Blake Tyner, the author of this pictorial history,
is director of the Maxton Historical Society, editor of its newsletter,
The New Scottish Chief, and a history major at the University
of North Carolina at Pembroke. The diverse array of photographs, historical
documents, postcards, and drawings reproduced here (with detailed captions
to document them) came from the collection of Tyner and his wife as
well as from the private collections of others and the collections of
public libraries and archives, newspapers, museums, historical societies,
UNC-Pembroke's University Relations office, and churches.
The roughly 230 images are grouped into the following
chapters: 1. Home life and family. 2. Work life. 3. Religious life.
4. Education. 5. Government. 6. Military. 7. Robeson County citizens.
8. Social and community events.
The following lists give examples of the variety of
images provided in each chapter. 1. Home life and family: The swamp
near Ten Mile Church and School in the early 20th century; a WPA mural
showing early Scottish settlers with the ancestors of the Lumbees; Henry
Berry Lowery’s home; various other historic houses from the county
(some of them no longer in existence); 2. Work life: sawmills, grist
mills, cotton pickers, cotton mills, tractors, tobacco warehouses, railroads,
tracks, and depots, storefronts, a midwife, and milliners. 3. Religious
life: churches, and a parsonage. 4. Education: school buildings; portraits
of student groups and teachers; 5. Government: courthouses, a fire department,
a health department, portraits of elected and government officials;
6. Military: portraits of veterans; monuments; soldier’s funeral
portraits; a National Guard building; the Laurinburg-Maxton Air Base;
various images related to the Henry Berry Lowery period and the Ku Klux
Klan routing. 7. Robeson County citizens: Portraits and more candid
photographs of a wide range of notable individuals, including Lorna
McNeill and Rebekah Revels; 8. Social and community events: a Lumbe
Homecoming pow-wow, canoeing, a May Day celebration, a minstrel show,
parade floats, the Carolina Theatre, the African American Cultural Center,
baseball teams, boy scouts, an American Legion children’s auxiliary,
and various 50-year centennial, and bicentennial celebrations.
The varied, interesting, and carefully chosen images
are enhanced by detailed, fact-filled captions. An index would have
made the book even more valuable to researchers. According to the Carolina
Indian Voice (Aug. 7, 2003, p. 1), all proceeds from book sales
are being donated to the Robeson County Historical Commission.
Key source