Lumbee people disfranchised as "free persons of color" by the 1835 NC constitution (North Carolina, 1835)

SUMMARYLumbee people disfranchised as "free persons of color" by the 1835 NC constitution (North Carolina, 1835) [Connections: Carolinas, Nov 5, 2026]

RECORDNCpedia (Glenn Ellen Starr Stilling, 2006): before 1835 the Lumbee were classified as "free persons of color." The 1835 constitution provided that "no free Negro, free mulatto, or free person of mixed blood, descended from ancestors to the fourth generation inclusive" could vote for state legislators. "Under this constitution, Lumbee people, like other American Indians in the state, lost many of their civil rights," and were "stripped of their rights to serve in the militia or to own or carry firearms or other weapons without a license." Wikipedia says the same law removed the Waccamaw Siouan's vote and militia rights, because Native people were grouped with free people of color

PATTERNOne constitutional clause erased Indian nations from the voter rolls by filing them under the free Negro and mulatto category

LENS (WW9)In 1835 North Carolina wrote whole Indian nations into the "free person of color" box and took their guns and their vote

OPENQuote the clause from the 1835 Amendments (Art. I, sec. 3, cl. 3) directly from a state archive copy; check Robeson County census labels (1790–1860) for Lowry, Locklear, Oxendine and other families

SOURCENCpedia, "Lumbee People: 19th Century"; Waccamaw Siouan Indians (Wikipedia).