Digital Scholarship and Initiatives

This article begins by looking at the Lumbee settlement on Baltimore Street just outside Pembroke (past the Pembroke Fire Station). The seven families who live here were all part of the Lumbee migration to Baltimore--in order to find employment--that began in the 1930s and accelerated after the end of World War II. The Lumbee settlement in southeastern Baltimore is concentrated in a 64-block inner-city area from Broadway Street to Patterson Park. Estimates of the number of Lumbees in Baltimore range from 4,000 to 6,000. As in Robeson County, many Lumbees there work in drywall, sheetrock, or other construction trades. They also work in factories or sewing plants--or became self-employed. The article mentions the following individuals: Herbert Locklear (a founder and the first director of the Baltimore American Indian Center who lived in Baltimore for 40 years but was murdered on April 18, 2000, in a Lumberton motel room); Benny and Linda Sampson, who live on Baltimore Street; Steve F. and Addis Locklear, also on Baltimore Street; and Curt Locklear (owner of Pembroke Hardware), who chose not to move to Baltimore but knew many Lumbees who did after being discharged from the military after World War II. Baltimore Street residents note that they faced some hostility after returning home from Baltimore. Cynthia L. Hunt (Lumbee River Legal Services) observes that in some cases, Lumbees who leave Robeson County are viewed as deserters--as if they had left the tribe.