This thesis explains that, due to land loss, changes
in the size of farms,loss of control of soil and water regulation, more
Lumbee people entering non-farm occupations, and more Lumbee women entering
the workforce and abandoning subsistence gardening, the Lumbee have
been losing their traditional, sustainable agricultural methods. It
also makes strong arguments that “Restoration of these [agricultural]
resources to a healthy, sustaining state are fundamental components
of any economic re-development for the Lumbee. For this recovery to
begin, the Lumbee Nation must re-establish control over the management
and development decisions of its ancestral soils and waters” (p.
3).
Okuda-Jacobs explains the historical reasons for Lumbee
land loss, including the “tied mule” incidents in the 19th
century, when the Lumbee were treated as “free persons of color”
and not allowed to sit on juries or testify against whites in court.
White farmers would tie their mule or place their cattle on a Lumbee
farmer's land, then report to the sheriff that the animals had been
stolen by the Lumbee farmer. An all-white jury would find the Lumbee
guilty, and he would have to sell his land to pay the fines. In the
20th century, Lumbee people lost land when white landowners pressured
the state government to survey and drain the swamps so that the land
would be suitable for plantation-style agriculture. The state confiscated
any of the surveyed land that was not on record in the deeds office
and/or property tax had not been paid. Once the timber was cut down
and the swamps drained, the land was sold to the highest bidder. Most
of the drainage and land sale occurred from the early 1900s until the
1960s. Lumbee people were especially affected by the drainage of Back
Swamp (around 32,850 acres) between 1914 and 1918.
Traditional Lumbee farmng and gardening methods included
(1) farming on swamp highland areas, which were flooded each winter
and received silt deposits which restored the land's natural fertility;
and (2) intercropping and crop and field rotation. Very few Lumbee gardeners
continue swamp horticulture or grow Lumbee varieties, however.
Okuda-Jacobs provides useful, detailed discussions
(often with statistics) of the number of acres owned by tribal members,
churches, and tribal government; Robeson County soil types, water supply
and condition, and water uses; amount of land devoted to agriculture
vs. other uses; typical Lumbee farms and crops, and typical Lumbee subsistence
gardens and crops, until the changes that occurred around the middle
of the twentieth century; details on current Lumbee gardening practices;
nutritional aspects of the Lumbee diet; and number and size of farms
in Robeson County.
Okuda-Jacobs concludes with strong arguments that “if
the techniques and social role of gardening are not maintained within
the community, the Lumbee may lose one of their defining cultural and
social expressions as a nutritious food base and an important income
augmentation” (pp. 26-27). In addition, “rebuilding a self-reliant
horticultural system [will] prevent Lumbee financial resources from
leaving the community in such great amounts” (p. 60). She proposes
accomplishing these aims by using traditional horticultural techniques
which do not require chemicals, commercial seeds, and machinery; looking
at and implementing one of the programs which have worked to maintain
or revive traditional horticulture (she describes the Tsyunhehkwa Center
in Oneida, Wisconsin; the Nuxalt Food and Nutrition Program in British
Columbia; the Native Seeds/Search project in Tucson, Arizona; and the
Indigenous Preservation Networking Center in New York); and establishing
a farmers' cooperative which would sell farmers' produce to a distribution
center, then sell the produce to local restaurants, schools, day care
centers, etc. Also involved in the plan would be a seed bank; re-education
of gardeners in traditional horticultural techniques; and newsletters,
nutrition workshops, and demonstration gardens.
Key source