Oppositional Identity and Back-Vowel Fronting in a Tri-ethnic Context

This study considers the dynamic trajectory of the back-vowel fronting of the BOOT and BOAT vowels for 27 speakers in a unique, longstanding context of a substantive, tri-ethnic contact situation involving American Indians, European Americans, and African Americans over three disparate generations in Robeson County, North Carolina. The results indicate that the earlier status of Lumbee English fronting united them with the African American vowel system, particularly for the BOOT vowel, but that more recent generations have shifted towards alignment with European American speakers. Given the biracial Southeastern U.S. that historically identified Lumbee Indians as “free persons of color” and the persistent skepticism about the Lumbee Indians as merely a mixed group of European Americans and African Americans, the movement away from the African American pattern towards the European American pattern was interpreted as a case of oppositional identity in which Lumbee Indians disassociate themselves from African American vowel norms in subtle but socially meaningful ways.

Epilogue

The Epilogue describes the Lumbee community musical show Strike at the Wind!, and uses it as a lens to reflect on and examine the progress and history of Lumbee Indians throughout the years. The show offers a way for Lumbees to connect to being American. Federal recognition has eluded Lumbees, but a lack of federal recognition does not disrupt their ability to exercise their sovereignty as indigenous people. Nor does it constitute a “struggle for identity;” Lumbees know exactly who they are and what it means to belong. The struggle is for fair treatment within an unfair system. Political will, generated through money, compromise, or consensus, is a key ingredient of federal acknowledgment for Lumbees. At the same time, history shows that Lumbees do not always work toward progress peacefully. They have been targets of violence, and also used violence to insist that others see them for who they are, not for who they wish Lumbees would be. Henry Berry Lowry, Julian Pierce, Bricey Hammonds, Helen Maynor Schierbeck, and many others did not live their lives in vain. They were warriors in the Lumbee struggle for independence as a people. Their stories belong to all of us.