Digital Scholarship and Initiatives

The “Showdown at Hayes Pond” section of the Fayetteville Observer’s website focuses exclusively on information and history concerning the Lumbee confrontation with the Ku Klux Klan in Maxton, 1958.  The site contains an extensive and interesting overview of the event, explaining how a large group of Lumbee Indians disrupted a Klan meeting taking place in Robeson County, completely disbanding it.  The purpose of the meeting was to remind Native Americans “of their place in the racial order.”  No one was injured in the confrontation; the site claims the event as a great victory over racial hatred. 
 
The site contains quite a few informative sections, including audio and video resources, with a video news segment with interviews about the event, a map of the area, and information about the Ku Klux Klan banner that was stolen from the meeting by Simeon Oxendine and Charlie Warriax

This site also features detailed profiles of several people who played parts in the Maxton routing.  The “Principal Players” section highlights four people: Malcom McLeod, the sheriff at the time of the event; James “Catfish” Cole, Grand Dragon of the South Carolina Ku Klux Klan and leader of the rally; Simeon Oxendine, who stole the banner; and Sanford Locklear, who supposedly shot out the single light at the rally.  The “Survivors” section features four first-hand accounts of the rally from community members James Jones, Pauline Locklear, Leon Jacobs, and Ned Sampson.  All profiles feature a photograph