Special Collections & Archives

 Elmer W. Hunt (November 30, 1919 - July 12, 1987) was a Lumbee photographer. He began taking photos while on campus at UNCP (called Pembroke State College for Indians when he graduated), but his hobby continued as he served in the Second World War and turned into a lifelong profession when he returned to the town of Pembroke after the war. Mr. Hunt took photographs for various local newspapers, weddings, portraits, and local events in and around the area. In 2002, Elmer Hunt’s son, Elmer W. Hunt, Jr. (Bill), donated his father’s negatives to the American Indian Studies Department (AIS) of The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, Pembroke, North Carolina. Dr. Linda Oxendine, Chair of AIS from 1989 – 2006, who took charge of migrating the approximately 65,000 images onto CD-ROM. Eventually, the photograph collection was moved to the Livermore Library's Special Collections and Archives where it is now housed. In 2010, the library began an Identification project Lumbee Homecoming prior to uploading approximately 15,000 of the photographs to the digital collections platform. The library hopes to continue uploading more photographs and identifying more individuals and locations in Mr. Hunt's vast collection.

Click here to view the current Elmer W. Hunt Photograph Collection.

 Ryan E. Emanuel is a Lumbee hydrologist, community-engaged scholar, and author. He received his BS in Geology from Duke University and his MS and Ph.D. in Environmental Science from The University of Virginia in 2007. He is a tenured faculty member at Duke University where he teaches hydrology, environmental justice, and Indigenous land and water issues, as well as leading a research team at Duke River Center. In his research team, he focuses on the effects of humans and animals on water and the environment. His research group also partners with Native American Tribes and other communities to understand an Indigenous perspective on environmental change. Through his work, he also promotes Indigenous rights, and the connection Indigenous people specifically the Lumbee have to the water. He is actively engaged in public engagement and advocacy, collaborating with tribal governments, Indigenous organizations, and other groups to promote environmental justice and Indigenous rights. For his engagement, advocacy, mentoring, and teaching he has earned numerous awards and distinctions including the 2019 Steve Wing International Environmental Justice Award, and the NC State University’s Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professorship Award.

To learn more about Ryan E. Emanuel's work please visit https://www.ryanemanuel.com/

 Arlinda Locklear is a member of the Lumbee tribe. In 1976 she obtained her JD from the School of Law at Duke University. Since obtaining her JD she has dedicated her career to Native American law, rights, and tribal recognition. Locklear became the first Native American woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court in Solem vs. Barret in 1983. In this case, Arlinda successfully defended the right of the Sioux people to try their own residents for crimes committed on reservation territory. In 1985, she successfully won her second U.S. Supreme Court Case in the case of Oneida Indian Nation v. County of Oneida. In 1987 she became the Lumbee tribe's first official legal representative, where she legally represented the tribe until 2010. During this time she fought and advocated for federal recognition for the Lumbee tribe, testifying in front of Congress on the tribe's behalf multiple times. In 1995 she successfully got the House of Representatives to pass a bill for the formal recognition of the Lumbee, however, the bill was ultimately stalled by the Senate

 Malinda Maynor Lowery is a historian and documentary film producer who is a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. In July 2021 she joined Emory University as the Cahoon Family Professor of American History, after spending 12 years at UNC-Chapel Hill and 4 years at Harvard University. Her second book, The Lumbee Indians: An American Struggle, was published by UNC Press in 2018. The book is a survey of Lumbee history from the eighteenth century to the present, written for a general audience. Her first book, Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South: Race, Identity, and the Making of a Nation (UNC Press, 2010) won several awards, including Best First Book from the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association. She has written or co-written almost fifty book chapters or articles, on topics including American Indian migration and identity, school desegregation, federal recognition, religious music, and foodways, and has published essays for popular audiences in places like the New York Times, Oxford American, and Daily Yonder. She has won fellowships and grants from the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Sundance Institute, the Ford Foundation, and others. Films she has produced include the Peabody Award-winning A Chef’s Life (PBS, 2013-2018), Somewhere South (PBS, 2020), Road to Race Day (Crackle, 2020), the Emmy-nominated Private Violence (HBO, 2014), In the Light of Reverence (PBS, 2001), and two short films, Real Indian (1996), and Sounds of Faith (1997), both of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2022 she completed “What’s So Funny?”, a media experience for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. In 2023, she completed “Lumbeeland,” her first narrative short film, which is currently showing in film festivals. She currently serves as President-Elect of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, and as founding Faculty Director of Emory’s Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies. 

To learn more about Dr. Maynor Lowery and her work, visit her website.

Adolph Lorenz Dial (1922-1996) was an American historian, professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and a nationally renowned figure in the field of American Indian Studies. Dial was a member of the Lumbee Tribe and a graduate of Pembroke State College, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in social studies. Soon after graduating, Dial enlisted with the United States Army, completing a tour of duty in the European theater of World War II.

Post-military, Dial obtained his master's degree and an advanced certificate in social studies from Boston University. Hired by Pembroke State College in 1958, Dial would go on to create the college's American Indian Studies program, the first of its kind at any university in the Southeast.

In addition to his role in academia, Dial was a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives for a single term. Over the course of his career, Dial devoted the majority of his academic work towards enriching and publicizing the history of the Lumbee Tribe and its importance within the history of North Carolina, and within the greater narrative of Native American peoples. 

You can view the contents of the Adolph Dial Collection by clicking here.

Reverend D.F Lowry was the nephew of Henry Berry Lowry and was the first graduate of the Croatan Normal School (now UNCP), receiving his first diploma in 1905. He also served as a trustee for Pembroke State University (UNCP) for over twenty years. Through his careers as an educator, reverend, and mail carrier, he worked among the Lumbee people, serving their needs, sharing their sorrows, and sustaining their hopes, becoming virtually a symbol of stability and survival. He was a figure in winning recognition for the Indians of Robeson under the name Lumbee, derived from the river that flows through their homeland. He defended that name against attempts to get it changed, pointing out the distinction earned, here and in other parts of the country, by individuals identified with it.

Bruce Barton was a prominent member of the Lumbee Tribe. He was an educator, army vet, activist, mentor, author, journalist, and advocate for the advancement of Indian people. In 1973, Bruce founded the Carolina Indian Voice newspaper in Pembroke N.C., where he became known as a journalist, regarded as the “godfather of Lumbee journalism”. Through his work at the Carolina Indian Voice, he gave the Lumbee people a voice, aiding the Lumbee in the fight to overcome a long history of discrimination. He worked as an editor for the Carolina Indian Voice until 1998 when he decided to enroll in the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and pursue a career in teaching. Along with his degree from UNCP, Barton obtained his M.A. in Education from the University of Southern Mississippi. As an educator, Barton taught at Pembroke Senior High and the Upward Bound Program at UNCP. He was also a founder of the UNCP Braves Club, the Pembroke Chamber of Commerce, and the Indian History Museum at the Public Schools of Robeson County’s Indian Education Resource Center. Barton also served on various boards, including the State Advisory Council on Indian Education and the Indian Monument of the Carolinas. As an author, Barton had a scholarly focus on Lumbee legend Henry Berry Lowrie. He also wrote about American Indian athletes in and around Robeson County, specifically basketball players. Barton was also the historian for the Lumbee tribe providing a “wealth of information” of Lumbee history and stories. Along with this, Barton acted as an activist and advocate for the Lumbee people. Barton fought to end the practice of double voting in Robeson County, spoke out against police brutality towards Indians, aided in the election of Indian officials, and defended the rights of the Lumbee people. Barton was also a key spokesperson in the Save Old Main movement, which helped stop the demolition of historic Old Main.

Click here to view the Lumbee History and Culture Digital Collection which features all issues of the Carolina Indian Voice.