The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

About the Lumbees…

I was reading through your blog and someone said the Lumbees offered a safe haven for enslaved blacks. I’m certain that’s true in some cases, but the bigger truth is the Lumbees were mixed race. Many Native American tribes ceased being full-blooded by the American Revolution and the Lumbees were one such group. Not until the turn of the 20th century were they even considered by outsiders as Indians; they were considered mulattoes [and sometimes Mustee or Portuguese], terms used to describe anyone who was NON-WHITE and most likely with a splash of African blood. Now as far as the “blacks” who lived among them or married into their families… well… those persons of African-descent were also mixed race and free born. Free born families married other free born families. Certainly there were cases when that wasn’t the case, but for the most part, to ensure their “free status” in generations to come, free people of color married other free people of color.

You many want to be sure that the “black” members of your family weren’t actually free, and Lumbees themselves. By the way, Heather Locklear is a descendent of the Lumbee nation as well. Locklear is a huge Lumbee name.

Hello-

I read the comments regarding the Lumbee tribe and their descendents. I am a Brayboy descendent from Louisiana originating from North/South Carolina from the Lumbee tribe and I have traced my ancestry pretty far back. Like one of the previous commentators mentioned, the Lumbees were of mixed race including with the Tuscarora indians who had a long-standing history of violent wars with the Catawba Indians and the white man. Unfortunately, things did not go the way they planned since they were grossly defeated in the final phases of these wars. The result? They were sold into slavery as were many native americans for the rest of their lives where they tolled alongside African American slaves. The result? The native americans and African slaves mated together and that is what accounts for the huge number of African Americans that also have native american ancestry.

I have reviewed many slaveowner inventory documents that list the slave race as “indian” as opposed to mulatto, negro or black. That is because they actually were native americans who were kidnapped into slavery just like the Africans.

In many parts of the country, i.e. Louisiana, the original slave was the Indian. They were kidnapped by whites and forced into into slavery. The primary victims were often women and children. However, the problem that arose was that because they were in close proximity to their tribes and knew the land so well, they would often run away, returning to their tribes.

Hence, the white man decided to engage in the African Slave Trade which was already going on in other parts of the world such as Europe and the Caribbean. The slaveowners felt this was a more favorable investment because they knew Africans would have a harder time finding their way home. Again, once they began importing Africans, they mixed with the existing Indian slaves.

As the previous commentator mentioned, the Indian tribes would provide refuge to the African slaves. However, in Louisiana in particular, the whites frustrated with this devised a plan to end this. They slayed a beloved member of an indian tribe and blamed it on an African to cause conflict between the two groups and it worked. Many tribes from that point on were relunctant to help the negroes, at least for a time in that region.

Although, the African became the slave of choice, indians were still captured and forced into slavery.

My Brayboy line was brought from South Carolina by the Witherspoon family as slaves to Northwest Louisiana.

I would be very interested in exchanging information with any other Brayboy descedents.