B RIEF R EPORT

The Racial Identity and Cultural Orientation of Lumbee American Indian High School Students

ALFRED BRYANT JR. University of North Carolina at Pembroke

TERESA D. LAFROMBOISE Stanford University

The uncertain and complex lineage of the Lumbee American Indian tribe has made the issue of identity of prime concern. The cultural identification, racial identification, bi- cultural competence, and perceived school environment for 103 Lumbee Indian high school students were examined in this study. Higher self-ratings on American Indian cultural competence and American Indian cultural identification than on White cul- tural competence and White cultural identification were found, and t-test comparisons revealed no gender differences on responses to the instruments. Analysis of variance was conducted to assess whether differences in perceived school environment could be attrib- uted to cultural orientation. Rather than appearing assimilated, this generation of Lumbees tends to exhibit J. E. Helms’s (1995b) Internalization identity status and an American Indian cultural orientation. Keywords: racial identity, cultural orientation, biculturalism, Lumbee American Indian

Approximately 45,000 strong, members of counties as well as several other states within the Lumbee American Indian tribe reside the United States. Lumbee American Indi- predominantly in Robeson County, North ans have been a proud and independent Carolina. The majority live in or around the people who have established their own via- small town of Pembroke, but they have also ble community. According to Evans (1995), established communities in surrounding the forbearers of the Lumbee were speaking

● Alfred Bryant Jr., School of Education, University of North Carolina at Pembroke; Teresa D. La- Fromboise, Counseling Psychology Program, School of Education, Stanford University. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Teresa D. LaFromboise, School of Education, Stanford University, 485 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA 94305-3096. E-mail: [email protected]

Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology Copyright 2005 by the Educational Publishing Foundation Vol. 11, No. 1, 82–89 1099-9809/05/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/1099-9809.11.1.82 82 Identity of Lumbee Indian Students 83

English as early as the 18th century, giving than many federally recognized American rise to the theory that Lumbees are actually Indian tribes. They do not know their native descendants of Sir Walter Raleigh’s lost col- language as do some tribes. Lumbees also ony of Roanoke Island (Dial, 1993; Gaillard, often look different from what an American 1998). “They have never been placed on Indian is too often thought to look like. reservations, nor have they been wards of There is much variety in the physical char- either the state or the federal government” acteristics within the tribe. Hair color and (Dial & Eliades, 1975, p. xiv). Consequently, skin complexion vary across the spectrum. Lumbee American Indians have a unique Although they do not possess the same and controversial history and status. cultural traits as other tribes, many are com- They know they are members of an mon. They make an effort to discover many American Indian tribe, but their tribal his- of the lost arts, crafts, and practices of their tory is not formally documented. Therefore American Indian ancestors. Because their Lumbee American Indians cannot avoid the traditional cultural heritage is a major influ- issue of identity. It is not that they are trying ence in their lives, many Lumbees remain to regain their Indian identity; it is simply attached to nature and the spiritual world. that the outside world, both the American Religious values and teachings greatly influ- Indian community and federal government, ence the lives of these individuals. The ma- remains absorbed in trying to classify them jority practice the religion they were taught and, consequently, refrains from acknowl- by their parents and grandparents, which is edging their identity (Woods, 2001). “Our the Southern Baptist faith. As in other tribal children and our people experience ‘iden- groups, Lumbees rely on the cultural teach- tity crisis,’ not because we do not know who ings of their elders to guide their actions we are and what we are, but because of the and reactions. These cultural teachings are lack of affirmation of our identity by exter- most often in the form of oral history. nal forces and recognition of our native However, Lumbee American Indians birthright” (R. D. Woods, personal commu- face the continuing struggle of defining nication, June 1, 2004). their identity. Where other tribes have well- This lack of historical confirmation documented and precise histories, the Lum- leaves them without the federal recognition bee history is uncertain. It appears likely that most other American Indian tribes that the people now called Lumbees are across the United States possess. In fact, they made up of a combination of indigenous have been criticized by federally recognized American Indians, joined by early European tribes as having too open an enrollment settlers and later by others seeking refuge policy in determining tribal membership from social chaos, oppression, or slavery (Jaimes, 1995). And, as Snipp (1997) has (see Forbes, 1990, for a discussion of Red- noted, “Disputed claims to group member- Black Indians). This complex lineage and ship can become vitriolic when these claims legacy have created identity crises among are linked to eligibility requirements in the the Lumbee people because they are not distribution of scarce resources” (p. 675). readily accepted by some American Indian Lumbees are a state-recognized tribe but, tribes owing to the questions of origin, without federal recognition, they are viewed which remain unanswered. by the government as an ambiguous entity (Sider, 1993). Because of this attribution, To be a Lumbee is to be cloaked in the myths and uncertainties of the past, to find your some may tend to view themselves as such. pride in Indianness being challenged and Given their unique history, Lumbee denigrated. Most important, it is to find some American Indians are often viewed as an of one’s basic rights as an American and a acculturated tribal people (Maynor, 1996). human being restricted if not denied. In- They tend to possess different religious prac- deed, shorn of all frills, the history of the tices, social practices, customs, and beliefs Lumbees is a history of struggle. The total 84 Bryant and LaFromboise

story is one of struggle to gain acceptance as Method Indians, to escape the emasculating effects of discriminatory laws and to join the main- Participants stream of society as first-class citizens. The Lumbees, by whatever name they were vari- Lumbee American Indian high school stu- ously called through the centuries, have al- dents were recruited from six high schools ways known themselves as Indians. They have in Robeson County in southeastern North been known, recognized, and mistreated as Carolina. The American Indian high school Indians by their surrounding white commu- youth development counselor employed by nities. Theirs has been a centuries-old strug- the Indian education program of each gle indeed. But while the struggle is certainly school was trained to carry out the data col- not over, the Indian people are meeting the lection and to explain the purpose of the challenges they face, with considerable suc- project. Counselors administered the survey cess. (Dial & Eliades, 1975, p. xiv) packets in a group setting during a monthly With this said, it is evident that Lumbee Indian education meeting at each of the youths are culturally different in many re- high schools. Approximately 75% of the spects from American Indian youths of Lumbee students in these schools actively participate in the Indian education other tribes (Sider, 2003). For instance, be- program. cause of early and continuous contact with Survey packets contained a cover letter/ White society, Lumbees naturally experi- consent statement, a demographic data ence higher degrees of acculturation than sheet, and (a) the People of Color Racial most reservation tribes. When Lumbees en- Identity Attitude Scale, plus (b) the Living ter high school they are often fluent in the in Two Worlds Survey, Cultural Identifica- beliefs and practices of the dominant cul- tion Scale, and the school environment ture, and most are capable of leaving the questions. The order of a and b was rotated community to work or attend college be- to counterbalance the presentation of mate- cause of their acculturative status. This fur- rials. Participation was voluntary with no in- ther delineates them from youths from centives offered, but anonymity was assured. other tribes who are not as inclined to leave Over 95% of the students attending their home area. The lower levels of accul- participated. turation experienced by youths from some The mean age of the sample was 17.3 tribes represent a challenge to their educa- years, ranging from 14 to 19 years. Of the tional success outside of the reservation. 103 participants, 62 were female and 41 Although little research has been done were male. Although 6 participants did not with the American Indian adolescent in gen- indicate their grade level, 10 were in the eral (Bee-Gates, Howard-Pitney, LaFrom- 10th grade, 22 in the 11th grade, and 65 in boise, & Rowe, 1996), even less attention has the 12th grade. The typical socioeconomic been directed toward their racial or ethnic status in this community would be consid- identity (Martinez & Dukes, 1997; Mihe- ered below average, and the median family suah, 1999). Given the uncertain status of annual income was estimated at $12,400 Lumbee youths within the American Indian (U.S. Census Bureau, 2002). community and the dominant White society, several questions became the focus of this investigation: How can the racial identity of Instruments Lumbee Indian youths be described; what is The People of Color Racial Identity Attitude the cultural orientation of Lumbee youths; Scale (POCRIAS; Helms, 1995a) was devel- and does the cultural orientation of Lumbee oped to provide a measure of the racial students affect their perception of the identity attitudes, due to their perceived school environment? shared experiences with racial oppression, Identity of Lumbee Indian Students 85 of those people whose ancestry appears to scores on each scale indicate greater compe- be Asian, African, Latino/Latina, or Native tence in that society. American in the United States. According to Alpha reliability coefficients for this sam- Helms’s people of color racial identity the- ple were American Indian, .83, and White ory (Helms, 1995b), individuals’ racial iden- American, .94, values similar to those re- tity attitudes can be described by Conformity ported by LaFromboise (1999). The inter- (conformance to racial status quo; devalues scale correlation for this study was .02. Be- own racial group), Dissonance (confusion cause of this independent relationship, concerning own racial group), Immersion scores from each scale can be divided into (idealization and psychological identifica- high and low groups, thus providing a ma- tion with own racial group), and Internaliza- trix of cultural orientation: high Indian/ tion (integration of commitment to own high White; high Indian/low White; low In- group and ability to respond objectively to dian/high White; and low Indian/low positive aspects of Whites). White. The POCRIAS contains 50 statements di- The Cultural Identification Scale (CIS; vided into four subscales based on the sta- Oetting & Beauvais, 1991) contains four tuses noted above. Participants are asked to items that the authors identify as sufficient respond to each item using a Likert scale in measuring the cultural identification of (1 ϭ strongly agree to 5 ϭ strongly disagree). minority youths when posed separately to Higher scores on each of the four subscales refer to White American life and the minor- indicate stronger levels of the relevant racial ity culture(s) meaningful to the respon- dents. We used these items relating to both identity attitudes. Alpha reliability coeffi- White American and Indian ways, thus cre- cients found in this investigation were as ating two 4-item orthogonal scales. Partici- follows: Conformity, .61; Dissonance, .73; pants are asked to respond to choices pre- Immersion, .76; and Internalization, .77, val- sented in a Likert format (A ϭ a lot to D ϭ ues similar to those reported by Kohatsu not at all). Higher scores on each scale indi- (1992), Bryant and Baker (2003), and Miv- cate greater identification with that culture. ille (1996). Alvarez (1996) and Canabal The authors report that these scales have (1995) also reported interscale correlations Ϫ Ϫ reliabilities in the high .80s, and in this in- ranging from .34 to .53 and .45 to .37, vestigation, indeed, we found Cronbach’s respectively. J. E. Helms (personal commu- alpha reliabilities of .91 and .87 for the nication, January 16, 1998) has endorsed White and Indian scales, respectively. (The the content validity of the POCRIAS, al- modification of this scale by Moran, Flem- though empirical evidence for validity is not ing, Somervell, and Manson did not appear yet available. until late in 1999, by which time our data The Living in Two Worlds Survey had been collected.) Oetting and Beauvais (LTWS; LaFromboise, 1999) was developed have amassed considerable evidence estab- to measure the cultural competence of lishing a link between cultural identification American Indian adolescents in both the and family functioning, self-esteem, school dominant and American Indian society. It adjustment, and drug use. contains 50 items divided into two scales, School environment was measured by American Indian and White American. The the four items that compose the section items are grouped under the following top- “Youth Perceptions of Negative Treatment ics: Friendship, Communication, Commu- Due to Race” from a research instrument nity Membership, Support, and Cultural concerned with perceived school environ- Knowledge. Participants are asked to re- ment developed by Roeser, Eccles, and spond in terms of how well each item de- Sameroff (1998). An item example is “How scribes or applies to them using a Likert often do you feel that teachers discourage format (A ϭ very to D ϭ not at all). Higher you from taking certain classes because of 86 Bryant and LaFromboise your race?” Four response choices were of- high Indian/low White, low Indian/high fered, ranging from a lot to not at all. Be- White, and low Indian/low White) were an- cause of this limited scope, no psychometric alyzed by analysis of variance to determine data are available. whether there were differences in perceived school environment that could be attributed to these cultural orientations. No suggestion of differences was discovered, F(3, 42) ϭ Results .413, p Ͻ .74. The correlations of scores on all scales As a result of t tests, no gender differences administered were also examined. American were discovered in the scores on the Indian and White culture and American In- POCRIAS, LTWS, CIS, or the school items. dian and White identification appear totally The mean item score and standard devia- independent (.02 and .04, respectively), tion for each scale of the POCRIAS are thus supporting the conceptual integrity of shown in Table 1. Internalization scores the measures. Also noteworthy is that Inter- were highest, followed by Immersion scores, nalization appears more closely related to a Dissonance scores, and Conformity scores. bicultural outlook than White or American All differences in scores between scales were Indian orientations and that perceived significant at the .05 level or better. school environment shows no relationship The mean item scores on the LTWS with any other variable. were 3.6 (SD ϭ 0.28) and 3.0 (SD ϭ 0.59) for the American Indian and White American scales, respectively, a statistically significant difference, t(102) ϭ 9.31, p Ͻ .001. Scores Discussion on the American Indian and White Ameri- can cultural identification scales were 3.1 (SD ϭ 0.72) and 2.5 (SD ϭ 0.94), respec- The results of this investigation support the tively, which were also significantly different, view that Lumbee American Indian high t(102) ϭ 5.88, p Ͻ .001. school students develop a strong sense of Scores on the American Indian and American Indian identity. The findings on White American scales of the LTW were di- the POCRIAS indicate that the Lumbee stu- vided into equal thirds of high, medium, dents in this study are best characterized by and low scores and plotted on horizontal the Internalization racial identity status. and vertical axes. The scores of students in This suggests they possess a positive Ameri- the corners of the resulting nine-cell matrix can Indian racial identity and also have the (representing high Indian/high White, ability to acknowledge the positive aspects of White society. They appear less character- ized by the Immersion status, indicating a TABLE 1 Mean Item Scores, Standard moderate amount of physical and psycho- Deviations, and Reliability Estimates for logical withdrawal into the Lumbee Ameri- POCRIAS Subscales can Indian racial group and culture. The Subscale M SD r Dissonance and Conformity statuses were least representative of these students, thus Internalization 4.29 .55 .77* suggesting that they are likely to experience Immersion 2.98 .57 .76* a minimal degree of confusion or disorien- Dissonance 2.54 .52 .73* Conformity 1.84 .44 .61* tation in regard to their identity when racial dynamics are encountered and are quite

Note. POCRIAS ϭ The People of Color Racial Identity Atti- aware of the significant impact that race has tude Scale. in their lives without accepting the racial * p Ͻ .05. status quo. Identity of Lumbee Indian Students 87

These findings appear to be confirmed then arises as to the possible causes for the by the data from the measures of cultural idiosyncratic response pattern of the Lum- orientation and cultural identification. The bee students. On the one hand, the scores Lumbee students scored significantly higher could accurately represent an intense at- on the American Indian scale than on the tachment to the local historic cohesiveness. White American scale of the LTWS. This This effect could have been enhanced be- suggests that their primary cultural orienta- cause Lysne and Levy (1997) have shown tion is toward identification with the Lum- that Native American Indian high school bee society, which is further supported by students attending a school with a predom- the results from the CIS. However, their ori- inantly American Indian student body dem- entation or identification with White Amer- onstrate stronger ethnic identity than those ican society appears to be functionally attending a predominantly White institu- strong. Thus, the picture that emerges is tion. On the other hand, the lack of virtually that of biculturally competent high school any low American Indian scores could be students—who understand White American society but who have allegiance to Lumbee the result of the procedural arrangements. Indian society. Of course, biculturalism was The environmental press in a Native Amer- operationalized in the questionnaire and ican Student Association meeting with the may be reductionistic. However, it did in- materials administered by the American In- clude many concepts thought to be signifi- dian youth development counselor may cant, such as friendship patterns, ease in have effectively suppressed more negative communicating, identification with commu- responses to the American Indian items. nity, and perceived source of support. This problem notwithstanding, the re- Certain other limitations of this study are sults of this investigation provide evidence apparent and could affect the interpretation that Lumbee American Indian high school of the data reported here. For instance, it students in the Robeson County community was observed that a normal distribution was in North Carolina appear to recognize and not attained on several scales, most notice- accept their cultural heritage. Regardless of ably on the American Indian scale of the their undocumented tribal history, the lack LTWS. Compared with a national sample of of a Native American Indian language, and 413 American Indian students (LaFrom- the differences that set them apart from boise, 1999), Lumbee students scored .4 other American Indian tribes, Lumbee stu- higher on the American Indian scale and .2 dents today tend to exhibit the Internaliza- higher on the White American scale, a dif- tion racial identity status and an American ference that may be artifactual but is statis- Indian cultural identification. These find- tically significant. With the scores strongly ings support the claim that ancestry and negatively skewed, a ceiling effect is encoun- identity need to be decoupled (Mihesuah, tered that prevents distinguishing among 1999). students with bunched high scores. Al- Because the Lumbee have been ques- though we still suspect that cultural orienta- tion may be related to the perceived school tioned as legitimate native people, it is espe- environment, the skewed distributions and cially significant that the most recent gener- resulting ceiling effect may have obscured ation demonstrates a strong identification this relationship. with Indianness. Clinicians and educators Observation of the scatter plots of scores who interact with Lumbee youths need to be on the American Indian and White Ameri- aware that, despite their long history of op- can scales of the LTWS revealed that, com- pression, rather than becoming culturally pared with the national sample, the pattern assimilated, the young generation of Lum- was distinguished by the almost total lack of bees today appear to be strengthening their low American Indian scores. The question unique cultural orientation. 88 Bryant and LaFromboise

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