically based in the Piedmont of North Carolina and Virginia.Raymond D. DeMaillie, "Tutelo and Neighboring Groups," pages 286–87. They spoke a Siouan language, related to the languages of ...
, Shakori, Sissipahaw, Sugeree, Wateree,
Waxhaw, and
Waccamaw
The Waccamaw people were an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, who lived in villages along the Waccamaw and Pee Dee rivers in North and South Carolina in the 18th century.Lerch 328
Language
Very little remains of the Waccam ...
of the
Cape Fear River
The Cape Fear River is a long blackwater river in east central North Carolina. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The river is formed at the confluence of the Haw River and the Deep River (North Carol ...
and Piedmont regions, were related
Siouan
Siouan or Siouan–Catawban is a language family of North America that is located primarily in the Great Plains, Ohio and Mississippi valleys and southeastern North America with a few other languages in the east.
Name
Authors who call the enti ...
-speaking peoples.
The ancestral
Siouan
Siouan or Siouan–Catawban is a language family of North America that is located primarily in the Great Plains, Ohio and Mississippi valleys and southeastern North America with a few other languages in the east.
Name
Authors who call the enti ...
''
Woccon'' language of the Waccamaw Siouan Indians of
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
was lost due to devastating population losses and social disruption of the 18th and 19th centuries. It survives as a handful of vocabulary recorded in the early 1700s.
History
Legend of Lake Waccamaw
Since its earliest recorded exploration in 1735 by the
naturalist William Bartram, (who was assisted in his efforts by the Waccamaw),
Lake Waccamaw has been the subject of many stories describing its legendary origin. Early European settlers adapted folk tales.
According to the Waccamaw Siouan Indians, thousands of years ago, an immense
meteor
A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space.
Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than this are classified as mi ...
appeared in the night sky toward the southwest. Flaming to a brilliance of suns as it hurtled earthward, the meteor finally struck, burning deep within the earth. The waters of the surrounding swamps and rivers flowed into the crater and cooled it, creating the gem-blue, verdant green lake. Some historians contend that this story is the mid-20th century invention of
James E. Alexander.
[Ross, ''American Indians in North Carolina'', p.137.]
16th century
Archeologist Martin T. Smith suggests that the 1521 Spanish expedition led by Francisco Girebillo likely encountered a Waccamaw village when they traveled inland from the Carolina coast along the Waccamaw and
Pee Dee
The Pee Dee is a region in the northeast corner of the U.S. state of South Carolina. It lies along the lower watershed of the Pee Dee River, which was named after the Pee Dee, a Native American tribe that historically inhabited the region.
Hi ...
rivers. Describing the inhabitants of the river valley as semi-
nomad
A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...
ic, Girebillo noted that they relied on hunting and gathering, and limited agriculture. He wrote that the people practiced mortuary customs "peculiar" to them, but failed to describe their distinctive practices in any detail.
Francisco Gordillo and Pedro de Quexos captured and enslaved several Native Americans in 1521, and shipped them to
Hispaniola, which the Spanish were colonizing. One of the men became known as
Francisco de Chicora Francisco de Chicora was the baptismal name given to a Native American kidnapped in 1521, along with 70 others, from near Winyah Bay by Spanish explorer Francisco Gordillo and slave trader Pedro de Quexos, based in Santo Domingo and the first Europ ...
. Francisco identified more than twenty
indigenous people
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
s who lived in the territory of present-day South Carolina, among which he mentioned the "Chicora" and the "Duhare," whose tribal territories comprised the northernmost regions. Anthropologist
John R. Swanton
John Reed Swanton (February 19, 1873 – May 2, 1958) was an American anthropologist, folklorist, and linguist who worked with Native American peoples throughout the United States. Swanton achieved recognition in the fields of ethnology and et ...
believed that these nations included the Waccamaw and the
Cape Fear Indians
The Cape Fear Indians were a small, coastal tribe of Native Americans who lived on the Cape Fear River in North Carolina (now Carolina Beach State Park).
Name and language
The autonym of the Cape Fear Indians may have been Daw-hee. Their name f ...
.
Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón
Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón (c. 1480 – 18 October 1526) was a Spanish magistrate and explorer who in 1526 established the short-lived San Miguel de Gualdape colony, one of the first European attempts at a settlement in what is now the United State ...
returned to the area in 1526.
17th century
About 150 years later, the Englishman William Hilton recorded his encounter with ancestors of the Waccamaw Siouan people, calling them the ''Woccon.'' In 1670, the German
surveyor and
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
John Lederer
John Lederer was a 17th-century German physician and an explorer of the Appalachian Mountains. He and the members of his party became the first Europeans to crest the Blue Ridge Mountains (1669) and the first to see the Shenandoah Valley and the ...
mentioned them in his ''Discoveries''. By the beginning of the 17th century, the ''Woccon'' (Waccamaw), along with a number of
Pee Dee River tribes, had been pushed north by a combination of Spanish and allied
Cusabo
The Cusabo or Cosabo were a group of American Indian tribes who lived along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in what is now South Carolina, approximately between present-day Charleston and south to the Savannah River, at the time of European colon ...
Indian forces. Some of the earliest English travelers to the interior of the Carolinas,
John Lederer
John Lederer was a 17th-century German physician and an explorer of the Appalachian Mountains. He and the members of his party became the first Europeans to crest the Blue Ridge Mountains (1669) and the first to see the Shenandoah Valley and the ...
in 1670 and
John Lawson some thirty years later, referred to the Waccamaw in their travel narratives as an Eastern
Siouan
Siouan or Siouan–Catawban is a language family of North America that is located primarily in the Great Plains, Ohio and Mississippi valleys and southeastern North America with a few other languages in the east.
Name
Authors who call the enti ...
people. They were repeating information from others; neither visited the area of
wetlands where some of the Waccamaw were beginning to seek refuge from colonial incursions.
18th century
John Lawson had placed the Woccon a few miles to the south of the
Tuscarora Tuscarora may refer to the following:
First nations and Native American people and culture
* Tuscarora people
**''Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation'' (1960)
* Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people
* ...
in his ''New Voyage to Carolina'' (1700). Settling around the confluence of the Waccamaw and
Pee Dee
The Pee Dee is a region in the northeast corner of the U.S. state of South Carolina. It lies along the lower watershed of the Pee Dee River, which was named after the Pee Dee, a Native American tribe that historically inhabited the region.
Hi ...
rivers, this amalgam of tribes had fragmented by 1705; a group of Woccon who moved farther north to the Lower
Neuse River
The Neuse River ( , Tuscarora: Neyuherú·kęʔkì·nęʔ) is a river rising in the Piedmont of North Carolina and emptying into Pamlico Sound below New Bern. Its total length is approximately , making it the longest river entirely contained in ...
and Contentnea Creek. The first written mention of the ''Woccon'' (or Waccamaw) by English colonials was recorded in 1712. The
South Carolina Colony
Province of South Carolina, originally known as Clarendon Province, was a province of Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712 to 1776. It was one of the five Southern colonies and one of the thirteen American colonies. The mona ...
tried to persuade the Waccamaw, along with the
Cape Fear Indians
The Cape Fear Indians were a small, coastal tribe of Native Americans who lived on the Cape Fear River in North Carolina (now Carolina Beach State Park).
Name and language
The autonym of the Cape Fear Indians may have been Daw-hee. Their name f ...
, to join James Moore, son of the former British colonial governor of
South Carolina
)'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
, in his expedition against the
Tuscarora Tuscarora may refer to the following:
First nations and Native American people and culture
* Tuscarora people
**''Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation'' (1960)
* Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people
* ...
in the
Tuscarora War
The Tuscarora War was fought in North Carolina from September 10, 1711 until February 11, 1715 between the Tuscarora people and their allies on one side and European American settlers, the Yamassee, and other allies on the other. This was con ...
.
British colonial administrators began to refer to the Woccon who moved south as the Waccamaw, as they settled near the Waccamaw River. Each colonial group tried to transliterate the names of tribes and spelling varied greatly. ''Waccamaw,'' for example, appeared in the historical record at about the same time that "Woccon" disappeared.
The Waccamaw continued to inhabit the region along the Waccamaw and Pee Dee rivers until 1718, when they relocated to the Weenee, or
Black River area. In 1720, they joined with fleeing families of
Tuscarora Tuscarora may refer to the following:
First nations and Native American people and culture
* Tuscarora people
**''Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation'' (1960)
* Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people
* ...
,
Cheraw, Keyauwee, and
Hatteras Indians along Drowning Creek, now known as the Lumbee, or
Lumber River
The Lumber River, sometimes referred to as the Lumbee River, is a river in south-central North Carolina in the flat Coastal Plain. European settlers first called the river Drowning Creek, which is the name of its headwater. The waterway known as ...
. Families of Waccamaw Indians continued to live along Drowning Creek until 1733, when some families sought refuge along
Lake Waccamaw and
Green Swamp.
By the second decade of the 18th century, many Waccamaw, also known as the ''Waccommassus,'' were located one hundred miles northeast of
Charleston, South Carolina. In 1749, a war broke out between the Waccamaw and
South Carolina Colony
Province of South Carolina, originally known as Clarendon Province, was a province of Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712 to 1776. It was one of the five Southern colonies and one of the thirteen American colonies. The mona ...
.
After the Waccamaw-South Carolina War, the Waccamaw sought refuge in the
wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...
region situated on the edge of Green Swamp, near
Lake Waccamaw. They settled four miles north of present-day
Bolton, North Carolina
Bolton is a town in Columbus County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 691 at the 2010 census.
History
Bolton was established in 1899 and named for the Bolton Lumber Company. It became an incorporated community in 1915.
Geograph ...
, along what is still known as the "Old Indian Trail." State land deeds and other colonial records substantiate the oral traditions of the Waccamaw Siouan Indians and their claim to the Green Swamp region.
19th century
Given their three-century-long historical experience of European contact, the Waccamaw Siouan Indians had become highly acculturated. They depended on European-style agriculture and established claims to land through individual farmsteads.
In 1835, following
Nat Turner's slave rebellion, North Carolina passed laws restricting the rights and movements of free blacks, who had previously been allowed to vote. Because Native Americans were classified equally as "
Free people of color" and many were of
mixed-race
Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-eth ...
, the Waccamaw Siouan Indians and others were stripped of their political and
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...
. They could no longer vote, bear arms, or serve in the state militia.
Local whites intensified harassment of the Waccamaw Siouan Indians after
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
ratified this discriminatory state constitution. Whites tended to classify them simply as black, rather than recognizing their cultural identification as Indian.
Education
Through much of the 19th century, Waccamaw Siouan children received no public school education. None existed in the South before the American Civil War. During
Reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...
,
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
-dominated legislatures established public schools, but legislators had to agree to racially
segregated facilities to get them passed. Having been free people before the war, the Waccamaw Siouan did not want to enroll their children in school with the children of
freedmen
A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), emancipation (granted freedom a ...
. The public schools had only two classifications: white and all other (black and
mulatto, the term for mixed-race or "people of color," usually referring to people of African and European ancestry, the most common mixture).
Late in the 19th century, the
Croatan Indians of Robeson County
The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is a state-recognized tribe in North Carolina. The tribe represents Lumbee people. They are not federally recognized as a Native American tribe.
With an estimated 55,000 members, the Lumbee Tribe of North Caroli ...
(now called
Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina
The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is a state-recognized tribe in North Carolina. The tribe represents Lumbee people. They are not federally recognized as a Native American tribe.
With an estimated 55,000 members, the Lumbee Tribe of North Caroli ...
) gained
state-recognition
State-recognized tribes in the United States are organizations that identify as Native American tribes or heritage groups that do not meet the criteria for federally recognized Indian tribes but have been recognized by a process established under ...
as tribes and support for a separate school. The
Croatan Indians of Samson County
The Coharie Intra-tribal Council, Inc. is a state-recognized tribe in North Carolina. The headquarters are in Clinton, North Carolina.
Formerly known as the Coharie Indian People, Inc. and the Coharie Tribe of North Carolina, the group's 2,700 me ...
, now called the
Coharie Intra-tribal Council, Inc. built their own schools and later still, developed their own school system. The
Waccamaw-Siouan Tribe followed suit by founding the Doe Head School in 1885. Situated in the Buckhead Indian community, the school was open only sporadically. It closed in 1921, after the state had sent a
black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...
teacher to the school, and the community asked the teacher to leave.
20th century
The first county-supported
Indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
school open to Waccamaw Siouans was called the "Wide Awake School." The school was built in 1933 in the Buckhead community in
Bladen County
Bladen County ()
, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the . Classes were taught by Welton Lowry (Lumbee). Waccamaw Siouan students who wanted to attend high school among self-identified Indians went to the
Coharie Intra-tribal Council's community's East Carolina High School in
Clinton, North Carolina; the
Lumbee
The Lumbee are a Native American people primarily centered in Robeson, Hoke, Cumberland and Scotland counties in North Carolina. They also live in surrounding states and Baltimore, Maryland.
The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is a state-rec ...
Fairmont High School in Fairmont,
Robeson County
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 is and largest city is Lumberton. The county was formed in 1787 from part of Bladen County and named in ...
; or the
Catawba Catawba may refer to:
*Catawba people, a Native American tribe in the Carolinas
*Catawba language, a language in the Catawban languages family
*Catawban languages
Botany
*Catalpa, a genus of trees, based on the name used by the Catawba and other N ...
Indian School in
South Carolina
)'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
.
The Waccamaw Siouan Indians received state recognition in 1971 and organized as a nonprofit group, which forms its elected government. They are working on documentation to gain federal recognition.
The Waccamaw Siouan Indian Tribe Powwow
The Waccamaw Siouan hold an annual powwow, an annual cultural celebration held on the third Friday and Saturday of October at the Waccamaw Siouan Tribal Grounds in the Buckhead Community of Bolton, North Carolina.
[Jones, Leslie. "Waccamaw Siouan annual powwow". www.learnnc.org. 2014.] Open to the public, the Powwow has a traditional dance competition, drumming competition, horse show, and gospel singing
[Waccamaw Siouan Tribe Homepage. 2014."Waccamaw Siouan 44th Annual Powwow".www.waccamaw-siouan.com] A crafts fair features items made by members of the Waccamaw tribe, and demonstrations of the associated craft skills.
The Waccamaw Siouan 44th Annual Powwow was held from October 17–18, 2014 and had an attendance of approximately 2,500.
Relationship to other North Carolina Indian Tribes
Like most North Carolina Indian groups, the Waccamaw Siouan Indians have a long tradition of affiliation with other tribal nations. Kinship practices first observed in the colonial era continue through intermarriage with other tribes.
Particular surnames are common among three tribes, the Waccamaw Siouan, Coharie, and
Lumbee
The Lumbee are a Native American people primarily centered in Robeson, Hoke, Cumberland and Scotland counties in North Carolina. They also live in surrounding states and Baltimore, Maryland.
The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is a state-rec ...
:
Campbell Campbell may refer to:
People Surname
* Campbell (surname), includes a list of people with surname Campbell
Given name
* Campbell Brown (footballer), an Australian rules footballer
* Campbell Brown (journalist) (born 1968), American television ne ...
,
Baldwin,
Freeman
Freeman, free men, or variant, may refer to:
* a member of the Third Estate in medieval society (commoners), see estates of the realm
* Freeman, an apprentice who has been granted freedom of the company, was a rank within Livery companies
* Free ...
,
Jacobs,
Patrick,
Graham
Graham and Graeme may refer to:
People
* Graham (given name), an English-language given name
* Graham (surname), an English-language surname
* Graeme (surname), an English-language surname
* Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer
* Clan ...
, Hammonds, Blanks,
Hunt
Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, e ...
, Locklear,
Moore,
Strickland,
Young
Young may refer to:
* Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents
* Youth, the time of life when one is young, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood
Music
* The Young, an American roc ...
,
Bowen, Godwin, Lacewell, Bryant,
Daniels, and Spaulding.
[Julian T. Pierce, Cynthia Hunt-Locklear, Jack Campisi, Wesley White, ''The Lumbee Petition'', 3 vols. (Pembroke, NC: Lumbee River Legal Services, 1987), pp.1-79.] Several of these names are also common among white and African-American families in the area. For instance, there are many African-American descendants of Benjamin and Edith Spaulding of
Bladen County, North Carolina. Edith was known to be Native American.
Notes
External links
Waccamaw Siouan Indians official website
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Native American tribes in North Carolina
Native American history of North Carolina
Bladen County, North Carolina
Columbus County, North Carolina
Extinct languages of North America
Siouan peoples
State-recognized tribes in the United States