LEARN NC

11.7 Primary sources

By Kathryn Walbert

Provided by The North Carolina Humanities Council.

Secondary sources can provide wonderful background information for students and teachers alike, but primary sources have a unique potential for bringing history to life. When students see photographs, view works of art, read first-hand accounts, or explore collections of original documents, they begin to see American Indian history in new and exciting ways. The resources below should help North Carolina teachers develop interesting and creative lesson plans that will enhance critical thinking while also getting students interested in and excited about history.

North Carolina Museum of History

The North Carolina Museum of History website allows visitors to search for artifacts in the museum’s collection. By clicking on Artifacts and then Search the Collections, students and teachers can find images of clothing, works of art, baskets, pottery, historical photographs, and more. Searching for the names of North Carolina American Indian tribes or for terms like “American Indian” or “Native American” will yield many interesting resources with a wide range of applications for the classroom. For example, there are numerous late nineteenth and early twentieth century photographs of Cherokee homes and schools. A search for the term “Lumbee” will yield 28 resources, mostly photographs of Lumbee family homes. The Artifacts area of the website can be a great starting point for class discussions or student research projects.

Documenting the American South

The Documenting the American South website from the University Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill includes a wealth of digital resources that relate to American Indian History in the state. Among them are the following useful resources documenting early contact between American Indians and Europeans in North Carolina from the 1580s to the late 18th century:

Sir Ralph Lane
Raleigh’s First Colony: An Account of the Particularities of the Imployments of the English Men Left in Virginia by Richard Greenevill under the Charge of Master Ralph Lane Generall of the Same, from the 17 of August 1585 until the 18 of June 1586 at Which Time They Department the Countrey; Sent and Directed to Sir Walter Raleigh
Thomas Hariot
A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia: of the Commodities and of the Nature and Manners of the Naturall Inhabitants : Discouered bÿ the English Colonÿ There Seated by Sir Richard Greinuile Knight In the ÿeere 1585 : Which Remained Vnder the Gouerenment of Twelue Monethes, At the Speciall Charge and Direction of the Honourable Sir Walter Raleigh Knight Lord Warden of the Stanneries Who therein Hath Beene Fauoured and Authorised bÿ Her Maiestie and Her Letters Patents / This Fore Booke Is Made in English by Thomas Hariot seruant to the Aboue-Named Sir Walter, a Member of the Colonÿ, and There Imploÿed in Discouering
John Lawson
A New Voyage to Carolina; Containing the Exact Description and Natural History of That Country: Together with the Present State Thereof. And a Journal of a Thousand Miles, Travel’d Thro’ Several Nations of Indians. Giving a Particular Account of Their Customs, Manners, &c. (1709)
William Bartram
Travels Through North & South Carolina, Georgia, East & West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges, or Creek Confederacy, and the Country of the Chactaws; Containing An Account of the Soil and Natural Productions of Those Regions, Together with Observations on the Manners of the Indians. Embellished with Copper-Plates.(1791)

Some of the above resources are quite lengthy but, as with all long web-based documents, researchers can quickly find relevant passages by searching for keywords. In most browsers, using the FIND command under the EDIT menu or simply pressing CTRL-F will allow the web user to enter a search term and find it in the text. This can provide an excellent opportunity to help students quickly find key passages while also learning a valuable research skill and honing their critical thinking skills as they figure out which search terms will yield the best results for a given document.

The Documenting the American South project also includes several later documents that may be of interest:

North Carolina General Assembly: Report and Resolution of a Joint Committee of the Legislature of North Carolina, Relative to the Cherokee Indians (1834)
This article from the state legislature argues in favor of the removal of American Indians from the state.
Orlando M. McPherson
Indians of North Carolina: Letter from the Secretary of the Interior, Transmitting, in Response to a Senate Resolution of June 30, 1914, a Report on the Condition and Tribal Rights of the Indians of Robeson and Adjoining Counties of North Carolina (1915)
George Edwin Butler
The Croatan Indians of Sampson County, North Carolina: Their Origin and Racial Status: A Plea for Separate Schools (1916)

You can find many more resources related to American Indians in North Carolina in the Documenting the American South collection in this helpful guide

Primary Sources Related to Indian Removal

Andrew Jackson’s First Inaugural Address from the Avalon Project at Yale Law School
You can access Andrew Jackson’s Second Inaugural Address (and any other presidential inaugural address) from the Avalon Project at Yale Law School.
President Andrew Jackson’s Message to Congress “On Indian Removal” (1830)
A transcription of the message is also available on the Our Documents website.
Andrew Jackson Speaks: Indian Removal from The eJournal website Tracking Westward Expansion & the Trail of Tears
This site includes the full text of the Indian Removal Act and several of Jackson’s speeches and messages to Congress supporting Indian Removal.
Cherokee Nation v. State of Georgia, 1831
This document is Chief Justice Marshall’s opinion of the court in this Supreme Court case.
Cherokee letter protesting the Treaty of New Echota
The letter is from Chief John Ross “To the Senate and House of Representatives,” September 28, 1836 and is found on the PBS Africans in America website.
Letter from John Ross
This letter from John Ross, principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation of Indians, is in answer to inquiries from a friend regarding the Cherokee affairs with the United States, followed by a copy of the protest of the Cherokee delegation, 1836. It is found in the Digital Library of Georgia.
Documents from the Cherokee Nation
This series of resources includes a list of Cherokee who left under their own supervision, a letter from General Winfield Scott to the Cherokee issuing his ultimatum that they must go to the west immediately, the text of the Indian Removal Act, several letters of protest including Ralph Waldo Emerson’s letter to the president in support of the Cherokee, the account of a soldier from the Trail of Tears, the full text of laws and treaties related to removal, and many more very helpful resources.
General Winfield Scott’s Order to U.S. Troops Assigned to the Cherokee Removal (May 17, 1838)
This document is from the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia.
Trail of Tears map
This map is found in the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in North Carolina.
Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler, 1904
You can use the Search feature of the site to search for “Cherokee” and find numerous legal documents.
Indian-Pioneer Papers oral history collection
This collection of oral histories includes interviews with several people who retell family stories documenting their parents’ or grandparents’ experience on the Trail of Tears. Searching for Trail of Tears, Cherokee, or North Carolina will help you identify relevant interviews. The stories of W. W. Harnage, E. F. Vann, and Ellis Waterkiller relate to North Carolina and there are certainly others as well.

Primary Sources from the Great Depression and World War II

America from the Great Depression to World War II: Black-and-White Photographs from the FSA-OWI 1935-1945
This site from American Memory at the Library of Congress includes thousands of photographs from the Depression era. Searching for “Robeson County” will yield twenty-four photographs, most of which are from Pembroke or Maxton, NC and depict American Indian families and their homes. These images could be used in conjunction with images of other North Carolinians from the same period to give students an inclusive view of the Great Depression and its impact on North Carolina families.
“Never That Far: Lumbee Men and World War II”
This online video from the Museum of the Native American Resource Center at UNC-Pembroke is also available for this collection of oral history excerpt with World War II veterans.

Primary Sources Related to the 1958 Confrontation Between the Ku Klux Klan and Lumbee Indians in Maxton, NC

The Wake County Library website includes images of several newspaper articles related to the confrontation:

Maxton Ku Klux Klan Rally Plans Provoke Threats of Violence
This article was published in the News & Observer (Raleigh NC) on January 17, 1958.
Klan Rally Doubtful; Maxton Indians Arming
This article was published by the Raleigh Times (Raleigh NC) on January 17, 1958.
One Klansman to Face Charge; Minister Slated for Indictment
This is an article that was published in the News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) on January 20, 1958.
The Mask and the Coattail
This is an editorial that was published in the News & Observer (Raleigh NC) on January 20, 1958
Hodges lays Down Law to “Catfish” and KKK
This article was published in the News & Observer (Raleigh NC) on January 31, 1958.
Klan Cases Argued Before State’s Highest Tribunal
This article was published in the News & Observer (Raleigh NC) on December 10, 1958.
Leaders Promote Klan Extremism
This article and photographs were published in the News & Observer (Raleigh NC) on August 24, 1964.
Threat of Klan Brings Concern
This article and photographs were published in the News & Observer (Raleigh NC) on August 26, 1964.
What’s Behind the Surge in Ku Klux Klan Membership?
An article from the Raleigh Times (Raleigh NC), June 12, 1965.

Primary Sources on Storytelling and Traditional Craftspeople

Storytelling of the North Carolina Native Americans
This website, hosted by UNC-Chapel Hill’s ibiblio program, features Cherokee, Lumbee and Occaneechi storytellers. The site features a discussion of Cherokee stories by Eagle Woman, a Cherokee storyteller, and a video of her telling The Rattlesnake Story, an interview with Lumbee storyteller Barbara Braveboy-Locklear, and an interview with Lawrence A. Dunmore III of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation as well as a video of him telling the story of The Snake-Haired Girl.
Hayes Lossa
This video feature (almost 7 minutes long) features Cherokee craftsperson Hayes Lossa demonstrating the construction of a blow gun system.

Primary Sources about Modern Life

Together We Become Great
This video, which runs roughly eight minutes, includes the perspectives of Native Americans from different communities explaining what their culture means to them today.
Indian, A Person, Myself
This documentary from the 1980s, which runs nearly half an hour, explores life for North Carolina’s American Indians in rural areas, in cities, and in the mountains. Students may find it interesting to note regional and tribal differences and to use this film as a starting point for research that could help them determine what has changed and what has remained the same in these communities since this film was made 20+ years ago.