Uncovering Tribal Connections to the Underground Railroad

Native American Heritage Month became a recognized staple in cultural history in 1990. This month is a celebration of the histories, cultures and traditions that encompass Native American legacy in North America. It is an opportunity to highlight the vast contributions made by Native American peoples and communities. Some of these contributions include involvement in freedom seeking. These communities were not a monolith and so, consisted of numerous groups composed of varied cultures and practices. In essence, while there is evidence to support that some tribal nations allied with the freedom movement, some nations actively engaged in slaveholding practices.

According to Historian Dr. Tiya Miles, there are accounts of Native American participation in the enslavement institution of people of African descent.^[1] In the 19th century, the law codified the enslavement of majority of descendants of African peoples living in America in regions across the United States. Generally, this system ruthlessly exploited labor, reproduction and identity. To challenge these systems, people sought freedom in varied ways, such as relocating to other territories, establishing maroon communities, and in some cases, taking up arms to rebel against enslavers. Bondsmen and women seeking to free themselves took great risks through such actions. However, little is known of Native American allies who aided them on their journey. Historian, Roy Finkenbine, attributes this obscurement, partially, to Western dependence on written records, and thus marginalization of oral traditions.^[2]

Both Native American and communities of African descendants utilized oral traditions as a primary conduit of transmitting historical knowledge. Within various groups, oral traditions point to generations of collusion with self- emancipators on their quest. For instance, in Western Michigan, the McSabe family of the Odawa nation passed down stories of decades of activism in escorting over 20 freedom seekers at night to the upper peninsula.^[3] These oral histories shed a light on how, pushed to the brink of society, marginalized groups fostered cooperative relationships.

Pathways to Freedom

Furthermore, freedom seekers took routes that often transverse through Native American communities. The Tuscarora path was a main route leading from the Carolinas and Virginia. It was used to travel to Pennsylvania and New York. These facts provide some hint of Indigenous population’s proximity to Underground railroad activity. One example of this is the Michigan road, which ran through Indiana.^[4] This path connected numerous Pottawatomie villages. Additionally, two major crossing points, the Ohio River and the Canadian border, required movement through lands occupied by Shawnee, Anishinaabeg, the Wyandot and Iroquois Confederacy.^[5] It is reasonable that these groups had knowledge of freedom seekers within their territory. Much is still left to be discovered about the extent of that knowledge.

Exploring North Carolina History

Maroon towns were sanctuaries and communities created by free people who had escaped the conditions of slavery. Within these towns, cultural freedom was embraced as many of them retained themes of cultural continuity and influence. The practice of Maronage is at the heart of unearthing the complex relationships between free people and indigenous populations. It is these relationships and its prominence in shaping the regional paths to freedom that are at the center of the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University’s Digital archives project, partially funded by a Network to Freedom grant.^[6] Dr. Kimberly Cheek, the lead researcher for the project, aims to utilize primary and secondary sources to shed light on Native American promotion of freedom seeking activity in North Carolina. Some of these resources include advertisements for freedom seekers, utilized in 18th- 19th century to track people down for re-capture. Runaway ads from the period sometimes included information about possible affiliations with Indigenous persons. The inspiration for this project came from Dr. Arwin Smallwood, a Historian who has conducted extensive research into the histories of Africans, Native American and Europeans in Eastern North Carolina. The objective of this research is to construct a detailed Arc GIS story map that would enable audiences to trace the routes used by self-liberated individuals. These paths will include information about the African American and Native American communities in North Carolina. Future plans include development of an immersive experience, powered by virtual reality technology.

The project will focus on Lumbee, Tuscarora, Meherrin and Nottoway groups. These four communities share some cultural ties. Some members of these communities were known supporters in anti-slavery action. One notable figure, Henry Berry Lowrey, who claimed to be of Tuscarora descent, led a multiracial group consisting of Lumbee and African people who fought the Confederates and plantation owners during the Civil War and in the post-reconstruction era.[7] This project is still in its early days as the research and data needed to develop this map is still being gathered. Historian Kimberly Cheek aims to fill the gap left by scholarship in the discourse surrounding the nexus between African people’s journey to freedom during the enslavement period and Indigenous communities’ history. Most of what is known of the Native American routes and collaboration with African peoples seeking freedom is concentrated in the Midwest and North- Eastern region. By expanding this history, this work will unearth pieces of the Underground Railroad, of which much have been lost to history.

Footnotes
[1] Tiya Miles, “Pain of 'Trail of Tears' Shared by Blacks as Well as Native Americans” (CNN, Cable News Network, 25 Feb. 2012). https://www.cnn.com/2012/02/25/us/pain-of-trail-of-tears-shared-by-blacks-as-well-as-native-americans/index.html.
[2] Roy Finkenbine, "The Indigenous Underground railroad" YouTube, La Trobe Archeology and History, October 14, 2022, educational video, 8:00, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp0-W9_WKM4
[3] IBID, 20.00
[4] IBID, 13:48
[5] Tiya Miles, "Native Americans and the Underground Railroad." National Park Service, last updated December 16, 2020. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/native-americans-and-the-underground-railroad.htm
[6] This grant was issued from the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), funded by the 400 Years of African American History Commission to support the Network to Freedom.
[7] History Project, North Carolina. "Henry Berry Lowry (1845 -)." 2017. https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/henry-berry-lowry-1845/.

Work Cited

Finkenbine, Roy. The Indigenous Underground railroad. YouTube, La Trobe Archeology and History, 14 Oct. 2022,

Miles, Tiya. “Native Americans and the Underground Railroad (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/native-americans-and-the-underground-railroad.htm.

Miles, Tiya. “Pain of 'Trail of Tears' Shared by Blacks as Well as Native Americans.” CNN, Cable News Network, 25 Feb. 2012, https://www.cnn.com/2012/02/25/us/pain-of-trail-of-tears-shared-by-blacks-as-well-as-native-americans/index.html.

History Project, North Carolina. “Henry Berry Lowry (1845 - ).” North Carolina History Project, https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/henry-berry-lowry-1845/.

Wilson, Carol. “The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.” Obo, Oxford Bibliographies, 27 Feb. 2019, https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780190280024/obo-9780190280024-0067.xml.

Written by Venus Amadi, Grant Management Specialist, National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program.