©Maria Strum, Daniel, Daniel in front of his parents house in St. Pauls. Daniel identifies as Lumbee. Pre-Colonization there were several tribes inhabiting the same area, the Cheraw, the Tuscarora, the Haliwa-Saponi, the Cherokees to name a few. You can find three native language families: Algonquian, Siouan and Iroquois, which suggest migration due to wars, climate change etc. All these tribes weren‘t recognized. In an attempt to gain federal recognition the Lumbee name was voted for in 1952 (and passed legislation in 1953) to unite all tribes living in and around Robeson County. The idea was to form a conglomerate, so the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) wouldn‘t ignore such a large group of people in their petition for recognition. The tribe petitioned again for federal recognition, which failed because the BIA stated the Lumbees exist only since 1953 and therefore it couldn’t be proved they existed before 1492.

©Maria Strum, Dominique, Dominique is half Lumbee half Guamanian. She‘s regularly attending the Culture Class and participating in Powwows as a Jingle dancer. Here she is in her house in Red Springs.

©Maria Strum, Patricia, Mescal and Frankie in front of their house in Pembroke. Mescal is 19, she has two daughters Kassidy (4) and Frankie, who‘s just a few months old. Patricia (15) is Mescal’s cousin. Mescal’s father Reggie is leading the Culture Class in town, led by The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. Their mission is to inspire youth in Indian Country, through cultural enlightenment, to realize their full potential regardless of their circumstances and to become caring, responsible tribal members.

©Maria Strum, Reflection #2, Pembroke in Robeson County is the economic, cultural and political center of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, which sought full federal recognition from the United States Government since 1888. It is the largest tribe in North Carolina, the largest tribe East of the Mississippi River, and the ninth-largest in the nation. Robeson County has a population of 134,576 people with a median age of 35.6 and a median household income of $31,298. Robeson county is the poorest and most violent county in North Carolina. Between the 90s and the 2000s most of the industry had left (e.g. Converse in Lumberton, where many Lumbee People worked).

©Maria Strum, Robert looking at himself, Traditionally the people of Robeson County were farmers, they produced tobacco for example, but with globalization it became cheaper to produce tobacco in China and local farmers couldn‘t compete with the price. The rest of the industry has left too, The Converse plant was the largest private employer, with 3000 employees, mainly Lumbee worked at the plant which produced the Chuck Taylor All-Star until it closed in 2001. People are being thrown back on their own resources and are left waiting wondering what to do.

©Maria Strum, Manny, Manny at the Running Waters Pow Wow in Fayetteville, NC. He identifies as Lumbee. He‘s a fancy dancer and he‘s dancing with his bandana covering half his face like this. His uncle Nakoma started a Culture Class in Cumberland County and Manny is attending regularly playing the drums and singing, dancing and teaching as well. There are more Culture Classes popping up now, which is hopeful to see because tribes in the Southeast who have been in contact with Europeans first have lost a lot of their history, not only through assimilation but also through fear, living in the Jim Crow South.

©Maria Strum, Adrian’s house, This is Adrians house in Pembroke, NC. He identifies as Lumbee. You can see two Dream Catchers on his walls, which is also a very prominent symbol in the area and in Native culture today. It‘s originally from the Ojibwe Tribe in the West, but became a pan-native symbol. Adrian got robbed after we took this photo by some other Natives. He doesn‘t have a gun for self defense, because he‘s already been sentenced for cocaine trafficking. Robeson County is one of Americas most violent counties, located along I-95, which is also a historic drug route connecting Miami and New York.

©Maria Strum, At Jeco’s (Carla, Sabra, Alisa), “In the Southeast we’re a matrilineal society. That means we put our women in front of everything, they’re our life-givers. Especially in our Native society, you see displacement, and that‘s how things have just changed. Our women should’ve never gotten to this point, not that it’s their fault, but you know we shouldn’t have let our women get to this point. That’s why this is a powerful picture, because especially here in the Southeast we always honored and put our women in a high place you know. You have to sit back for a second and say “man how did things get so messed up?” Kaya Littleturtle says this while flipping through photos I’ve taken. He’s 24 and leads the Culture Class in Pembroke with Reggie.

©Maria Strum, Visiting Madas and Chris, Chris (Lumbee) is married to Madas (Wampanoag). Madas‘ older brother Cheenulka and some of his friends from Rhode Island and Massachusetts are hanging out in front of their house in Pembroke after they all returned from the Porch Creek Powwow in Alabama. Many Natives compete in dancing or drumming competitions also as a possibility to earn money.

©Maria Strum, Manny and Courtney, Manny and Courtney are sitting in Manny’s car in front of his uncle Nakoma’s house, where Manny is living. Nakoma started a Culture Class in Cumberland County and Manny is attending regularly playing the drums and singing, dancing and teaching as well. The culture classes have gained a lot of growth over the past two years as I have observed. It‘s so dangerous outside and there‘s not much else to do besides going to church, so the teenagers are embracing the new infrastructure the culture class is offering them.

©Maria Strum, Swamp #1, It is said that Henry Berry was hiding in the swamps when he led the resistance in North Carolina during the American Civil War. He is remembered as a Robin Hood figure, particularly for the Tuscarora and Lumbee People, who consider him one of their tribe and a pioneer in the fight for their civil rights, personal freedom, and tribal self-determination. On the cultural site in Pembroke there is an amphitheater where his story was reenacted as a musical. For the past years the cultural site was run down and closed, but in 2016 the Lumbee People held their own big Spring Moon Powwow and the story of Henry Berry Lowry was performed after so many years of pause.

©Maria Strum, Riley, Riley is a jingle dancer and regular attendant of the various Culture Classes there are in the area. She won a beauty pegeant and was Miss NC Queen of Hope. Pageants are popular among Native women and there are a few pageant competitions. In 2017 a Lumbee woman won the title of Miss Indian North Carolina, her name is Kayla Oxendine. Social media plays a big role in Native identity today. Hashtags like #lumbeepride, #nativeboy or #nativestrong are very popular. The Lumbee pride is also particularly stemming from the story of Henry Berry Lowery. It is said that Henry Berry was hiding in the swamps when he led the resistance in North Carolina during the American Civil War. He is remembered as a Robin Hood figure, especially for the Tuscarora and Lumbee people, who consider him one of their tribe and a pioneer in the fight for their civil rights, personal freedom, and tribal self-determination.

©Maria Strum, Cherokee, Cherokee identifies as Lumbee, he lives in Strickland Heights in Pembroke, a social housing project with a bad reputation. I was waiting for him to go to the barber shop. Men go to the barber almost weekly and probably the only running businesses in Robeson County. Many of these barber shops sustain themselves through drug dealing. Even though the Lumbee name is fairly new, it was voted for in 1952 and passed legislation in 1953, most of the people today only know the Lumbee name.

©Maria Strum, Adrian holding my hand, This is Adrian holding my hand. He was happy we took this picture, because he could show this image to the police after being robbed of his rings and cash. Adrian identifies as Lumbee. For some of the people all they know of their Native identity goes back to popcultural symbols or pan native symbols, because that all the people have learned, if they hadn‘t the strength to teach themselves. Robeson county also has a very high rate of food insecurity for example, if you don‘t know where you get your next meal from, there‘s no space for research about your heritage. Adrian was wearing his indian chief ring with pride. His identity actually manifests in symbols like this.

©Maria Strum, Kearsey as a vampire (Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina), I met Kearsey and her mother Tamra at the Running Waters Pow Wow in Fayetteville on Halloween Eve. Kearsey identifies as Tuscarora. The Tuscarora officially fall under the umbrella of the Lumbee. Many Tuscarora don’t identify with the Lumbee name. Many Tribes, recognized or unrecognized have prejudices against the Lumbee. They say for example the Lumbee have lost their history and they don’t have a very strict enrollment policy (in comparison to the Tuscarora, where you’d have to proof 1/4 of bloodline being Native in order to be enrolled). Kearsey and Tamra were dancing among the Lumbee and are setting a hopeful example for these inner tribal conflicts.