AS I SEE IT ... Bruce Barton
Our second storytelling work- shop, we were supposed to run
shop was, indeed, held on Fri- this column in the Carolina Inday
evening. November 30. dian Voice. I am running it this
from 3-5 p.m. at the Indian Edu- week because Malinda specucation
Resource Center in Petri- lates historically that Henry
broke. Like the first one. it was Berry Lowrie might have been
delightful as friends visited and a turpentiner when he mysterishared
photographs and stories ous disappeared from Robeson
with us. County in 1872.
In preparing for the work- . 'l ma'<?s sense 10 me- ^ hat
about you?
,?.U?nb ? River fun
Was Henry Berry Lowrie a turpentiner?
by Malinda Maynor, history student at UNC-Chapel Hill and L urn bee River Fund
Coordinator
I'm doing a research project on our Indian ancestors who worked in
turpentine here in Robeson County and in the tiny community of Adabelle, Georgia,
near Claxton. In Henry Berry's time.the country that we thinl of as cotton, tobacco,
and cornfields used to be covered in huge lonaleaf pine trees. While the natural
landscape looked different, Indian people made their living the same way?using
and respecting the natural resources that we were given. Heruy Berry's friends and
cousins probably worked in those longleaf pine forests, scraping die bark off the tree,
chipping it, removing the thick sap and distilling it into turpentine. Before the Civil
War, eastern North Carolina produced more turpendne than any other place in the
world; that's how rich our pine trees were.
But producing turpentine isn't great for the pine trees, and eventually they
die. When Robeson County's trees were tapped out, some of our people followed the
turpentine industry to Georgia. In fact, William Chavis, a sometime member of the
Lowrie gang, was ooe of the'first to go to Georgia, according to author Mary
Norment. there they settled in a small community and over the next several decades
built their own church, their own school, and established a graveyard Some
continued to work in turpentine but others became cotton farmers; all of them kept in
touch with their relatives in Robeson and surrounding counties, and by 1920, many
of these families moved back home. They saw a landscape very different from the
one they left?rather than pine forests, they saw cleared fields and drained swamps,
something much closer to the home we know now.
[wanted to know what that older landscape looked like, so I started asking
around to see if anyone had ever seen a "turpentined'' tree in Robeson County. Willie
Lowery told me he had seen some pine trees with the bark scraped off, on the Lowry
family s land at HopewelL So we drove out there and I met Jason B. Lowry, who
told me that that land had been in his family since before Henry Berry's time, and
that Hemy Berry himself probably tapped those trees for turpentine. Go on back
there and see foryourself, he said, and pointed down the road. "My grandchildren
are coming for Thanksgiving and I just cWrcd the road so they couJaride horses
back there."
Those turpentined trees are much bigger than the trees found on a pine tree
farm. I could barely get my arms around their trunks. And there are no bracnes on
them?they are just huge, solid trunks, full of sap and nowhere near falling down.
For each tree, the baric on one side was scraped off, and you could see the slashes
that Henry Berry and his brothers had put in the tree to make the sap flow. In the past
hundred and fifty years, the tree's bark tried to grow around the slashes and heal its
wound. These trees are like tombstones, marking a way of life that has passed on but
is not forgotten.
If you are familiar with these oki landmarks of our history, or if someone in
your family went to Georgia to work in turpentine, come to our Lumbee River Fund
Storytelling Workshop on Friday, November 30 from 3-5 pm at the Indian
Education Resource Center in Pembroke. Bring an old family photo and a story to
share with the group. We'll record your story on audiotape and duplicate your photo.
For more information, contact Malinda Maynor at mmayiior@ncjT.com, or
Hatty Miller at 910-521-1511, orredmoonl239@cs.com.
Happy Birthday
Shirley Oxendine of Pembroke, N.C. will celebrate her 67th birthday on
December 6, at her home with relatives and friends. She is the daughter of the
late Mr. James Sanford Oxendine and Mrs. Dovie Oxendine. She is a member
of the Union Chapel Community Baptist Church.
I x^JlUSl^ OCT^KlJImlUriw?
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Editorially Speaking
A Friendly Amendment to the Lumbee Constitution
and a good decision at Prospect School
i lie closing oi frospcct School was a good decision Students there have
tested positive for E-coli and the source had not been determined 1 he safety
of the children should always be foremost in the minds of the Superintendent
andthcboardofcducation Supt Barn Hardingcloscdtheschool until today
That is right and as it should be According to the Robeson County Health
Department, as of Monday afternoon, the source of the E-coli bacteria w as sttl I
unknown Food and water samples sent to the state laboratory on Frtday tested
negative. Prospect school cafeteria workers tested negative also There arc
clcvcnchildren diagnosed with E-coli and nine of them arc smdents at Prospect
School It is serious business and w e are happy that the Superintendent took
a firm stand in favor of caution and safety of children
Now the racist editor of the daily newspaper continues his personal role in
the agenda to remove Indians in positions of power He has stated that Supt
Harding was wrong when he closed the school Isn't that interesting'' Dr
Harding falls into thccatcgory with the rest of uspcoplc of color who can think,
in our assessment of the racist editor's ranting and raving. The only Indian he
likes is one like Patrick Bullard. chairman of the board of education, who is
w illing to serve as a Scout for the whites as they plot and plan to destroy other
Indians The daily newspaper made it appear that Prospect was closed
indefinitely and there was a great crisis over there But we see through his
subtleties and nuances He also has Mitchell "Bosco" Locklear. native of
Prospect on his hit list We wonder what his editorial would have been like if
E-coli hadbccn found at Carroll Middle School or East Lumbcrton or any other
predominately white school We wager that he would have raised cain. if the
school had not been closed Continue to make your own decisions. Dr.
Harding, and Bosco Locklear The plain facts arc that short of turning w hite
or playing the role of a Scout for the racist editor and his calvary, you can do
nothing to satisfy him. Unless of course, you resign!!! When will the racist
editor begin to understand that we know what his game plan is??? Perhaps
never because then he would have to admit that we can think. Why not be
totally honest. Mr racist editor, and state publicly that you believe that no
Indian iscapablcof makingdecisions without being led by youor. Terry Smith.
Milliccnt Nealy. Steve Martin, and other klan-mcntality people. We would
again encourage Indian people to stop spending y our money with people like
the editor of the daily newspaper who refuses to say anything positive about
an Indian in a position of authority.
We are amazed sometime at how well Dr. Harding administers the Public
Schools of Robeson County with six votes, seemingly against everything he
does. But we will not rehash the Terry Smith contingency and their klanmentality.
We simply commend the superintendent publicly and remind him
that right eventually wins out.
A FRIENDLYAMENDMENTTO THE I. U\fBEE CONSTITUTION
Mr. GarthLocklear who is helping secure signatures for the First Amendment
to the Lumbee Constitution, calls it a "friendly amendment." We like that
terminology. We are grateful for thoseofyou who have expressed an interest
in signing our petition to amend the Liimbcc Constitution The recently
adopted document suites that the territory is "the Stateof North Carolina " Our
proposed amendment is to change the territory to "Roocson and adjoining
counties" Securing signatures for the amendment is refreshing and interesting
Only one person has failed to sign He felt that it was too soon to propose
anamendment and that is okay We feel the territory should reflect the historic
tcrriton of the tribe. Robeson and adjoining counties We will present our
petition and let the people decide
According to the Constitution, the petition to propose an amendment must
bear five percent of the enrolled members who arc 18 and older. That has been
calculated to be 750 names However, we will continue to solicit signatures and
have set a much higher personal goal alt hough a lughcr number is not required
by the Constitution
The Constitution also slates that the proposed amendment must be presented
to the Elections Board and the Elections Board will be responsible for
verifying names and putting the proposed amendment before the people for
a vote. It is. therefore, extremely important that theTribal Council move forward
with the appointment of the Elections Board Encourage your representative
to appoint this very important board We w ould love to see the council utilize
those members of the tribe who have served with the Robeson County Board
of Elections But that will be their decision. The Constitution also states "The
T ribal Elections Boa rd shall consist of five enrolled members over the age of
eighteen (18) appointed by the Tribal Council. For purposes of this appointment.
the council members shall be divided as equally as possible into five (5)
groups by some method of chance Each of the five council groups shall
appoint one Elections Board member. ThcBoardmcmbcrsshallhavesixyear '
terms and may not serv e consecutive terms "
Hopefully, the statement "some method of chance" will not cause an
unnecessary delay inappointingthisboard. We arc encouraging our representatives
to make these appointments in a timely manner.
When the proposed amendment passes, the council will eliminate three
scats effective 2003. Those scats arc currently held by Darlene Jacobs of
Raleigh. Lonnie Revels of Greensboro and Rosa Winfree ofCharlotte. These
three people, upon the passing of the amendment, would no longer reside in
the tribal territory and therefore be ineligible to serve on the tribal council.
As the Constitution reads now, it is possible for the Tribal Chairman to reside
outside Robeson and adjoining counties It seems only right that those who
represent us and make decisions for us should also live among us Did you
know withouttheamcndmentonthctcrritory, JimLowryofHigh Point could
be elected tribal chairman. When we think of him we are reminded of the court
ordered LSD Commission and we don't ever want to travel that road again.
Neither do we want to end up in court over trivial matters that can and should
be handled internally. So. encourage your representative to appoint the
elections board and if you haven't signed a petition and you want to be a part
of this "friendly amendment," call 521-2826.
This article is^ written by the editor, Connee Bray boy, and contains her
personal opinions and from the many phone calls I receive, Indian people
Do understand subtleties and nuances. ^
Happy Birthday Rodney
"Skippy" Cummings
Our Strength
Rodney Cummings is pictured here, at the far left, with Mrs. Jessie Maynor?s
First Grade Class. Mrs. Grace Locklear is the Student Teacher.
The family of Rodney Cummings celebrated his 55th birthday on December
2, 2001 at his home at O'Berry Center in Goldsboro, N.C. Rodney's
birthday cake was made by Mrs. Evelyn Cummings of Pembroke, N.C.
Rodney's birthday cake was his favorite kind of cake, "CHOCOLATE".
Rodney was born on December 6. 1946. He is the son of the late Rev. and
Mrs. Grady Cummings. Rodney has been a resident of the O'Berry Center
since 1962.
Rodney is the brother of Susan and Felicia Cummings of Pembroke, N.C.
and Virginia Sanderson, of Columbia. S.C. and Grady Cummings. Jr. of Fayetteville,
N.C. He has one niece. Amy Sanderson, and one nephew. Brad
Sanderson, of Columbia, S.C.
In the 1996 Summer Olympics Games, the U.S. won the most
medals, 110, and the most gold medals.
THE CAROLINA INDIAN VOICE NEWSPAPER
Published Each Thursday Morning By
FIRST AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS
Telephone: (910)521-2826
2ND CLASS POSTAGE PAID
AT PEMBROKE, NC 28372
" SUBSCRIPTION RATES***
One Year, In State-$25.00
Two Years, In-State, S50.00
One Year, Out-of-Stute- $30.00
Two Years, Out-of-State S60.00
Please pray for us, and we'll pray for you.
We need your prayers always.
God bless each and every one of you.
Pembroke Twilight Christmas
Parade Set December 13
Pembroke Twilight Christmas Parade , sponsored by the Town of Pembroke,
Pembroke Chamber of Commerce and Pembroke Civic Club, will be
held Thursday, December 13, 2001 at 4:30 p.m. Line up time is 3:30 p.m.
The parade line up are is the UNC Pembroke Performing Arts Center and
the parade will end at the Pembroke Elementary School
Included in the parade will be marching units, bands, queens, floats, with
special attraction Robeson County Sudan Tomcats Funny Cars. The main
attraction will be Santa Claus.
For further information contact Gregory Cummings at the Pembroke Town
Hall, 521-9758
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