The Lumbee Problem Essays -- essays research papers

The kickoff reading was the preface and the fourth chapter from the book, The Lumbee Problem The Making of an American Indian People, entitled, What are they trying to do now? In this reading, the author, Karen I. Blu, examines the political history of the Indians of Robeson County, North Carolina and goes into detail about her findings during her visit there between 1967 and 1968. Blu argues that the political history of the Lumbee Indians was greatly affected by the relationships between them and non-Indians as well as each others perceptions of one another. The fourth chapter focuses on the Black-Indian coalescence that was formed during this time and the details border its emergence, objectives, and achievements. Blu noted that the three specific aims of the coalition were (1) the registration of non-White voters, (2) the election of non-Whites to county offices, and (3) the active participation of non-Whites in the county Democratic Party organization. The coalition was succ essful in their first two goals as the registration of non-White voters increased noticeably in 1968 and one man supported by the coalition was elected. However, these successes were eclipsed by the facts that the registration of White voters to a fault increased and the elected candidate that was supported by the coalition was a man who was also solidly supported by Whites. Despite these slight failures, the coalition succeeded in getting non-Whites to actively part...