Some Americans pretend that a watertight line separates the "races." But most know that millions of mixed-heritage families crossed from one "race" to another over the past four centuries. Every essay in this collection tells such a tale. Each speaks with a different style and to different interests. But taken together, the seven articles paint a portrait, unsurpassed in the literature, of migrations, challenges, and triumphs over "racial" obstacles. Stacy Webb tells of families of mixed ancestry who pioneered westward paths from the Carolinas into the colonial wilderness, paths now known as Cumberland Road, Natchez Trace, Three-Chopped Way, and others. They migrated, not in search of wealth or exploration, but to escape the injustice of America’s hardening "racial" barrier. Govinda Sanyal's astonishing research uses mtDNA markers to trace a single female lineage that winds its way through prehistoric Yemen, North Africa, Moorish Spain, the Sephardic diaspora, colonial Mexico, and finally escapes the Inquisition by assimilating into a Native American tribe, ending up in South Carolina. He fleshes out the DNA thread with documented genealogy, so we get to know their names, their lives, their struggles. Cyndie Goins Hoelscher focuses on a specific family that scattered from the Carolinas. One branch fled to Texas, becoming friends with Sam Houston and participating in the founding of that state. Other bands fought in the war of 1812, or migrated to Florida or the Gulf coast. Nowadays, Goins descendants can be found in nearly every state and are of nearly every "race." Scott Withrow (the collection's editor) concentrates on the saga of one individual of mixed ancestry. Joseph Willis was born into a community of color in South Carolina. He migrated to Louisiana, was accepted as a White man, founded one of the first churches in the area, and became one of the region's best-loved and most fondly remembered Christian ministers. S. Pony Hill recounts the historic struggles of South Carolina’s Cheraw tribe, in a reprint of Chapter 5 of his book, Strangers in Their Own Land. Marvin Jones tells the history of the "Winton Triangle," a section of North Carolina populated by successful families of mixed ancestry from colonial times until the mid-20th century. They fought for the Union, founded schools, built businesses, and thrived through adversity until the civil rights movement of 1955-65 ended legal segregation. K. Paul Johnson traces the history of North Carolina's antebellum Quakers. The once-strong community dissolved as it grew morally opposed to slavery. Those who stayed true to their faith migrated north. Those who remained slaveowners left the church. The worst stress was the Nat Turner event. Its aftermath helped turn the previously permeable color line into the harsh endogamous barrier that exists today.

Carolina Genesis: Beyond the Color Line

History

Hill, S. Pony

Withrow, Scott

Webb, Stacy

Sanyal, Govinda

Hoelscher, Cyndie Goins

Jones, Marvin

Johnson, K. Paul

Americas

Backintyme

Rediscovery of a Forgotten People In the early 1800s, dozens of Siouan-speaking Cheraw families, including Catawbas and Lumbees, fled war and oppression in the Carolinas and migrated to Florida, just as native Appalachicola Creeks were migrating away. Being neither Black nor White, the Cheraw descendants were persecuted by the harsh “racial” dichotomy of the Jim Crow era and almost forgot their proud heritage. Today they have rediscovered their past. This is their story. The Authors, both descendants of the Hill family, have worked together on research projects for twenty years documenting the history, culture and identity of North Florida’s Indian people. S. Pony Hill was born in Jackson County, Florida. He holds a degree in Criminal Justice from Keiser University, Deans List, and Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society member. He was previously a contract researcher for federal acknowledgement grants through the Administration for Native Americans and several tribes including the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee in Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation, and the Sumter Band of Cheraw Indians (SC). He specializes in southeastern Indian archival research and ethno history. He is the author of Patriot Chiefs and Loyal Braves, available online and the recently released book Strangers in their Own Land: South Carolinas State Indian Tribes. He currently lives with his family in San Antonio TX. Christopher Scott Sewell was born in New Bern, North Carolina. He holds a degree in Sociology from Rogers State University in Claremore, Oklahoma. He has worked extensively as a contract researcher in the field of Southeastern populations, and has been involved in Native American rights issues for twenty years. He currently lives with his family in Bristol, Florida.

The Indians of North Florida: From Carolina to Florida, The Story of the Survival of a Distinct American Indian Community

Sewell, Christopher Scott

Harsh "racial" segregation during the Jim Crow era prevented South Carolina's Indian groups from assimilating. Due to their three-fold genetic admixture, they were labeled with such fanciful names as Red Bones, Brass Ankles, Croatans, Turks, and "not real Indians" at all. For generations, South Carolina's remaining Indians struggled to avoid reduction to the oppressed social status of "Negroes." Their desperation eventually fostered anti-Black sentiment within some of the groups, an affliction that still infects a few of the older community members. Generations have passed since the Jim Crow era. Today, the Palmetto State's Indians focus less on imagined "racial purity" and more on the welfare of their communities, preserving their customs, and honoring their ancient traditions. Much work remains to be done by and for all of the tribal groups of South Carolina. The tribes strive to convert state recognition, which now serves only as a morale booster, into a true vehicle to promote tribal educational, economic, and healthcare improvement. South Carolina’s state-recognized tribes are now hard at work to accomplish this goal. "When the author has spent many years traveling to Indian communities around the Southeast and talking to Indian elders, as Pony Hill has done, he must be admired not only for his authenticity, but also for his scholarship. This book, then, is where an authentic perspective is enhanced by thorough scholarship." -- John H. Moore, Ph.D, Anthropology Department, University of Florida. This is the third edition of Pony Hill's ground-breaking study of the Indian tribes of South Carolina.

Strangers in Their Own Land: South Carolina's State IndianTribes

The Cheraw, Keyauwee, Pee Dee, Santee, and Wateree were the southernmost tribes that were once part of the Eastern Siouan Nation. Here you can find an overview of their ancient language, legends, and culture.

The Red Road: Language, Legends, and Lifeways of the Cheraw, Keyauwee, Pee Dee, Santee, and Wateree

lulu.com

In the backwoods of Holmes County, settled deep in the rugged landscape of the Florida panhandle, has long been a people set apart from their neighbors. They have deep roots in the story of Florida and America, yet much of their tale is unknown, and until recently was hardly documented. Without evidence or knowledge of this community's actual origins, their neighbors fell back on their assumptions and prejudices to attribute an identity to things they knew little of, or only suspected. Most of this conjecture was erroneous. This work is in part their actual story, as documentary archival sources and the community's own memories tell it.

A Type of People: The Native American Heritage of Holmes County, Florida

Sewell, Hodalee S

Much turmoil and unrest has manifested over the last generation regarding the racial identity and 'real ancestry' of the people who have been labeled "Turks" in Sumter County, South Carolina. While amateur historians over the years have concocted wildly exotic origin stories for these "Turks", the actual extent historical records reflect a much simpler narrative. That historic documentation is included here, in unedited form, for the reader to form their own conclusions. Bound together by blood and social interaction, the Benenhaley, Buckner, Deas, Exum, Hood, Jolly, Oxendine, Pitts, Ray, and Scott families comprised the core of a racially insulated community which, due to an increasingly segregated south, became further alienated from their white and black neighbors.

Sumter's 'Turks'

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