Free People of Color and Their Labels

Introduction

The purpose of this article is to share another part of history

that could easily be forgotten or not known at all. If we only

rely on textbooks and census records to find our true

heritage, then we will not get very far. There were non-reservation Indians who were reclassified, for their rights

and land to be taken away. This article is about the

Indigenous and FPOC families in western NC including my

ancestors.

The Exodus from The East to The West

Families started migrating to western NC as early as

1717 during the Tuscarora war. In our family's cemetery, you

will find the surnames that go back to eastern NC,

VA tribes and free people of color communities. On one

tombstone, e surname Barnwell is engraved on it. Sadly,

Barnwell led a militia of about 500 Native Americans from

many different North Carolina and South Carolina tribes

against the Tuscarora.

"They have always, their traditions say, been warm friends

of the white people. It is said that long ago they fought

under Bonnell (Barnwell)

in the wars against the Indian tribes."

Some arrived during the Indian Removal Act also known as, ' The Trail of Tears'. In the

book, "Indians of North Carolina, Letter from the Secretary of the Interior", talks about

the exodus to western NC and other areas below:

“The tribe has never ceased to be migratory in its disposition. For many years after the

main body had settled in Robeson, scattered detachments would join them from their

older homes farther to the east, while parts would move farther toward the west. They

are now to be found all over western North Carolina, and many families there who have

retained their purity of blood to such degree that they cannot be distinguished from

white people are claimed by the tribe in Robeson.”

“The line of emigration from their original seat on the coast was westward and can be

traced as far west as the French Broad, in Buncombe County. Though many families of

this tribe emigrated from the Lumber River a long while ago, yet the location of many of

them have been located in western North Carolina wth unerring certainty.”

In the book “Gaston County, North Carolina of the Civil War”, mentions my

ancestors Jerry Brooks and Eliza Clark and Ex Senator Hiram R. Revels (Tuscarora

descent) and his family, were living near my Brooks and Clark family in the Crowders

Mountain mining area where many Free People of Color lived. Jerry was listed as black,

although he was mixed blood and Eliza Cooper Clark, and the children were listed as

mulatto. How did these families know exactly where to go? It was more than a

coincidence as families, whether through blood or marriage, always migrated in groups.

There were other Native mixed- blood families that either intermarried with my Brooks

and Clark line or who lived in the same county or township. Some applied for the

Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation. Most were rejected. Some families stayed in

western NC and dissolved into the white and black population. Others went back to their

home territory in eastern NC and were able to maintain their Indian identity and

community ties. Others, like Hiram Revels and Ishmael Roberts (Tuscarora descent),

were a part of the mass exodus that migrated farther west after leaving western NC to into Indiana.

During the Fugative Slave Act, a lot of blacks, free people of color and whites (mostly Quakers) who didn't agree with

this law, migrated to Indiana and Ohio. Free people of color were at risk of being

kidnapped and sold into slavery, if they stayed in the south. A lot of these families can

also trace their roots back to the free people of color and tribal families of eastern NC and VA.

These families went by many labels. My Clark line was said to be Portuguese. Some

individuals were so racially ambiguous that they weren't considered black, white or

Indian. Although some of these families and communities were placed in these

categories, not all agreed with it, and some considered it derogatory or offensive. Some

individuals went along with being called Spanish or Portuguese to receive the same

privileges as whites and to avoid discrimination and harassment. Some of the racial

classifications that were used for these native mixed blood communities were

Redbones, Portuguese, Mulatto, Cubans, Turks, Melungeon, Gypsies and Brass Ankles. From the book, 'Black Masters: A Free Family of Color in the Old South', it

explains the ethnicity of this group called the 'Turks'.

" The Turks professed to be Caucasians, and for generations the white Sumter family

steadfastly defended the claim. Most other whites in Sumter District perceived the

swarthy Turks as people of color. Elsewhere in the state, other groups-variously called

Brass Ankles, Red Bones, Red legs, and Buck heads shared the Turks indeterminate

race. Most of these individuals descended from remnants of Indian tribes who

intermarried with poor whites and freed or escaped slaves."

"When Ellison's grandson John Buckner lost his first wife in 1860, he quickly remarried

Sarah Oxendine, a Turk."

My ancestors and others from these enclaves, left behind clues. While visiting the church

that was founded by the Brooks, I noticed a tall eastern white pine tree. It stood out.

Many thoughts ran through my mind. I wondered why it was planted there, how old it

was and if it was there to mark their territory. Professor Smallwood explained to my

relatives and me how some families brought things with them to remind them of their home

while they were away. He also told me what the eastern white pine symbolizes. The

Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) chose it as the "Tree of Peace" and it was a symbol of unity

of the Iroquois Confederacy.

In conclusion, these enclaves of families represent the coming together of different

remnant tribes to survive. You will find some of the descendants all over NC, SC, GA,

TN, VA, WV, IN, OH, PA, AL, FL, LA, NY all the way up in Canada. Some are classified

as black, white, Indian or multi-racial. Some were able to maintain their tribal identity

and are members of a state and federally recognized tribes of today. As a matter of fact,

I have cousins who are in the Lumbee tribe, Waccamaw, Meherrin, and Haliwa Saponi

tribes. I have found the link to several of them, but not all. Some accept me as kin,

others probably would prefer that I go live under a rock. Whether they accept me or not,

we still come from the same bloodline, and no one can change that.