Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South - (First Peoples: New Directions in Indigenous Studies (University of North Carolina Press Paperback) )

About the Book

Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South: Race, Identity, and the Making of a Nation

Book Synopsis

With more than 50,000 enrolled members, North Carolina's Lumbee Indians are the largest Native American tribe east of the Mississippi River. Malinda Maynor Lowery, a Lumbee herself, describes how, between Reconstruction and the 1950s, the Lumbee crafted and maintained a distinct identity in an era defined by racial segregation in the South and paternalistic policies for Indians throughout the nation. They did so against the backdrop of some of the central issues in American history, including race, class, politics, and citizenship.

Lowery argues that "Indian" is a dynamic identity that, for outsiders, sometimes hinged on the presence of "Indian blood" (for federal New Deal policy makers) and sometimes on the absence of "black blood" (for southern white segregationists). Lumbee people themselves have constructed their identity in layers that tie together kin and place, race and class, tribe and nation; however, Indians have not always agreed on how to weave this fabric into a whole. Using photographs, letters, genealogy, federal and state records, and first-person family history, Lowery narrates this compelling conversation between insiders and outsiders, demonstrating how the Lumbee People challenged the boundaries of Indian, southern, and American identities.

Review Quotes

"Lowery's arguments deserve thoughtful consideration not only by Americanist historians and scholars of native/indigenous studies but by officials, journalists, and anyone who presumes to know what makes or does not make a people 'Indian.'"--Journal of American History

"A richly detailed and very personal work. . . . A complex and layered story."--Indigenous Peoples Issues & Resources

"A unique perspective on Lumbee identity formation to American Indian studies of the historical record....A starting point for future insider studies of the relationship between Jim Crow segregation and American Indian identity formation....Readers are bound to find Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South a welcome text for inclusion in undergraduate and graduate seminars."--Wicazo Sa Review

"An important new book. . . . Extraordinarily detailed. . . . Superbly written. . . . A masterful discussion . . . that will be the standard treatment for decades to come."--North Carolina Historical Review

"Lowery demonstrates that identity and race are often contested concepts that are constantly being revised and that have real consequences for individuals and communities."--American Indian Quarterly

"Lowery's engaging narrative and judicious scrutiny. . . provides both a rich story of these multifaceted people, and a perceptive model for understanding the intricacies of Indian identity."--Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

"Should be of great interest not only to those who study the Lumbees, other Native Americans, and government Indian policy but also, more broadly, to scholars of southern history, race relations, and identity studies."--Journal of Southern History

"The book's richness, wide range of archival sources, and complex treatment of identity make it an important work for scholars and teachers interested in both southern and Indian history."--Agricultural History

"This book has a great deal to offer researchers in a variety of social science fields. Lowery gives a detailed, well-documented account of one group's extensive attempts to clarify who they think is an Indian and why they should be considered a tribe."--Social Forces

"Unflinching and even-handed analysis. . . . Lowery's book is particularly useful to scholars focusing on southeastern Native people, nonfederally recognized Indigenous communities, and the complex and often contradictory relationships between Native and black communities in the United States."--Studies in American Indian Literatures

About the Author

Malinda Maynor Lowery (Lumbee) is an assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a native of Robeson County, North Carolina.