Living Indian Histories: The Lumbee and Tuscarora People in North Carolina

Rating:
Summary: Beyond Robeson County Lives Other Tuscarora
Review: 40,000 plus Lumbees = how many Tuscaroras?

It's important to note Once Upon A Time in the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's that some of the good folks claiming Lumbee Pride in the Lumberton-Pembroke-Maxton (Robeson County) native circles today did not wish to be "cast" as Lumbee back then. (It's confusing to me on many levels why the going back and forth keeps going on in Robeson County.)

BEING INDIAN IS NOT A CHOICE. It certainly is not a Free-Will choice.

BEING INDIAN is predetermined by our Creator.

Is BEING Lumbee or Tuscarora a choice?

(Being a professional anthropologist..archaeologist...is a choice.)

Some Lumbee wanted to be "known" as Tuscarora-Skarure when it was "unpopular" to be "cast" as Lumbee.

I was taught by some of my relations (elders) some of the Lumbee (Tuscarora) did not want to be called Lumbee because they had hopes of someday becoming federally recognized.

From what I now can gather it seems for appearances sake... it so appears the MANMADE standards for establishing federal recognition criteria for the Lumbee would place some Lumbee out of the Federal Hoop not only because of the distinct language issue(s) but also because of the mixed bloodlines. Is this true?

What exactly is a Lumbee?

What exactly is a Tuscarora? (Let's try and read between the lines of this book.)

How many face to face interviews actually took place with Tuscaroras not living in Robeson County prior to writing this book?

How many Tuscarora families were cited in this book born in eastern O-neh-weh-yuh-ka (NC) in the vicinity of where the Tuscarora War of 1711-13 was fought?

Not all Tuscarora women, children, elders chose never to leave the banks of the Neuse River of eastern North Carolina and start a slow migration towards the North later to join the Iroquois Confederacy after losing the Tuscarora War of 1711-13 NOR did they choose to relocate to the Indian Woods Reservation in Bertie County or relocate to Robeson.

Yah kwen heh!

www.tuscaroracenter.com

Rating:
Summary: far too convoluted
Review: I recently ordered and read this book and found it quite convoluted and awkwardly written. Besides being very unorganized (quite a bit of jumping around chronologically), the book is overly verbose. Consider the following quote- this is verbatim:

" We have seen, particularly in the discussion of the colonial encounters, that process of domination and the use of native peoples developed,elaborated, and embellished a wide range of differences between native and colonial societies and between increasingly divergent kinds of societies. We have slso seen the multiple ways that such differences are appropriated-- how the dominant society sought to incorporate this emergent differentiation into its own political and economic schemes, using it and destroying it at the same time;and how native peoples sought to use and develop, in their own ways and for their own purposes, this same emergent differentiation- in opposition, in conclusion, in alliances of many diverse kinds and in assault: in multiple ways that were necessarily fluid, and necessarily associated with intensifying and changing internal antagonisms and alliances."

What?
This quote is typical of the type of writing found in the book. It is highly unreadable, and focuses mainly on the social and economic aspects of the Lumbee people, as opposed to their history. Those seeking to learn about the Lumbee have better books to choose from.

Rating:
Summary: far too convoluted
Review: I recently ordered and read this book and found it quite convoluted and awkwardly written. Besides being very unorganized (quite a bit of jumping around chronologically), the book is overly verbose. Consider the following quote- this is verbatim:

" We have seen, particularly in the discussion of the colonial encounters, that process of domination and the use of native peoples developed,elaborated, and embellished a wide range of differences between native and colonial societies and between increasingly divergent kinds of societies. We have slso seen the multiple ways that such differences are appropriated-- how the dominant society sought to incorporate this emergent differentiation into its own political and economic schemes, using it and destroying it at the same time;and how native peoples sought to use and develop, in their own ways and for their own purposes, this same emergent differentiation- in opposition, in conclusion, in alliances of many diverse kinds and in assault: in multiple ways that were necessarily fluid, and necessarily associated with intensifying and changing internal antagonisms and alliances."

What?
This quote is typical of the type of writing found in the book. It is highly unreadable, and focuses mainly on the social and economic aspects of the Lumbee people, as opposed to their history. Those seeking to learn about the Lumbee have better books to choose from.

Rating:
Summary: Best book on the topic, but not perfect.
Review: This is the most complete history of the Lumbees to date, but still lacking. Sider is very insightful, but utterly incompetent at organizing his thoughts. The book is a string of fascinating nuggets strung together in almost random fashion. Sider understands that peoplehood is socially constructed, and analyzes the Lumbee ethnogenesis of the late 19th century very well. But the book also lapses into a primordialist "blood essentialism" at times. Sider assumes that because the Lumbees are Indians today that they have always been so. Sider did little primary historical research, and utterly failed to come to grips with Paul Heinegg's comprehensive genealogical account of the Lumbee origins and migrations as a free mulatto population coming down from Virginia. Lumbee scholarship in general tends to recycle the same few dubious 19th century sources endlessly. Sider rarely moves out of this mode, but his is definitely the most insightful analysis in print to date.