Coharie

The Coharie are a tribe of North American natives at Little Coharie River in the counties Sampson and Harnett , by the Neusiok - Indians descended. The tribe is one of eight indigenous tribes recognized by the state of North Carolina in the United States .

Demographics

The Coharie population in Harnett and Sampson Counties has grown steadily, from 755 tribesmen in 1970 to nearly 2,700 in 2007. The age structure within the population is dominated by adults between the ages of 21 and 65.

The people are distributed according to the US Census of 2000 to 1029 members in Sampson County and 752 in Harnett County, a total of 1,781 tribesmen. The tribe has a total of 2,632 registered members, around 20% live outside of the ancestral areas and the tribal communities. The people are divided into four settlements: Holly Grove, New Bethel, Shiloh, and Antioch.

Administrative structure

Coharie's administrative headquarters location in Clinton, NC

The state of North Carolina recognized the people of the Coharie in 1971, the seat of tribal administration is the Clinton community . In 1975 the tribe founded the Coharie Intra-Tribal Council , a private charitable organization that is supposed to look after the interests of the tribe and promote the development of the areas of health care, education, social affairs and the economy of the residents of the two counties.

The Coharie Intra-Tribal Council is located in the former Native American school, which was used as a school building for the Indians of Sampson, Harnett, Cumberland , Columbus , Person and Hoke Counties from 1942 to 1966 .

The tribe elected its first chief in 1910, and the affairs of the tribe are decided by the chief and seven councilors. This political leadership controls the three settlement areas in Sampson County and one in Harnett County. The division into the settlement areas and the identification with the community is largely based on the membership of the individual tribe member in a parish:

New Bethel Baptist Church: Area in northern Sampson County
Holly Grove Holiness Church: Area in southern Sampson County
Shiloh Holiness Church: Area in western Sampson County
Antioch Baptist Church: Harnett County

Relationship to other tribes in North Carolina

Outside of their tribe, the Coharrie married predominantly with the Lumbee and Tuscarora Indians of Robeson County , there were also marriages with the tribal members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians .

history

17th century

Historians predominantly assume that the Coharie descended from the Neusiok, Coree , Tuscarora and Waccamaw who colonized central North Carolina. The Coree tribe lived in what is now Sampson County in the early 17th century on the banks of the Big Coharie and Little Coharie Rivers.

18th century

Between 1730 and 1745 there were both conflicts between the various Indian tribes and hostilities with the English settlers, which tore the entire south-east and especially the two Carolinas into a vortex of violence, starting with the exchange of deer skins and Indian slaves over the spread of Diseases to wars. Family groups of the Coree, Waccamaw and Neusiok sought protection from the attacks of the colonists in northern and northeastern North Carolina and withdrew to the area of today's Counties Sampson and Harnett to form a small but effective political base.

19th century

During the 19th century the Coharie expanded their political base in Sampson County, they had the right to carry firearms and to vote in local elections. With United States' anti-Indian policy in place and the ratification of the 1835 Amendment for the entire state, the Indians and their neighbors, African American wild life, came to realize that they were politically vulnerable. The Coharie were excluded from the right to vote in 1835.

In 1859 the Coharie established a school for their members, and in 1911 solicited North Carolina State to run schools for the Indians in Sampson County. That same year, New Bethel Indian School was founded by the Coharie in New Bethel Ward. In 1912 a school followed in the Herring community, and the state withdrew its financial support after a year. Following the example of the Lumbee, the Coharie then set up a semi-public school system in which the state held a supervisory function. The state withdrew the permit in 1913, but the school system was re-approved four years later thanks to the activism of the tribe and the support of the tribal attorney. In 1917, the East Carolina Indian School was built in Herring Township, and in 1942 it moved to a new building in Sampson County that is now used by the Tribal Administration.

literature

John Lederer: The Discoveries of John Lederer . Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1958.
OM McPherson: Indians of North Carolina: A Report on the Condition and Tribal Rights of the Indians of Robeson and Adjoining Counties of North Carolina , United States Government Printing Office , 1915.
"Pamphlet." NC Commission of Indian Affairs , 1990.
Martin T. Smith: Archeology of Aboriginal Culture Change in the Interior Southeast: Depopulation During the Early Historic Period . Gainesville, FLA: University of Florida Press, 1987.
Margo S. Brownwell: "Note: Who Is An Indian? Searching For An Answer To the Question at the Core of Federal Indian Law." University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform 34 (Fall-Winter 2001-2002): 275-320.