Free People Of Color, Natives And Their Many Labels

 Introduction

The purpose of this blog is to share another part of history that could easily be forgotten or not be known at all. If we only rely on text books and census records to find our true heritage, then we will not get very far. There were non reservation Indians who were reclassified, in order for their rights and land to be taken away. This blog is about the Indigenous FPOC families in western NC.

The Exodus From The East To The West

  Families started migrating to the western NC as early as 1717 during the Tuscarora war. In our family's cemetery, you will find the surnames that go back to these eastern NC and VA tribal and free people of color communities. On one tombstone, the surname Barnwell is engraved on it. Sadly, Barnwell led a militia of about 500 Native Americans from many different NC/SC tribes against the Tuscarora.

 

"They have always, their traditions say, been warm friends of the white people. It is said that long ago they fought under Bonnell(Barnwell) 

in the wars against the Indian tribes."

 

Some arrived during the Indian Removal Act also known as, ' The Trail of Tears'. In the book, "Indians of North Carolina, Letter from the Secretary of the Interior", it tells about the exodus to western NC and other areas below.

 

 

 

 Ex Senator Hiram R. Revels(Tuscarora descent) and his family, were living near my Brooks and Clark family in the Crowders Mountain FPOC Settlement.

 Below are other Native mixed blood families that either intermarried with my Brooks and Clark line or who lived in the same county or township. Some applied for the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation. The first one is my ancestor, Dorcas Clark.

 

 

Some families stayed in western NC and dissolved into the white and black population. Others went back to their home territory in eastern NC and were able to maintain their Indian identity and community ties. Others, like Hiram Revels and Ishmael Roberts(Tuscarora descent), were a part of the mass exodus that migrated farther west into Indiana.

The Fugitive Slave Act

 A lot of blacks, free people of color and whites(mostly Quakers) who didn't agree with this law, migrated to Indiana and Ohio.  Free people of color were at risk of being kidnapped and sold into slavery, if they stayed in the south. A lot of these families can also trace their roots back to the free people of color and tribal families of eastern NC and VA. 

The Different Labels They Went By

As mentioned in my previous blog, my Clark line were said to be Portuguese. Some individuals were so racially ambiguous that they weren't considered black, white or Indian. Although some of these families and communities were placed in these categories, not all agreed with it and some considered it derogatory or offensive. Some individuals went along with being called Spanish or Portuguese to receive the same privileges as whites and to avoid discrimination and harassment. Some of the racial classifications that were used for these native mixed blood communities were Redbones, Portuguese, Mulatto, Cubans, Turks, Melungeons, Gypsies and Brass Ankles. From the book, 'Black Masters: A Free Family of color in the Old South', it explains the ethnicity of this group called the 'Turks'.

" The Turks professed to be Caucasians, and for generations the white Sumter family steadfastly defended the claim.  Most other whites in Sumter District perceived the swarthy Turks as people of color.  Elsewhere in the state, other groups-variously called Brass Ankles, Red Bones, Redlegs, and Buckheads-shared the Turks indeterminate race.  Most of these individuals descended from remnants of Indian tribes who intermarried with poor whites and freed or escaped slaves." 

"When Ellison's grandson John Buckner lost his first wife in 1860, he quickly remarried Sarah Oxendine, a Turk."

 

The Clues They Left Behind

While visiting the church that was founded by the Brooks, I noticed a tall eastern white pine tree. It definitely stood out. Many thoughts ran through my mind. I wondered why it was planted there, how old it was and if it was there to mark their territory. Professor Smallwood explained to my relatives and I how some families brought things with them to remind them of their home while they were away. He also told me what the eastern white pine symbolizes. The Iroquois (Haudenosaunee), chose it as the "Tree of Peace" and it was a symbol for unity of the Iroquois Confederacy.

 

Conclusion

These families represent the coming together of different remnant tribes in order to survive. You will find some of the descendants all over NC, SC,GA, TN, VA, WV, IN, OH, PA,AL,FL,LA NY all the way up in Canada. Some are classified as black, white, Indian or multi-racial. Some were able to maintain their tribal identity and are members of state and federally recognized tribes today.  

Works Cited

https://www.ancestry.com

https://www.genealogy.com

https://www.geni.com

Bridges, Mrytle N. “AN AMERICAN MYSTERY Colonists of Roanoke Island Lost in 1587 Their Descendants Believed to Be the Croatan Indians of 1887-the Facts in a Very Romantic History Condition of the Croatans of the Present Day. (Special Correspondence).” Ncgenweb.us, 15 Dec. 2016, www.ncgenweb.us/hoke/croatanindians.html?fbclid=IwAR3SwgbAzRSDKbIXQrw5u4nAnnJ68b1Mh1laUQMlrVWFBL5sO90LsEwBD_0. Accessed 2020

Johnson, Michael P., and James L. Roark. Black Masters: A Free Family of Color in the Old South. 1st ed., New York, New York: Norton, 1984.

Eastern Cherokee Applications of the U.S. Court of Claims. 30 June 1906, www.fold3.com/title/73eastern-cherokee-applications.

“Indians of North Carolina, Letter from the Secretary of the Interior, Transmitting, in Response to a Senate Resolution of June30, 1914, a Report on the Condition and Tribal Rights of the Indians of Robeson and Adjoining Counties.” Internet Archive, archive.org.

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