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e Carolina Indian Voice
Pembroke, NC Robeson County
"Building communicative bridges in a tri-racial setting"
VOLUME 19 NUMBER U THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 1991 25 CENTS PER COPT
Publishes Book
on Lumbee Indians
Mrs. Jane Smith md ton, Michael Smith, co-authors of
the Ltembee Methodists: Getting to Know Them.
A new book. The Lumber Methodists: Getting to Know
Them has been published by the Commission on Archives
and History ot the North Carolina ^Conference of The
United Methodist Chrueh. It includes stories about the
? ' t I
struggles, ministries, missions service, and victories of
the Lumbee Indians in the Robeson County area and
beyond, h episodes, vignettes, descriptions, pictures,
and graphics, the book describes the life, work and
culture of a remarkable group of people over a 100-year
period.
The book deals with the mystery of the Lumbee
Indians' origin, their relationship with other Indian
groups, and their struggle for social and political
acceptance. Highlights include individual histories of the
14 Native American United Methodist Churches in the
North Carolina Conference and stories about special
Lumbee people whose unique contributions and service
produced remarkable achievement.
The mother son team of Jane and Michael Smith, both
of Gary, were the editor and researcher writer of this
book. Mrs. Smith is a Native American Lumbee from the
Saddletree community. Married to Joseph Walter Smith,
himself the son of a Native American Methodist minister,
Mrs. Smith is a retired high school teacher. The son is a
graduate of the University of Virginia and has an M.A. in
English and a law degree from the University of North
Carolina at Chapel HOI.
The contributing writers include Dr. Adolph Dial,
professor and resident consultant of the Department of
American Indian Studies at Pembroke State University
and a member of the N.C. House of Representatives; the
Rev. Prank Grill, N.C. Conference historian; the Rev.
Robert Man gum, pastor of Prospect United Methodist
Church near Maxton; and the Rev. Simeon Cummings, a
retired United Methodist pastor.
The Lumbee Metkodute: Getting to Know Them may
be purchased by writing or calling the Commission on
Archives and History; North Carolina Conference- The
United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 10966. Raleigh. NC
5N0M. telephone l^WthfM or 919*82-9686. The
cost is $8.95 for soft cover and $14.96 for hard cover.
' '? T. ' V"-. i-y.
Whatever Happened to ...
Sally Johnson Brooks
Sally Jbkmmm Brook*
By Barbara Bmvboy-LockUar
SPECIAL TO THE CAROLINA INDIAN VOICE
-Adventure has followed Mrs. Sally Margaret
Johnson Brooks all the 85 years of her life.
"If I wanted to do something I'd do it" the great
grandmother laughs remembering the past eight and half
decades of bo- life living primarily in Robeson and
adjoining counties.
Tbn children at Sherman Johnaon and Lucy Revels
ink?e grew into adulthood. Mrs. Brooks was the
couple'* eldest one. She was bom in Dillon County, 8C
right across the North Carotids state line.
She remembers the big house her parents lived in near
Rowland when she was a very young child when her
father was working with Carolina Lumber Company as a
"Where the living and sleeping quarters were located
was situated on the South Carotin* line, while the kitchen
part was located on the North Carolina lina. Because the
big part of the houee was in South Carolina, that state
daimed us as residents," she recalls.
Mm. Brooks also remembers her family's move to a
rural area called "The Swamps" near Beard, a town
batman Wade and Fayette villa in Cumberland County.
"Whenever the wood mill moved, we followed k
because that's how my daddy mad* a living.
"The lumber company would build Utile houses for
Ike Tmrtri and their families to Uve In. And there were
haanv thnea back then when my slater and I would ?o to a
nearby commissary whom we'd buy oandy and cookies."
Mrs Brooke had become of school ago by new and the
area had no schools where she could attend, one was
turning six years old and arrangements were finalised for
her to lire with her maternal grandparents in the Red
Banks community of Robeson County where she could
attend school.
So it was on one Sunday in the fall that Mrs. Brooks's
mother packed the family trunk with "pretty clothes" and
some wheat flour for making bread for Sally's school
lunches and loaded her on a mule-drawn tram to eateh a
train at Beard which took her to Pembroke where aha
boarded another train which took her to Red Banks.
She enrolled in IVoepect School where Gaston Revels
served as principal. At Christmastime Mrs. Brooks would
greet her mother who had traveled by train to Bed Banks
to see her young school child. At die school year's end
Mrs. Brooks would rejoin hsr family nsar Fayetteville
until the next school term.
The following school year, Mrs. Brooks was joined at
Prospect School by her younger sister, Caro Mae. IXiring
school months the young Indian children lived with their
grandparents.
Three years later the young Johnson daughters
transferred to s school in Pembroke when their
grandparents moved near the small town. A few years
later their father, Sherman Johnson left the lumber
company to operate a blacksmith shop he'd bought in
Fairmont
When the family relocated to Robeson County, the Sally
and Caro Mae rejoined their parents to Fairmont They
became weeldong boarders at the Indian Normal School in
Pembroke where Mrs. Pattie and ladie Loddear served as
dormitory mothers. A brother, Btue Johnson, was later to
join his sisters at the all-Indian aehool. The Lumbee
children would return to their Fairmont home on Friday
afternoons on the temily-owned automobile which stayed
parked during schools days at their grandparents' house.
"We couldn't use it any during the week," Mrs. Brooks
explains.
During her teat year at the high school which offered
eleven grades, Mrs. Brooks says she boarded to the
private home of Melissa and Riley Loddear.
In 1927 she graduated from the Indian Normal School
where she'd befriended her aehool principal who was a
former math teacher at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Rill.
She'd told the principal her dream of one day becoming
a librarian, and he'd arranged for bar to tabs a 12 weeks
course at UNC the summer of 1927. She ultimately
became out of the Bret Lumbee Indiana to attend college
study at the acheol lb at fall aha entered her post
secondary study at tlw Indian Normal School in Prea broke
and registered for tern courses of study. And upon doing
ao, aha enlisted ten assistance of a Mary Davis from
Raleigh to haip her to satthltohtog the aehool'a first
"Wa began wlte 100 books, mostly ?gttopadtoa."
ah# recalls.
While Mrs. Brooks attended hsr iliwn, someone
would watch the library ahoaays. Bo* was, to tee school
year of 1BB7-M. Solly Johnson Brooks beeame the test
librarian of what k now ISntbroke teste University
The college fresh men'a rote as libra rise was
aho* lived. For Ik tfek summer of 1MB tee dooteod to
|om|ntid ttntr ta MbMni* WMW in Michigan
she roModted a romontio relationship wkk Jos Brooks, a
__ UPCOMING ACTIVITIES?
food service program for children
The Upward Bound Project at Pembroke State
University will participate in the North Carolina
Department of Public Instruction Summer Food Service
Program for Children, along with its regular activities.
The Food Program is sponsored by the North Carolina
State Board of Education, Department of Public
Instruction, and provides nutritional meals for children
through age 18 or younger who are determined to be
eligible. All students will be served the same meals
without regard to race, color, national origin, sex. age,
religion or handicap. Students who are memers of food
stamp households or AFDC assistance units are
automatically eligible to receive free meal benefits.
The Summer Food Service Program for the Upward
Bound participants will begin June 16th and end July 26,
1991.
Far further information, please contact Larry L
McCallum, Upward Bound Coordinator at 919-521-4214.
the tuscarora stra wberry festival
planned for saturday june is
The Tuscarora Nation has rescheduled their Strs wherry
Festival tor Saturday. June 15 at the Tuscarora land
Base, between Red Springs A Maxton. Hie festivities
begin at 9 a.m. it the public is invited to attend. Kever
Lockiear is chief.
4-H SUMMER CAMP OPEN TO ALL ROBESON
COUNTY YOUTH
Whether your love is swimming, canoeing, wildlife,
horsemanship, or just having a great time with friends,
you will find 4-H Summer Camp the place to be. Dates are
Sunday-Friday, July 7-12, at Mill-stone 4-H Camp near
Ellerbe, NC. Camp is not limited to 4-H dub members
and is open to both boys and girls. This year's camp
program is for 8-12 year olds.
The fee is $115 per camper which covers all expenses:
transportation, camp rental, food, craft materials,
insurance, T-shirts, and camp store money. A $25 non
refundable deposit will reserve a apace for camp; spaces
are limited. Campers will also be able to particiapte in a
variety of other activities including entomology, natural
resources, embryology, shooting sports, crafts, and water
quality.
For more information and an application form contact
the Robeson County Extension Service at 671-3276.
4 -H COMPUTER WORKSHOP
The Robeson County Extension Service will conduct a
4-H computer workshop at the O.P. Owens Agriculture
Center on Wednesday, July 3, from 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.
Youth between the ages of 9-12 are encouraged to
particiapte. Hieie is no charge for the workshop.
Those wishing to participate should call the Extension
Service at 871-3276 by FYiday, July 28, to register. All
participants should bring a bag lunch or money to
purchase lunch. Space is limited to 20, so call early to
register!
Monument erected at Drowning Creek
Reservation
Cheif Wise Owl end-the Drowning Creek Reservation has
VtKted * muamneni te Katie Lee Barton. She wan the
Otrtbqg <4 Chief Wise Owl and the Tuscans Indian
Medicine Woman.
"Mias Katie" as she was affectionately known. was
bom November 12, 1918 and died August 10, 1990. The
monument is erected at the Drowning Creek Reservation.
Maxton and her grave site is located next to the Clark's
Family Cemetery.
Chief Wise Owl said that his mother was the "most
knowledgeable woman I ever knew about herbs. She |
taught me the herbs." She taught him, he says that their
are over 4000 herbs mentioned in the Bible and all of them
have soma beating and medicinal purposes. The Chief
said that his mother learned the herbs from her aunt
whom he only knew aa "Aunt Took."
Not everyone in gifted > work with the herbs, according
to the Chief. He considers himself fortunate to have been
the son of Katie Lse Barton who was dedicated U> him as
only a mother can be. He spoke at some length about the
legacy his mother left. "My goal is not u> let the
knowledge of the kerbs die out" He is teaching the herbs
now to Chief Little Owl, his foster grandson, who is two
years old. The Chief says that the same power that the
herbs had in Biblical days are still there. There was an
herb, he said that John the Baptist made his belt from.
The Chief believes in a correlation between the Mother
Earth, The 8pirit and the Herbs. This he said, was
learned from his mother. This knowledge he wishes to
preserve and share with others.
The purpose in enacting the monument, in addition to
the love he has for his mother, the Chief said was to let
future generations know about the traditions of herbal
medicine and because there is a volex energy band at the
Reservation and the burying of crystal at the monument
works with this energy band to help people spiritually as
they visit
The Drowning Creek Reservation, according to the
Chief, was an Indian ceremonial ground thousands of
years before Columbus. For this reason it is significant to
have a point of cont'd between people and the energy
young Lumbse Indian from FVmbroke she'd dated
off-and-on lor nine years. They eloped into lV>ledo. Ohio
and ware married.
Mrs. Brooks sent the news by letter to her school
principal telling him she would not return as school
librarian that hdl
The couple settled down to housekeeping in Detroit
whew he wretred in the auto industry. She waa a
homamahsr. A year later Mrs. Brooks, three months with
child, returned to the home of her parents in the Fairmont
"I didn't want to atay with my husband aaymore," aha
explains of the separation. "I just didn't Khe being
lied"
She completed her final year of the two-year program at
the Indian Normal School in IMS. She then waa the
mother at her first child, a daughter.
Her first teaching position was at Black AnMe School
near Pfney Grove Church where she commanded first
through third grades in a two-room building. She then
taught a Whits Hill School and Fairmont Indian SehooL
"Than I foolishly allowed my husband into sweat
talking ma into living with him again after a five-year
separation." she comments. She left her teaching
profs arise far 11 yuan to raise her five children.
With a tailed marriage, the single mother renewed her
pMdlfljiatA Agul Mftimwrl fine 4^aaklitir reseat MinMreil
S ^rewlwwiw ?siu fwtiirnvu lai u ret '""n ttiiti puiaut u
?tudy towards a (ouryear teacher's certificate all the
Sthaal la Haha County and later at Magnolia Bristol And
hm lm It. served as s librarian and taather at New
band thai surrounds the ana. "The energy level is
htgheatrigbt iw*?o the wateriUnber BSver)," the Chief
aSid. "The monument serves as an energy connection
with people who understand Mother Garth, Spirit and
Herbs....It doesn't work for all people because all people
are not spiritual," he continued. "There have been
people who visited this monument and had great spiritual
experiences," he said.
"You have to try and visualise how it was before
Columbus...before the invasion, corruption and pollution
of the land by non-Indians who had little or no
understanding of spiritual matters. When Native people
were in charge of the land, there was perfect peace, law
and order." The monument to his mother, said the Chief,
is to remind future generations of the traditions of the
Native people of the earth.
When asked why he decided to build such an elaborate
monument, the Cheif responded: "As you travel across
this country, there are monuments to all other races, but
there is nothing to see that is Native American. This
monument is a testament to the healing powers of the
river and the herbs and the traditions of the Native
people....I wanted something that would be visible for
generations.
The monument itself is constructed, according lo the
chief of SO tons of concrete and steel. The foundation is
four feet underground to prevent destruction of the
monument. There is a time capsule buried in the
monument which contains eleven ingredients. Those
ingredients, along with a crystal, he said, are secret
The Chief is planning a ceremony and dedication
service for the monument in the near future. In the
meantime, however, the Drowning Creek Reservation is
open to the public and in addition to the momunment
there is access to the river for swimming and fishing M
well as picnic grounds and a bait shop. There la adequate
places for camping and overnight visitations.
Hie Barton family reunion will be held on the
Reservation on Father's Day.
CONTlNirED ON PAGE I
Mariat Qementary School in Aahboi\>. She ?!??> *.-rkc<i in
.agovernment opanned branch library in Washington. IK"
before returning to Pembroke. Her last (he years ??(
professional work were eompleled at Prospect ScbtH.I
?where the served at librarian. She gave S3 years to public
education before retiring in 1972.
Ska has remained busy in retirement. Fbr ten yean
friends and neighbors enlisted her ulent to baking and
decorating cakes (or special events. For four yean she
belonged to ? retired women's grsup who formed a
kitchen band and toured area schools where they
rendered musical entertainment for hundreds of school
students.
8he enjoys needle ends and has crocheted numerous
afghans and created cross stitch art (or family and
friends. She enjoys out of town visits to the homos of her
children and visits two brothers and two sisters who
reside in California.
She still drives an automobile and frequently risks a
sister in IVm broke where she loves to dine on homemade
biscuits. She says her appetite is good and bar favorite
foods are eoilards and eombread.
She no longer works a vegetable garden, but spends
many hours in bar Bower garden at bar Cherokee Sueet
home in Pwnbroke which she shares wkh a daughter, fee
belongs to the membership of Pembroke Gospel Chapel
and meets weekly with a prayer gruup at a friend's heeua
near the chroch. Her pssefos for reading, and love far
As advanturouaal the 16-year old fanner adu safer la.
there is ana thing aha will ae longer do- fly en sirplaan.
"I used to love ta fly on airplanes until they started!
falling," she comments. "Now I won't fat an mm."