Indigenous Carolinians: A History from Original Peoples to Present-Day Tribes

This comprehensive work decolonizes our understanding of Carolina’s Indigenous People and presents the complete histories and cultures of the region’s First Peoples. Applying traditional academic and Indigenous research methodologies, the author examines the oral histories, languages, and cultures of four diverse ethnolinguistic groups. These groups, although among the first to be colonized on this continent, underwent ethnogenesis and adapted. They partnered with politicians, married traders, and other free people. They fought in wars beside and against the colonists and formed alliances that would divide ancient kinships. They were disenfranchised, persecuted, and all but erased by the newcomers.

Powerful and sophisticated societies became stateless diasporic refugees, coalesced into small bands where they spoke English. Except for the Catawba, Tuscarora, and remnants on a few reservations, their tribal identities faded, and they collectively referred to themselves as their race--Indian. After reorganizing their tribal governments in the twentieth century, they reclaimed their identities and heritage. This is their complete journey.

David Rahahęì-tih Webb is an award-winning artist, author, conservationist, scientist, and historian. He lives in the Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina and is an enrolled tribe member.