Arvis Locklear Boughman

Legends of the Lumbee (And Some That Will Be) Arvis Locklear Boughman

The 55,000 members of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina reside primarily in Robeson, Hoke, Cumberland, and Scotland counties. The Lumbee Tribe is the largest tribe in North Carolina. They take their name from the Lumbee River which winds its way through Robeson County. The ancestors of the Lumbee were mainly Cheraw and related Siouan-speaking Indians. One of the favorite activities of the many Lumbee families was sharing stories around the fire at night. More recently, Lumbee storytellers such as Barbara Braveboy Locklear, Barbara Locklear, Mardella Lowry, and Nora Dial-Stanley, carry on this ancient storytelling tradition to a much broader audience. The ancestors of the Lumbee tribe shared many stories with other local tribes such as the Cherokee, Creek, and Catawba. As the Lumbee people shared stories, they found that their sister tribes also told tales about "little wild spirit people", animals, the afterlife, and how our world came to be.