The Lumbee problem : the making of an American Indian people

cover image

Where to find it

Davis Library (5th floor)

Call Number
E99.C91 B57 2001 c. 2
Status
Available

North Carolina Collection (Wilson Library)

Call Number
C970.03 L92b 2000
Status
In-Library Use Only

Undergrad Library

Call Number
E99.C91 B57 2001
Status
Available

Authors, etc.

Names:

Summary

How does a group of people who have American Indian ancestry but no records of treaties, reservations, Native language, or peculiarly "Indian" customs come to be accepted--socially and legally--as Indians? Originally published in 1980, The Lumbee Problem traces the political and legal history of the Lumbee Indians of Robeson County, North Carolina, arguing that Lumbee political activities have been powerfully affected by the interplay between their own and others' conceptions of who they are. The book offers insights into the workings of racial ideology and practice in both the past and the present South--and particularly into the nature of Indianness as it is widely experienced among nonreservation Southeastern Indians. Race and ethnicity, as concepts and as elements guiding action, are seen to be at the heart of the matter. By exploring these issues and their implications as they are worked out in the United States, Blu brings much-needed clarity to the question of how such concepts are--or should be--applied across real and perceived cultural borders.

Contents

  • Preface p. ix
  • Acknowledgments p. xiv
  • 1 Why the Lumbee? p. 1
  • Why should the Lumbee be of any general interest? p. 2
  • What kind of evidence is cited? p. 5
  • Robeson County today p. 8
  • 2 Where did they come from and what were they like before? p. 36
  • Where did they come from? p. 36
  • What were they like before? p. 44
  • 3 What changed and how? p. 66
  • Underlying conditions p. 67
  • Leaders and tactics p. 68
  • Identity conflict and change p. 77
  • 4 What are they trying to do now? p. 91
  • County politics p. 92
  • The coalition p. 99
  • 5 Who do they say they are? p. 134
  • How do Indians talk about themselves? p. 134
  • Traditions expressive of Indianness p. 148
  • Other behavioral qualities of Indianness p. 160
  • 6 What difference does who they say they are make? p. 169
  • Membership in the Lumbee community p. 170
  • Black, White, and Indian identity concepts p. 181
  • 7 Where does the Lumbee problem lead? p. 200
  • The "Lumbee problem" and American ethnicity p. 201
  • Ideas of "race" and "ethnic group" in America p. 203
  • How useful is the concept of "ethnicity"? p. 218
  • Toward understanding p. 227
  • Afterword p. 236
  • Appendix Events in Lumbee political history p. 258
  • Notes p. 260
  • Bibliography p. 273
  • Index p. 287

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