The Southern Sun Drum Group helps celebrate the 58th anniversary of the Victory at Hayes Pond in North Carolina. Photo from Lumbee Tribe

Members of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina commemorated the 58th anniversary of the day their ancestors drove out the Ku Klux Klan.

The KKK frequently terrorized Lumbees in the 1950s. On January 13, 1958, Klansmen burned a cross at the home of a Lumbee woman whom they accused of having an affair with a non-Indian man.

Five days later, the group scheduled a rally and cross burning. More than 500 Lumbees stormed the event, chasing out the supremacists who had gathered at Hayes Pond.

"This is a part of who we are," Chairman Harvey Godwin Jr. said in a press release. "We drove the KKK out of Robeson County and they haven't came back since. We need to use that energy to fight our battles today, but without the weapons."

On January 18, 1958, members of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina chased out the Ku Klux Klan in what is known as the Battle of Hayes Pond. Image from Life Magazine via Google Books

In other Lumbee news, Godwin attended the State of the Union on January 12 as a guest of Rep. Richard Hudson (R-North Carolina). He used the occasion to lobby members of Congress for federal recognition for the tribe, The Robesonian reported..

Godwin was sworn in as chairman of the tribe on January 7.

Get the Story:
Tribe recalls rout of KKK (The Robesonian 1/19)
Godwin’s DC trip makes history (The Robesonian 1/17)
State of the Union guests: N.C. college president, leader of Lumbee tribe (McClatchy DC 1/12)
New Lumbee chairman sworn in, calls for tribal unity (WTVD 1/8)

An Opinion:
Our View: New Lumbee chair promises unity, transparency (The Fayetteville Observer 1/10)

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