Haliwa-Saponi
Encyclopedia
The Haliwa-Saponi are located in eastern North Carolina
, United States, one of eight Native American tribes recognized by the state. The Haliwa-Saponi hold membership on the North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs. The name Haliwa is derived from the two counties: Halifax
and Warren
, which are the ancestral homelands of the Haliwa people dating from the 1730s. They created a formal organization in 1953 and were recognized in 1965 by the state of North Carolina. In 1979 the tribe added Saponi to their name to reflect their descent from the historical Saponi
peoples formerly located in present-day Virginia
and the Carolinas.
Since the late nineteenth century, the tribe has created schools and other institutions to preserve and create its culture and identity. The Protestant religion has been a strong centering force for the community as well, which for years was united through subsistence activities and oral traditions. Today its young people include the use of technology among their skills, while adding to the creation of new arts and crafts.
, in Halifax
and Warren
counties. Some tribal members are also located in Nash
and Franklin
counties.
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, approximately 2,737 Native Americans
reside in Halifax
and Warren
counties, representing 3.5% of the total combined population. Between 1980 and 2000, the Native American
population of the two counties increased by 48%, according to census self-identification. During that time, the Black
population increased by 15%, the Hispanic population increased by 50%, and the White population decreased by 5%.
The Haliwa-Saponi host one of the largest pow-wows in the state of North Carolina, held annually the third weekend in April to celebrate the anniversary of the tribe's state recognition. The Pow-Wow is held at the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal School, located on tribal grounds.
tribe, they have not gained federal recognition.
The tribe is governed by an elected eleven-member Council, including an elected Chief and Vice-Chief.
in the same building as the earlier tribal school. This new school has expanded in space and enrollment over time, and by 2007 served grades K-12.
In 1977 the tribe established the Haliwa-Saponi Day Care Center, to serve up to 22 children aged two to five. While the center was originally operated by the North Carolina Commission on Indian Affairs, the tribe assumed management in 1990. Three years later they expanded it to serve up to 35 children, from newborn to five years of age. The day care center is funded through fees, a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and appropriations from the tribal budget.
Using state-appropriated funds, the tribe manages two substance-abuse-prevention programs. The after-school program is part of a state initiative to eliminate drugs and violence from North Carolina
schools and communities. The Family and Schools Together (FAST) program helps families to develop effective methods of communication.
Arts Council. More than 100 volunteers and staff make the pow-wow happen. Attendance for the three-day event ranges from 9,000 to 10,000. Net profits for over the last three years have ranged from $18,000 to $35,000.
Since 1972, the tribe has also operated a cultural retention program funded by the North Carolina
Arts Council and private contributions. Classes for tribal members of all ages are held twice weekly at the tribe’s multi-purpose building. The program includes instruction in pottery, beadwork/regalia design and construction, dance/drum classes, and Haliwa-Saponi history, as well as day trips to culturally relevant locations.
, a Siouan-speaking Native American
tribe of North America's Southeastern Piedmont. In 1670, John Lederer
, a German surveyor, visited a Saponi settlement along the Staunton (now the Roanoke River
) River in southern Virginia
. Thirty years later, John Lawson, commissioned by the Lords Proprietor
to survey the Carolina colony's interior, encountered groups of Saponi as they conducted trade.
Throughout the post-contact period of increasing English colonial settlement and expansion, southeastern Siouan Piedmont peoples such as the Saponi maintained autonomous villages in what is now northeastern North Carolina
and southern Virginia
. During the late 17th century, the Saponi undertook a political alliance with the culturally related Tottero, or Tutelo
, and together comprised the Nassaw Nation. Another related people, the Occaneechi
, who were expert traders, also lived in the region. Due to frequent incursions into Saponi territory by the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Five Nations), situated in present-day New York
and Canada
, the Saponi and their allies temporarily relocated. They migrated through the regions of present-day Virginia
and North Carolina
, while continuing to seek economically and militarily advantageous alliances.
, the Saponi migrated to northeastern North Carolina
to be closer to the center of Virginia's colonial trade. In 1711, the Carolina colony went to war with the powerful Iroquoian-speaking Tuscarora
. With the defeat of the Tuscarora two years later, the colony and its allied Saponi met in Williamsburg
with the |Tuscarora and Nottoway
to discuss the terms of peace. Most of the Tuscarora migrated from Carolina to present-day New York, where by 1722 they were adopted as the Sixth Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy, to whom they were related by language and culture. The Saponi entered into a new treaty of trade with Virginia's governor, Alexander Spotswood
.
On February 27, 1714, the Virginia colony reached an agreement. Moreover, the Saponi, Tottero, Occaneechi, Keyauwee, Enoke (or Eno), and Shakori formally coalesced, becoming "The Saponi Nation." Another refugee band, known as the Stuckanox, shortly thereafter joined the Saponi Nation. Despite the success in treaty-making and tribal coalescence, the years between 1709 and 1714 were extremely difficult. Disease caused continuing population decline. Travelers enumerated the Saponi Nation at a little more than 300 people. That same year, the Virginia
Council asked the Nansemond
tribe to merge with the Saponi to strengthen their settlements. They hoped these people could create a buffer between Virginia's plantation settlements, other Southeastern Siouan Piedmont Native Americans, and the Haudenosaunee.
convinced the colonial Board of Trade to approve the establishment of Fort Christanna
between the Roanoke and Meherrin rivers, about thirty-two miles north of the present-day Haliwa-Saponi powwow grounds. Fort Christanna was built to protect the Virginia colony in two critical ways: as a bulwark intended to ward off military assault, and as a center for the Christianization and education of the Saponi and other Southeastern groups. Fort Christanna also served as a major trading post for the corporate Virginia Indian Company.
. By 1717, under charges of monopoly, the Colonial Board of Trade lost interest in the Fort and ordered the Virginia Indian Company to disband and dissolve. The Saponi Nation continued to maintain peaceful trade relations with the colony. A portion of the Saponi Nation continued living in the Fort Christanna area from 1717 to 1729. Another group of Saponi migrated into northern Virginia
, near Fredericksburg
.
The historians Marvin Richardson and C. S. Everett note historical documentation for the modern Haliwa-Saponi tribe as descending from a group that arose during the 1730s, a tumultuous time of decline of the Indian trade. The divisive Tuscarora
and Yamasee
wars affected colonists, Native Americans and Indian trade in Virginia and the Carolinas. More is now understood about how remnants of smaller tribes coalesced after this period to continue their Indian culture and identity. A group of Saponi migrated south to the militarily and linguistically related Catawba
, in what is now northeastern South Carolina
. They occupied a village there from 1729 to 1732, but in 1733 returned to the Fort Christianna area with some Cheraw
Indians. Discovering that colonists had taken patents on their traditional territory, the Saponi made agreements with Virginia for new lands.
They also made a separate arrangement with the remaining band of Tuscarora in April of 1733, to live with them and under their sovereignty. The majority of the Saponi migrated to North Carolina with traders and planters, settling in what are now Halifax and Warren counties. Fewer went to the reservation for the Tuscarora, known as Reskooteh Town and Indian Wood. It was located in Bertie County
. The reservation consisted initially of 40,000 acres (160 km²), bordered eastern Halifax County
. By 1734, some Algonquian-speaking Nansemond lived with the Nottoway in Virginia
. Other Nansemond had resettled near the Tuscarora in North Carolina.
During the 1730s and 1740s and through the time of the American Revolution
, because of living in more diverse areas and the decline in their tribe, the Saponi intermarried with European colonists and free people of color
. After the Revolution, they distinguished themselves from both the European Americans and African Americans, and married mostly within the Indian community. In addition, they created institutions to support their cultural identity as American Indians.
Virginia traders such as Colonel William Eaton, who wanted to continue their business relations with the tribes, also migrated to North Carolina. He was a resident of "Old Granville" (modern day Franklin
, Warren
, and Vance
) County. He traded with the Saponi, Catawba, and others.
and victory by the colonists, they moved with the Iroquois to Canada, as four of the six nations had been allies of the British. The British government provided land and some relocation assistance to their Iroquois allies. This was the last time in which the Saponi tribe appeared in the historical record.
From the 1730s to the 1770s, Haliwa-Saponi ancestors settled in and near the modern Haliwa-Saponi area in North Carolina. The Haliwa-Saponi community began coalescing in "The Meadows" of southwestern Halifax County, North Carolina
immediately after the American Revolution
. Much reduced in number, the few remaining Tuscarora migrated from Bertie County to New York in 1804, joining others on a reservation there. Their reservation land in North Carolina had been steadily reduced through the eighteenth century and was finally sold off.
enforced policies to remove all Indians living east of the Mississippi River
, the federal government basically ignored most of the relatively landless and powerless small tribes settled in the southeastern Coastal Plain
. However, Haliwa-Saponi tribal elders tell of several families' migrating west to Indian Territory
on their own, some merging into the general population, while others were adopted by one of the so-called Five Civilized Tribes
in Oklahoma
.
Over the course of the 19th century, the Haliwa-Saponi maintained a close, tight-knit tribal community in modern Halifax
, Warren
, Nash
, and Franklin
counties and generally maintained endogamy
. Churches of the Protestant religion were part of their community centers: the first established was Jeremiah Methodist Church in the mid-1870s in Halifax County. Later some switched and built the Pine Chapel Baptist Church.
While the Reconstruction legislature established public school systems for the first time after the American Civil War
, legislators were forced to accept segregated schools to get the bill passed. In the binary system that evolved out of the slave society of the South, especially as whites tried to restore white supremacy after Reconstruction, they classified most mixed-race people of any African ancestry as black (colored), although ethnic Indians had traditionally had rights as free people of color
for decades before the Civil War. Haliwa-Saponi children were expected to go to schools with the children of newly emancipated freedmen. Like the Lumbee
, after 1877 and the end of Reconstruction, the Haliwa spent the late 19th century fighting for separate Indian schools. They also organized a more formal tribal governance structure. In the 1870s the Haliwa-Saponi began meeting at Silver Hill, a remote location within the Meadows.
With the rise of Jim Crow laws, the Haliwa-Saponi and African Americans were disfranchised by state constitutional amendments and changes to electoral rules that were discriminatory in practice. This was the pattern for every former Confederate state, beginning with Mississippi in 1890 and proceeding through 1910. The Haliwa continued their efforts to build and maintain separate institutions.
These early efforts at formal organization resulted in the Indian schools: Bethlehem School (1882) in Warren County
, and the Secret Hill School in Halifax County
. Early tribal leaders worked to start the process of reorganizing tribal government and gaining recognition, but in the post-Reconstruction era with the rise of Jim Crow laws, they found little support. Few official records of the period recorded any people as Indian.
The Haliwa also created their own form of segregation with their two Indian schools. Later in the twentieth century, the counties closed these. Under segregation, the Haliwa-Saponi either had to send their children to schools with African-American children or not at all.
Tribal leaders in the 1940s, including John C. Hedgepeth, tried to have birth certificates of members indicate their Indian ethnicity, with little success. In 1953, the tribe created its formal organization, through the leadership of Hedgepeth, Lonnie Richardson, B.B. Richardson, Chief Jerry Richardson, James Mills, Theadore Lynch, and others. After living for years in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, W.R. Richardson returned home to the community. He was soon elected as the first elected Chief of the modern tribe, with Percy Richardson elected as Vice-Chief.
After the US Supreme Court ruled in Brown vs. The Board of Education (1954) that segregation of schools was unconstitutional, the state undertook resistance by what was called the Pearsall Plan, which allowed municipalities to make funds available to create private neighborhood schools. The Haliwa-Saponi took advantage of this provision to build and operate the private Haliwa Indian School, which was attended only by Indians. It was the only tribally supported Indian school in the state that was not on a reservation. They operated it from 1957-1969. After a few years of its operation, the State Department of Public Instruction (DPI) provided funding for teacher salaries. Tribal members paid for supplies and materials, the building, and maintenance, much as parents do at parochial schools.
In 1957, as part of their increasing assertion of identity, the Haliwa Indian Tribe built the Saponi Indian Church, since renamed Mt. Bethel Indian Baptist Church, in Warren County. Sometimes other people of color, including some whose families by then were linked to the Haliwa by marriage or other relationships, resented the Indians' attempt to create a separate ethnic identity within the segregated social system. The increasing African-American activism for civil rights highlighted some of the tensions between the ethnicities.
In 1965, North Carolina
formally recognized the Haliwa Indian Tribe. The Tribe incorporated in 1974. They added Saponi to the tribal name in 1979 to reflect their historic link to the Saponi people.
In 1967 the Haliwa-Saponi took another step in asserting their public identity by opening their tenth annual Haliwa Pow-wow to the public, inviting state and local officials and Indians from other states.
The Tribe has since built an administration building, multipurpose building, and instituted various service programs. Programs include tribal housing, daycare, senior citizens program, community services, Workforce Investment Act, cultural retention, after-school and youth programs, energy assistance, and economic development.
Federal recognition through the Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Federal Acknowledgement (OFA) remains a top priority for the Haliwa-Saponi. They first submitted a formal petition in 1989. They are seeking and compiling additional information to respond to the OFA’s itemization of issues in its Letter of Obvious Deficiencies (L.O.D.). The Tribe continues to perform research, update files, and monitor the federal acknowledgment process.
The Haliwa-Saponi's latest accomplishment is the opening of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal School, 98% of whose students identify as Indian. The school has a curriculum based on standard course of study, small classrooms, technology, and American Indian Studies. The Haliwa-Saponi tribe continues to be culturally active. It is proud of the community’s many dancers, singers, artists, advanced degree students, and young professionals.
from small groups in Virginia and North Carolina in the 1730s and 1740s, similar to the later rise of the Seminole
in Florida.
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, United States, one of eight Native American tribes recognized by the state. The Haliwa-Saponi hold membership on the North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs. The name Haliwa is derived from the two counties: Halifax
Halifax County, North Carolina
-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:[[Image:HalifaxCountyCotton.wmg.jpg|left|thumb|A cotton field blooms in Halifax County....
and Warren
Warren County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 19,972 people, 7,708 households, and 5,449 families residing in the county. The population density was 47 people per square mile . There were 10,548 housing units at an average density of 25 per square mile...
, which are the ancestral homelands of the Haliwa people dating from the 1730s. They created a formal organization in 1953 and were recognized in 1965 by the state of North Carolina. In 1979 the tribe added Saponi to their name to reflect their descent from the historical Saponi
Saponi
Saponi is one of the eastern Siouan-language tribes, related to the Tutelo, Occaneechi, Monacan, Manahoac and other eastern Siouan peoples. Its ancestral homeland was in North Carolina and Virginia. The tribe was long believed extinct, as its members migrated north to merge with other tribes...
peoples formerly located in present-day Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
and the Carolinas.
Since the late nineteenth century, the tribe has created schools and other institutions to preserve and create its culture and identity. The Protestant religion has been a strong centering force for the community as well, which for years was united through subsistence activities and oral traditions. Today its young people include the use of technology among their skills, while adding to the creation of new arts and crafts.
Demographics
The Haliwa-Saponi comprise slightly more than 3,800 enrolled members. About 70% of tribal members reside within a 6-mile radius of the town of HollisterHollister, North Carolina
Hollister is an unincorporated community in Halifax County in northeastern North Carolina, United States. Hollister's ZIP code is 27844.-Geography:...
, in Halifax
Halifax County, North Carolina
-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:[[Image:HalifaxCountyCotton.wmg.jpg|left|thumb|A cotton field blooms in Halifax County....
and Warren
Warren County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 19,972 people, 7,708 households, and 5,449 families residing in the county. The population density was 47 people per square mile . There were 10,548 housing units at an average density of 25 per square mile...
counties. Some tribal members are also located in Nash
Nash County, North Carolina
Nash County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is part of the Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2000, the population was 87,420. Its county seat is Nashville.- History :...
and Franklin
Franklin County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 47,260 people, 17,843 households, and 12,882 families residing in the county. The population density was 96 people per square mile . There were 20,364 housing units at an average density of 41 per square mile...
counties.
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, approximately 2,737 Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
reside in Halifax
Halifax County, North Carolina
-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:[[Image:HalifaxCountyCotton.wmg.jpg|left|thumb|A cotton field blooms in Halifax County....
and Warren
Warren County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 19,972 people, 7,708 households, and 5,449 families residing in the county. The population density was 47 people per square mile . There were 10,548 housing units at an average density of 25 per square mile...
counties, representing 3.5% of the total combined population. Between 1980 and 2000, the Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
population of the two counties increased by 48%, according to census self-identification. During that time, the Black
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
population increased by 15%, the Hispanic population increased by 50%, and the White population decreased by 5%.
The Haliwa-Saponi host one of the largest pow-wows in the state of North Carolina, held annually the third weekend in April to celebrate the anniversary of the tribe's state recognition. The Pow-Wow is held at the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal School, located on tribal grounds.
Government
While the Haliwa-Saponi have been recognized by North Carolina as a Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
tribe, they have not gained federal recognition.
The tribe is governed by an elected eleven-member Council, including an elected Chief and Vice-Chief.
Education
Members founded the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal School in 1957, which was assisted by the state. Due to federal desegregation laws, the school was closed in the late 1960s, when the public school was integrated. In 1999, with funds from the state Department of Public Instruction (DPI), the tribe established a charter schoolCharter school
Charter schools are primary or secondary schools that receive public money but are not subject to some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school's charter...
in the same building as the earlier tribal school. This new school has expanded in space and enrollment over time, and by 2007 served grades K-12.
In 1977 the tribe established the Haliwa-Saponi Day Care Center, to serve up to 22 children aged two to five. While the center was originally operated by the North Carolina Commission on Indian Affairs, the tribe assumed management in 1990. Three years later they expanded it to serve up to 35 children, from newborn to five years of age. The day care center is funded through fees, a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and appropriations from the tribal budget.
Using state-appropriated funds, the tribe manages two substance-abuse-prevention programs. The after-school program is part of a state initiative to eliminate drugs and violence from North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
schools and communities. The Family and Schools Together (FAST) program helps families to develop effective methods of communication.
Culture
The tribe’s annual pow-wow was instituted in 1965 to celebrate state recognition of the tribal nation. Originating in the pan-Indian movement, the pow-wow "also builds on local and regional values, and ideas about tribe, community and race." Held the third weekend of April, the pow-wow is funded in part by ad sales, donations, corporate funding and gate receipts, in addition to grants from the North CarolinaNorth Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
Arts Council. More than 100 volunteers and staff make the pow-wow happen. Attendance for the three-day event ranges from 9,000 to 10,000. Net profits for over the last three years have ranged from $18,000 to $35,000.
Since 1972, the tribe has also operated a cultural retention program funded by the North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
Arts Council and private contributions. Classes for tribal members of all ages are held twice weekly at the tribe’s multi-purpose building. The program includes instruction in pottery, beadwork/regalia design and construction, dance/drum classes, and Haliwa-Saponi history, as well as day trips to culturally relevant locations.
History
The Haliwa-Saponi claim descent from the SaponiSaponi
Saponi is one of the eastern Siouan-language tribes, related to the Tutelo, Occaneechi, Monacan, Manahoac and other eastern Siouan peoples. Its ancestral homeland was in North Carolina and Virginia. The tribe was long believed extinct, as its members migrated north to merge with other tribes...
, a Siouan-speaking Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
tribe of North America's Southeastern Piedmont. In 1670, John Lederer
John Lederer
John Lederer was a 17th-century German physician and an explorer of the Appalachian Mountains. He and the members of his party became the first Europeans to crest the Blue Ridge Mountains and the first to see the Shenandoah Valley and the Allegheny Mountains beyond...
, a German surveyor, visited a Saponi settlement along the Staunton (now the Roanoke River
Roanoke River
The Roanoke River is a river in southern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina in the United States, 410 mi long. A major river of the southeastern United States, it drains a largely rural area of the coastal plain from the eastern edge of the Appalachian Mountains southeast across the Piedmont...
) River in southern Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. Thirty years later, John Lawson, commissioned by the Lords Proprietor
Lords Proprietor
Lords Proprietor was the name for the chief or highest owners or proprietors of certain English proprietary colonies in America, such as Carolina, New Jersey and Barbados....
to survey the Carolina colony's interior, encountered groups of Saponi as they conducted trade.
Throughout the post-contact period of increasing English colonial settlement and expansion, southeastern Siouan Piedmont peoples such as the Saponi maintained autonomous villages in what is now northeastern North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
and southern Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. During the late 17th century, the Saponi undertook a political alliance with the culturally related Tottero, or Tutelo
Tutelo
The Tutelo were Native people living above the Fall Line in present-day Virginia and West Virginia, speaking a Siouan dialect of the Tutelo language thought to be similar to that of their neighbors, the Monacan and Manahoac nations...
, and together comprised the Nassaw Nation. Another related people, the Occaneechi
Occaneechi
The Occaneechi are Native Americans who lived primarily on a large, long Occoneechee Island and east of the confluence of the Dan and Roanoke Rivers, near current day Clarksville, Virginia in the 17th century...
, who were expert traders, also lived in the region. Due to frequent incursions into Saponi territory by the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Five Nations), situated in present-day New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the Saponi and their allies temporarily relocated. They migrated through the regions of present-day Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
and North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, while continuing to seek economically and militarily advantageous alliances.
Eighteenth century
By the beginning of the century, continuous warfare with the Haudenosaunee and repeated outbreaks of infectious disease reduced the once populous Saponi. Joining with the Tottero and the OccaneechiOccaneechi
The Occaneechi are Native Americans who lived primarily on a large, long Occoneechee Island and east of the confluence of the Dan and Roanoke Rivers, near current day Clarksville, Virginia in the 17th century...
, the Saponi migrated to northeastern North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
to be closer to the center of Virginia's colonial trade. In 1711, the Carolina colony went to war with the powerful Iroquoian-speaking Tuscarora
Tuscarora (tribe)
The Tuscarora are a Native American people of the Iroquoian-language family, with members in New York, Canada, and North Carolina...
. With the defeat of the Tuscarora two years later, the colony and its allied Saponi met in Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...
with the |Tuscarora and Nottoway
Nottoway
- Geographic Regions :* Nottoway River, a river in Virginia* Nottoway County, a county of Virginia* Nottoway, Virginia, an unincorporated community- Namesakes :* USS Nottoway, renamed , a harbour tug of the United States Navy between 1898–1946....
to discuss the terms of peace. Most of the Tuscarora migrated from Carolina to present-day New York, where by 1722 they were adopted as the Sixth Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy, to whom they were related by language and culture. The Saponi entered into a new treaty of trade with Virginia's governor, Alexander Spotswood
Alexander Spotswood
Alexander Spotswood was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army and a noted Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. He is noted in Virginia and American history for a number of his projects as Governor, including his exploring beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains, his establishing what was perhaps the first...
.
On February 27, 1714, the Virginia colony reached an agreement. Moreover, the Saponi, Tottero, Occaneechi, Keyauwee, Enoke (or Eno), and Shakori formally coalesced, becoming "The Saponi Nation." Another refugee band, known as the Stuckanox, shortly thereafter joined the Saponi Nation. Despite the success in treaty-making and tribal coalescence, the years between 1709 and 1714 were extremely difficult. Disease caused continuing population decline. Travelers enumerated the Saponi Nation at a little more than 300 people. That same year, the Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
Council asked the Nansemond
Nansemond
The Nansemond have been recognized as a Native American tribe by the Commonwealth of Virginia, along with ten other Virginia Indian tribes. They are not Federally recognized but are one of six Virginia tribes without reservations that are included in a bill for Federal recognition under...
tribe to merge with the Saponi to strengthen their settlements. They hoped these people could create a buffer between Virginia's plantation settlements, other Southeastern Siouan Piedmont Native Americans, and the Haudenosaunee.
Fort Christanna
To strengthen Virginia's borders, Alexander SpotswoodAlexander Spotswood
Alexander Spotswood was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army and a noted Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. He is noted in Virginia and American history for a number of his projects as Governor, including his exploring beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains, his establishing what was perhaps the first...
convinced the colonial Board of Trade to approve the establishment of Fort Christanna
Fort Christanna
Fort Christanna was one of the projects of Lt. Governor Alexander Spotswood, who was governor of the Virginia Colony 1710-1722. The fort was designed to offer protection and schooling to the tributary Siouan and Iroquoian tribes, living to the southwest of the colonized area of Virginia...
between the Roanoke and Meherrin rivers, about thirty-two miles north of the present-day Haliwa-Saponi powwow grounds. Fort Christanna was built to protect the Virginia colony in two critical ways: as a bulwark intended to ward off military assault, and as a center for the Christianization and education of the Saponi and other Southeastern groups. Fort Christanna also served as a major trading post for the corporate Virginia Indian Company.
Decline of Indian trade
Roughly seventy Saponi children were educated and converted to Christianity at Fort Christanna by the missionary teacher Charles Griffin of North CarolinaNorth Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. By 1717, under charges of monopoly, the Colonial Board of Trade lost interest in the Fort and ordered the Virginia Indian Company to disband and dissolve. The Saponi Nation continued to maintain peaceful trade relations with the colony. A portion of the Saponi Nation continued living in the Fort Christanna area from 1717 to 1729. Another group of Saponi migrated into northern Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, near Fredericksburg
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Fredericksburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia located south of Washington, D.C., and north of Richmond. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 24,286...
.
The historians Marvin Richardson and C. S. Everett note historical documentation for the modern Haliwa-Saponi tribe as descending from a group that arose during the 1730s, a tumultuous time of decline of the Indian trade. The divisive Tuscarora
Tuscarora War
The Tuscarora War was fought in North Carolina during the autumn of 1711 until 11 February 1715 between the British, Dutch, and German settlers and the Tuscarora Native Americans. A treaty was signed in 1715....
and Yamasee
Yamasee War
The Yamasee War was a conflict between British settlers of colonial South Carolina and various Native American Indian tribes, including the Yamasee, Muscogee, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Catawba, Apalachee, Apalachicola, Yuchi, Savannah River Shawnee, Congaree, Waxhaw, Pee Dee, Cape Fear, Cheraw, and...
wars affected colonists, Native Americans and Indian trade in Virginia and the Carolinas. More is now understood about how remnants of smaller tribes coalesced after this period to continue their Indian culture and identity. A group of Saponi migrated south to the militarily and linguistically related Catawba
Catawba
Catawba may refer to several things:*Catawba , a Native American tribe*Catawban languages-Botany:*Catalpa, a genus of trees, based on the name used by the Catawba and other Native American tribes*Catawba , a variety of grape...
, in what is now northeastern South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
. They occupied a village there from 1729 to 1732, but in 1733 returned to the Fort Christianna area with some Cheraw
Cheraw (tribe)
The Cheraw , were a tribe of Siouan-speaking Amerindians first encountered by Hernando De Soto in 1540. The name they called themselves is lost to history but the Cherokee called them Ani-suwa'ii and the Catawba Sara...
Indians. Discovering that colonists had taken patents on their traditional territory, the Saponi made agreements with Virginia for new lands.
They also made a separate arrangement with the remaining band of Tuscarora in April of 1733, to live with them and under their sovereignty. The majority of the Saponi migrated to North Carolina with traders and planters, settling in what are now Halifax and Warren counties. Fewer went to the reservation for the Tuscarora, known as Reskooteh Town and Indian Wood. It was located in Bertie County
Bertie County, North Carolina
-External links:**...
. The reservation consisted initially of 40,000 acres (160 km²), bordered eastern Halifax County
Halifax County, North Carolina
-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:[[Image:HalifaxCountyCotton.wmg.jpg|left|thumb|A cotton field blooms in Halifax County....
. By 1734, some Algonquian-speaking Nansemond lived with the Nottoway in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. Other Nansemond had resettled near the Tuscarora in North Carolina.
During the 1730s and 1740s and through the time of the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, because of living in more diverse areas and the decline in their tribe, the Saponi intermarried with European colonists and free people of color
Free people of color
A free person of color in the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, is a person of full or partial African descent who was not enslaved...
. After the Revolution, they distinguished themselves from both the European Americans and African Americans, and married mostly within the Indian community. In addition, they created institutions to support their cultural identity as American Indians.
Virginia traders such as Colonel William Eaton, who wanted to continue their business relations with the tribes, also migrated to North Carolina. He was a resident of "Old Granville" (modern day Franklin
Franklin County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 47,260 people, 17,843 households, and 12,882 families residing in the county. The population density was 96 people per square mile . There were 20,364 housing units at an average density of 41 per square mile...
, Warren
Warren County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 19,972 people, 7,708 households, and 5,449 families residing in the county. The population density was 47 people per square mile . There were 10,548 housing units at an average density of 25 per square mile...
, and Vance
Vance County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 42,954 people, 16,199 households, and 11,647 families residing in the county. The population density was 169 people per square mile . There were 18,196 housing units at an average density of 72 per square mile...
) County. He traded with the Saponi, Catawba, and others.
Migrations
In 1740 most of the remaining Saponi in Virginia moved north to Pennsylvania and New York, where they merged with the Iroquois for protection. After the American Revolutionary WarAmerican Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
and victory by the colonists, they moved with the Iroquois to Canada, as four of the six nations had been allies of the British. The British government provided land and some relocation assistance to their Iroquois allies. This was the last time in which the Saponi tribe appeared in the historical record.
From the 1730s to the 1770s, Haliwa-Saponi ancestors settled in and near the modern Haliwa-Saponi area in North Carolina. The Haliwa-Saponi community began coalescing in "The Meadows" of southwestern Halifax County, North Carolina
Halifax County, North Carolina
-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:[[Image:HalifaxCountyCotton.wmg.jpg|left|thumb|A cotton field blooms in Halifax County....
immediately after the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
. Much reduced in number, the few remaining Tuscarora migrated from Bertie County to New York in 1804, joining others on a reservation there. Their reservation land in North Carolina had been steadily reduced through the eighteenth century and was finally sold off.
Nineteenth century
During the early 19th century, ancestral Haliwa-Saponi remained relatively isolated in the Meadows. They attempted to live peaceably alongside their neighbors. During the 1830s, when the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
enforced policies to remove all Indians living east of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
, the federal government basically ignored most of the relatively landless and powerless small tribes settled in the southeastern Coastal Plain
Coastal plain
A coastal plain is an area of flat, low-lying land adjacent to a seacoast and separated from the interior by other features. One of the world's longest coastal plains is located in eastern South America. The southwestern coastal plain of North America is notable for its species diversity...
. However, Haliwa-Saponi tribal elders tell of several families' migrating west to Indian Territory
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...
on their own, some merging into the general population, while others were adopted by one of the so-called Five Civilized Tribes
Five Civilized Tribes
The Five Civilized Tribes were the five Native American nations—the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole—that were considered civilized by Anglo-European settlers during the colonial and early federal period because they adopted many of the colonists' customs and had generally good...
in Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
.
Over the course of the 19th century, the Haliwa-Saponi maintained a close, tight-knit tribal community in modern Halifax
Halifax County, North Carolina
-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:[[Image:HalifaxCountyCotton.wmg.jpg|left|thumb|A cotton field blooms in Halifax County....
, Warren
Warren County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 19,972 people, 7,708 households, and 5,449 families residing in the county. The population density was 47 people per square mile . There were 10,548 housing units at an average density of 25 per square mile...
, Nash
Nash County, North Carolina
Nash County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is part of the Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2000, the population was 87,420. Its county seat is Nashville.- History :...
, and Franklin
Franklin County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 47,260 people, 17,843 households, and 12,882 families residing in the county. The population density was 96 people per square mile . There were 20,364 housing units at an average density of 41 per square mile...
counties and generally maintained endogamy
Endogamy
Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific ethnic group, class, or social group, rejecting others on such basis as being unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships. A Greek Orthodox Christian endogamist, for example, would require that a marriage be only with another...
. Churches of the Protestant religion were part of their community centers: the first established was Jeremiah Methodist Church in the mid-1870s in Halifax County. Later some switched and built the Pine Chapel Baptist Church.
While the Reconstruction legislature established public school systems for the first time after the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, legislators were forced to accept segregated schools to get the bill passed. In the binary system that evolved out of the slave society of the South, especially as whites tried to restore white supremacy after Reconstruction, they classified most mixed-race people of any African ancestry as black (colored), although ethnic Indians had traditionally had rights as free people of color
Free people of color
A free person of color in the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, is a person of full or partial African descent who was not enslaved...
for decades before the Civil War. Haliwa-Saponi children were expected to go to schools with the children of newly emancipated freedmen. Like the Lumbee
Lumbee
The Lumbee belong to a state recognized Native American tribe in North Carolina. The Lumbee are concentrated in Robeson County and named for the primary waterway traversing the county...
, after 1877 and the end of Reconstruction, the Haliwa spent the late 19th century fighting for separate Indian schools. They also organized a more formal tribal governance structure. In the 1870s the Haliwa-Saponi began meeting at Silver Hill, a remote location within the Meadows.
With the rise of Jim Crow laws, the Haliwa-Saponi and African Americans were disfranchised by state constitutional amendments and changes to electoral rules that were discriminatory in practice. This was the pattern for every former Confederate state, beginning with Mississippi in 1890 and proceeding through 1910. The Haliwa continued their efforts to build and maintain separate institutions.
These early efforts at formal organization resulted in the Indian schools: Bethlehem School (1882) in Warren County
Warren County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 19,972 people, 7,708 households, and 5,449 families residing in the county. The population density was 47 people per square mile . There were 10,548 housing units at an average density of 25 per square mile...
, and the Secret Hill School in Halifax County
Halifax County, North Carolina
-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:[[Image:HalifaxCountyCotton.wmg.jpg|left|thumb|A cotton field blooms in Halifax County....
. Early tribal leaders worked to start the process of reorganizing tribal government and gaining recognition, but in the post-Reconstruction era with the rise of Jim Crow laws, they found little support. Few official records of the period recorded any people as Indian.
Twentieth century
and Everett note that issues of race and ethnicity became more complex when numerous African-American laborers were recruited in 1906 for a growing timber industry and moved with their families into the Meadows area. By 1908 they started to attend Pine Bluff Baptist Church, but some Haliwa wanted to have separate worship and started a third church, St. Paul's Baptist Church. It was an all-Indian congregation until the 1950s.The Haliwa also created their own form of segregation with their two Indian schools. Later in the twentieth century, the counties closed these. Under segregation, the Haliwa-Saponi either had to send their children to schools with African-American children or not at all.
Tribal leaders in the 1940s, including John C. Hedgepeth, tried to have birth certificates of members indicate their Indian ethnicity, with little success. In 1953, the tribe created its formal organization, through the leadership of Hedgepeth, Lonnie Richardson, B.B. Richardson, Chief Jerry Richardson, James Mills, Theadore Lynch, and others. After living for years in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, W.R. Richardson returned home to the community. He was soon elected as the first elected Chief of the modern tribe, with Percy Richardson elected as Vice-Chief.
After the US Supreme Court ruled in Brown vs. The Board of Education (1954) that segregation of schools was unconstitutional, the state undertook resistance by what was called the Pearsall Plan, which allowed municipalities to make funds available to create private neighborhood schools. The Haliwa-Saponi took advantage of this provision to build and operate the private Haliwa Indian School, which was attended only by Indians. It was the only tribally supported Indian school in the state that was not on a reservation. They operated it from 1957-1969. After a few years of its operation, the State Department of Public Instruction (DPI) provided funding for teacher salaries. Tribal members paid for supplies and materials, the building, and maintenance, much as parents do at parochial schools.
In 1957, as part of their increasing assertion of identity, the Haliwa Indian Tribe built the Saponi Indian Church, since renamed Mt. Bethel Indian Baptist Church, in Warren County. Sometimes other people of color, including some whose families by then were linked to the Haliwa by marriage or other relationships, resented the Indians' attempt to create a separate ethnic identity within the segregated social system. The increasing African-American activism for civil rights highlighted some of the tensions between the ethnicities.
In 1965, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
formally recognized the Haliwa Indian Tribe. The Tribe incorporated in 1974. They added Saponi to the tribal name in 1979 to reflect their historic link to the Saponi people.
In 1967 the Haliwa-Saponi took another step in asserting their public identity by opening their tenth annual Haliwa Pow-wow to the public, inviting state and local officials and Indians from other states.
The Tribe has since built an administration building, multipurpose building, and instituted various service programs. Programs include tribal housing, daycare, senior citizens program, community services, Workforce Investment Act, cultural retention, after-school and youth programs, energy assistance, and economic development.
Federal recognition through the Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Federal Acknowledgement (OFA) remains a top priority for the Haliwa-Saponi. They first submitted a formal petition in 1989. They are seeking and compiling additional information to respond to the OFA’s itemization of issues in its Letter of Obvious Deficiencies (L.O.D.). The Tribe continues to perform research, update files, and monitor the federal acknowledgment process.
The Haliwa-Saponi's latest accomplishment is the opening of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal School, 98% of whose students identify as Indian. The school has a curriculum based on standard course of study, small classrooms, technology, and American Indian Studies. The Haliwa-Saponi tribe continues to be culturally active. It is proud of the community’s many dancers, singers, artists, advanced degree students, and young professionals.
Controversy
No documents have been found to link any of the surnames enrolled with the Haliwa-Saponi tribe directly with those of the historical Saponi tribe. The only surnames which have been found through government records with any references to Saponi, or named directly with the Saponi tribe, are Collins, Austin, Bollin, and Harrison. Many researchers have attempted to find a link from the Haliwa-Saponi tribe's surnames to the historical Saponi tribe, as required for federal recognition, but have had no success. The tribe can be seen to have formed in a process of ethnogenesisEthnogenesis
Ethnogenesis is the process by which a group of human beings comes to be understood or to understand themselves as ethnically distinct from the wider social landscape from which their grouping emerges...
from small groups in Virginia and North Carolina in the 1730s and 1740s, similar to the later rise of the Seminole
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creeks from what is now Georgia and Alabama, who settled in Florida in...
in Florida.