LEAVING THE ONLY LAND I KNOW: A HISTORY OF LUMBEE MIGRATIONS TO PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA A Thesis Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS by Jessica R. Locklear May 2020 Thesis Approvals: Hilary Iris Lowe, Thesis Advisor, Department of History Seth Bruggeman, Department of History Ashley Minner, University of Maryland Baltimore County © Copyright 2020 by Jessica R. Locklear All Rights Reserved ii ABSTRACT This thesis focuses on the diasporic Lumbee community of Philadelphia that formed following the Second World War and developed throughout the late twentieth century. Faced with economic hardship, thousands of Lumbees migrated out of Robeson County and settled in urban centers including Baltimore, Detroit, and Philadelphia. While segregation barred Indians from industrial jobs in the southeast, Lumbees found employers in Philadelphia less concerned about their ethnic background. In the 1940s and 50s, many Lumbees were apprehensive about leaving their ancestors’ original places in North Carolina, fearing that they would lose the ties that bound them to their sense of self. Lumbees from North Carolina continued to migrate to Philadelphia in the 1960s and 70s, many settled and raised their children in the city. Using archival records and original oral history interviews, I argue that Lumbees were able to retain and reaffirm a distinct Indian identity through traditional kinship practices, transcending geographical bounds, and despite new challenges of urban life in 20th century Philadelphia. The retention of this identity is seen through the establishment of a Lumbee church, Lumbee involvement in Philadelphia’s urban Indian center, and participation in homecoming traditions. Lumbees were able to carve out a space in Philadelphia where they found belonging with one another, while making an enduring impact on the city. iii DEDICATION To Mommom and Poppop, with love. To “my people,” near and far. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Undertaking such a large project with such limited time to complete it was one of the most challenging tasks I have ever attempted. While I will never be able to fully represent this narrative in its entirety, I hope this is the beginning of a much larger project and ongoing conversation. First and foremost, I want to thank Temple University’s Center for Public History for allowing me to pursue this project. I especially thank my adviser Dr. Hilary Iris Lowe, for her patience and guidance through this process. I also thank Dr. Seth Bruggeman for his support in providing a great number of resources. I also want to thank the Lumbee Community in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and elsewhere. A countless number of individuals have collaborated with me in making this project a reality and it would be impossible to list them all here. I am especially grateful to those who took the time to talk with me and provided oral histories–Helen Campbell, Jason Harris, Brenda Silva, Connie Dimalanta, Barbara Johnson, Luke Alexander, Michael Wilkins, Carolyn Markey, and many more. Thank you all for trusting me with your stories. I also wish to thank Ashley Minner for serving on my committee and for her ongoing support and encouragement. I also thank Dr. Malinda Maynor Lowery and Sara Wood at UNC Chapel Hill for providing me training in the practice of oral history and for agreeing to archive my interviews. I also thank several organizations and institutions and their staff for supporting my work, whether financially or academically, including The Leeway Foundation, Oral History in the Mid-Atlantic Region (OHMAR), The American Philosophical Society, Temple University Special Collections Research Center, and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. v I must also thank my parents, David and Wendy, and my sister Julia for their never-ending love and support. Thanks to my grandparents, especially Mommom for always being willing to drive to North Carolina with me at a minutes’ notice. Lastly, thanks to my husband Christian for his love, support, and constant engagement with my work. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... viii A NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY ...................................................................................... vii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 2. BEEN A HARD WORKIN’ PRILGRIM ..................................................................... 9 3. A SHELTER IN THE TIME OF STORM ................................................................. 30 4. PROUD TO BE A LUMBEE INDIAN ...................................................................... 52 5. CONCLUSION: READY TO GO HOME ................................................................. 68 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................. 77 APPENDICES A. ORAL HISTORY OVERVIEW ........................................................................... 82 B. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ................................................................................. 83 C. CONSENT FORMS ............................................................................................. 84 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. “Home of Indians half breed who have not been resettled on Pembroke Farms. Maxton, North Carolina” ……….………………………. 12 2. “Indian children (mixed breed) near Maxton, North Carolina”.……………… 15 3. “Advertisement for the auction of Pembroke Farms”.………………………… 19 4. “Talmage Chavis, born in Robeson County, served in the Pacific Theater during World War II” ………………………………………… 21 5. “Railroad Station & Train”.…………………………………………………… 23 6. “Brothers Bennie Chavis (left) and Henry Chavis (right) pose with cured tobacco leaves ………………………………………….…… 28 7. “Police activity during the Columbia Avenue riots” …….…………………… 41 8. “Thessely Campbell stands outside the Southern Free Will Baptist Church, where he is the pastor for a congregation of about 70”.……………… 44 9. “As a pastor, Campbell works with James Hunt (left) to aid William Tierno” ………………………………………………………… 47 10. “Willie French Lowery “Proud to Be a Lumbee” Album Artwork” ………………………………………………………………. 53 11. “Artist Lowry spent 8 months making this traditional outfit” …………………. 63 12. “With the Franklin Bridge in the background, Louisa Rios, Buffy Red Feather Brown, Donnie Emmanuel and Sundra Sunflower Polk perform a dance” …………………………………….. 64 13. “My father, David Markey, working in the tobacco field at his grandparents’ house” ……………………………………………………. 71 14. “Homecoming Parade 1974” …………………………………………………. 72 15. “Lumbee Parade 1983” …………………………………………………………74 viii NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY The use of terminology regarding indigenous people living in the United States is undoubtedly a frequent topic of discussion and debate. For this paper, I have decided to use the terms Native American, American Indian, and Indian synonymously to refer to people belonging to tribes or nations in the United States. Because most Lumbees refer to themselves as “Indians” in the past and present, I chose to use it while simultaneously acknowledge it is a term steeped in colonialism. It would also be irresponsible of me to ignore the political tensions surrounding the name “Lumbee.” While I do not have time to outline this history, the name “Lumbee” was not officially adopted by the tribe until 1953. However, scholarship shows that the term “Lumbee” entered the written record in 1888 and according to oral tradition, is a Siouan word for the river that runs through the Indian community.1 It is also important to note that the state of North Carolina recognized the Lumbee under several different names throughout the tribe’s history, including “Indians of Robeson County” and “Cherokee Indians of Robeson County.” I use the term Lumbee rather than these alternative historical names for the sake of simplicity and because it is the name recognized by the state of North Carolina and the United States. I also acknowledge the existence of various political factions amongst Robeson County’s Indian population, which is the result of internal political factionalism. There are several small groups of Indians operating under various names in Robeson County today, who are related to Lumbees by kinship and share a common history but disagree 1 Lawrence T. Locklear, “Down by the Ol’ Lumbee: An Investigation into the Origin and Use of the Word “Lumbee” Prior to 1952, Native South, vol. 3, no. 1 (2010): 103-117. ix on the way to approach recognition. Many of these individuals may find the narrative outlined in this thesis applies to their people as well. Again, for the sake of simplicity, I use the name Lumbee rather than other names that are preferred by various political factions. For more insight, see the note on terms in Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South: Race, Identity, and the Making of a Nation by Malinda Maynor Lowery.2 2 Malinda Maynor Lowery, Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South: Race, Identity, and the Making of a Nation (Chapel Hill: