Location: 7531 North US Hwy, 421
County: Sampson
Original Date Cast: 2023
The Coharie Indian people today live primarily in Sampson and Harnett Counties of North Carolina in four communities that center around the historically Indian churches: Antioch (Harnett County), Holly Grove (Sampson County), New Bethel (Sampson County) and Shiloh (Sampson County). These churches, which all had Indian schools adjacent to them, served as community centers and the church leaders often made decisions regarding the school and community activities in general.
The Coharie are believed to descend from several local tribes who were living in the Sampson County area in the mid-1700’s: the Neusiok, Tuscarora, and perhaps also the Saponi. In 1754 Col. John Sampson attempted to start a school near present-day Clinton to educate the Indian people of the area, but it was not successful “and soon broke down, because the young Indians enjoyed the freedom of the wild woods more than the confinement of the school room”, according to the Weekly State Chronicle, dated May 5, 1887. The Indians of the region would have to wait another 105 years or so before Indian schools would take root in Sampson County.
As traditional tribal structures broke down under the influences of assimilation, leadership became associated with individual communities, usually consisting of older men. It was informal in most cases, and when it finally became formalized in the latter part of the 19th century, it often followed a structure similar to that of the organized churches that the Indian people had adopted from their White neighbors. This organization became known as the Sampson County Indian clan and was led largely by members of the Emanuel and Brewington families. It lasted until after World War II and was closely involved in the efforts to obtain education for the children of the Indian community.
Because the Indian people were not allowed to attend state supported schools for Whites and did not believe it to be in the best interests of their children to send them to the schools attended by the Black citizens, they began building Indian schools at their own expense just prior to the Civil War. These were referred to as “subscription schools” and were often one-room structures where one teacher would instruct children in grades one through eight. In 1910 the Coharie formally asked Sampson County for an official school for Indians, and in 1911 the New Bethel Indian school building was constructed by the Indians with county assistance and the backing of the North Carolina Legislature. This building also served as a church for many years. Due to internal issues, the school was closed in 1913, but was reopened in 1917. In 1939 plans were initiated for a high school to be built near New Bethel that would provide education at the high school level for students from Indian communities throughout eastern North Carolina covering seven counties. The students from some of the counties boarded with Indian families in the New Bethel community, a unique situation in North Carolina. Named the East Carolina Indian School, it lasted until the schools integrated in 1965, and the structure today serves as the office of the Coharie Indian Tribe.
It was through the leadership of the Coharie people from the Antioch/Maple Grove community of Harnett County that the Dunn High School was integrated in 1962, with the elementary schools following a year or two later. By staging sit-ins and protests at the Dunn High School, these students and their families forced the School Board of Harnett County to extend equal rights to the Indian citizens, opening the door for Black students to join them shortly thereafter.
The Coharie chief is elected by the tribal membership every four years. The Coharie Intra-Tribal Council, Inc. governs the tribe. The Coharie People, Inc. is a nine-member board representing South Clinton, Herring, and Shiloh districts that operates and oversees various tribal concerns including the annual Coharie Powwow, Coharie Pageant, and the Title VII Indian Education Program. The Harnett County Coharie Indian Association is a seven-member board representing the Coharie of Harnett County, overseeing the programming central to Harnett County. There is a community center adjacent to the old Maple Grove Indian School in Harnett County that serves the Indian people of that area.
Since 1969 the Coharie have held a Powwow to raise funds for the organizations’ cultural and educational activities, as well as to strengthen the cultural identity of Coharie Indians. The Powwow is held each year during the second weekend in September. In addition, the tribe plants a community garden each year to help provide food for community members, produces sorghum syrup for sale to the community, and conducts tours of the Coharie River by canoe/kayak to raise awareness of the historic connection of the Coharie People to the river that bears their name.
References:
Chas. D. Brewington. “The Five Civilized Tribes of Eastern North Carolina” (Coharie author) (1958).
Charlotte Observer, August 14, 1938, p. 54 (regarding Indians in Harnett County and their annual gathering).
Coharie Tribal Intra-Council, Inc., “Coharie Indian Tribe,” booklet produced for 2017 Powwow.
Available at the website for the Coharie Tribe: https://coharietribe.org/.
Durham Herald-Sun, November 17, 1999 (giving Coharie information).
Christopher Arris Oakley, Keeping the Circle: American Indian Identity in Eastern North Carolina, 1885-2004 (University of Nebraska Press, 2007) (showing map locating Coharie area, in North Carolina).
“Coharie Tribe Wants Federal Recognition,” Raleigh News and Observer, July 29, 1989.
The Robesonian September 13, 1971 (regarding the Coharie Pow-wow).
Thomas E. Ross, American Indians in North Carolina: Geographic Interpretations (Karo Hollow Press, 1999).