Thesis (Ph.D.)--North Carolina State University, 2005. / Includes vita. Originally issued in electronic format. UMI number: 3223127. Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-228). Also available via the World Wide Web.

The Lumbee people of southeastern North Carolina have traditionally had a strong grandparent/grandchild relationship which assisted the Lumbee child to develop into a productive citizen within the tribe. An investigation was conducted utilizing selected Lumbee tribal members to ascertain their recollected perceptions of their grandparent/grandchild relationship. The following four values concepts were utilized by Lumbee grandparents to assist the productive development of their grandchildren: (1) awareness of the child, (2) acceptance of the individual, (3) sharing of oneself as defined by time and energy, and (4) freedom of personal choice. This traditional developmental process practiced among the Lumbee Indians has been drastically altered by wage labor, agri-business, and the American educational system causing the deterioration of the Lumbee family.

This investigation focused on selected members of the Lumbee Indian tribe and sought to ascertain the recollected perceptions of their teacher-student relationships. A theoretical framework was chosen which emphasized the personal process, including the following categories: (1) aware, (2) accept, (3) share, and (4) choose. A search of related literature in each category was then conducted. An interview schedule was designed around the theoretical framework, which consisted of 14 questions from the four categories of aware, accept, share, and choose. It was administered to 44 members of the Lumbee Indian tribe. The participants were divided into two groups of 22 each, those who had attended an integrated school system and those who had attended a predominantly Indian school system. They were then qestioned regarding their recollections of the teacher-student relationships that they experienced in school. The data derived from the questions were then analyzed based on a theory of personal processes. A case study was presented in which a brother and sister who are members of the Lumbee Indian tribe shared their recollections of teacher-student relationships as they perceived them in an Indian school at the elementary level and an integrated school at the secondary level. From the data of the 44 interviews, a summary was presented, followed by recommendations for implementing a theory of personal processes in schools that serve Native American Indians. Based on the findings, Lumbees who attended the Indian schools felt that their teachers were aware of them and provided them the opportunity to experience freedom in their schools. Lumbees who attended the integrated schools were in less agreement that they experienced the personal process in school.

This thesis focuses on the diasporic Lumbee community of Philadelphia that formed following the Second World War and developed throughout the late twentieth century. Faced with economic hardship, thousands of Lumbees migrated out of Robeson County and settled in urban centers including Baltimore, Detroit, and Philadelphia. While segregation barred Indians from industrial jobs in the southeast, Lumbees found employers in Philadelphia less concerned about their ethnic background. In the 1940s and 50s, many Lumbees were apprehensive about leaving their ancestors’ original places in North Carolina, fearing that they would lose the ties that bound them to their sense of self. Lumbees from North Carolina continued to migrate to Philadelphia in the 1960s and 70s, many settled and raised their children in the city. Using archival records and original oral history interviews, I argue that Lumbees were able to retain and reaffirm a distinct Indian identity through traditional kinship practices, transcending geographical bounds, and despite new challenges of urban life in 20th century Philadelphia. The retention of this identity is seen through the establishment of a Lumbee church, Lumbee involvement in Philadelphia’s urban Indian center, and participation in homecoming traditions. Lumbees were able to carve out a space in Philadelphia where they found belonging with one another, while making a deep and enduring impact on the city. / History

Contemporary events frequently call into question the status of state-recognized Native nations. For example, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) failed to pass a resolution dissolving state-recognized membership; and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has reported on the reality of federal funding being awarded to non-federally recognized Native nations. Although state-recognized Native nations are handicapped in their strategies and the availability of resources to assert their right to self-determine, some have persevered despite the inability to establish a direct relationship with the national government. Reconsidering federalism as it pertains to Native nations reveals opportunities for non-federally recognized Native nations to access resources and assert self-governing authority in alternative arenas outside the exclusive tribal-national government-to-government relationship. My research analyzes how two state-recognized Native nations, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and the Waccamaw Indian People of South Carolina, have operated as political actors; have maintained their communities; have organized politically and socially; and have asserted their right to self-determine by engaging state—and at certain times federal—politics to address needs within their communities. I used a qualitative case study approach to examine the strategies these two state-recognized Native nations have developed to engage state relationships. I argue that state-recognized Native nations are developing significant political relationships with their home states and other entities, such as federal, state, and local agencies, and nonprofits, to address issues in their communities.

Chemical Characterization of Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium by Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) to Assess Potential Therapeutic Phytochemicals and Toxicological Concerns Using Simulated Use Conditions By Regina Ballentine Virginia Commonwealth University, 2019 Director: Sarah C. Rutan, Professor, Department of Chemistry Currently, there is an increasing demand for natural therapies and herbal products to treat various ailments. It is generally believed that natural therapies have fewer side-effects than traditional western medicine; however, they are often used in different strengths and formulations without consistency of the levels of target compounds or knowledge about toxicity. Due to this growing trend, a comprehensive chemical evaluation of plants used for medicinal purposes is necessary. Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium is a plant that has been used historically by Native Americans as an herbal medicine. It is a flowering plant belonging to the Asteraceae family indigenous to the Eastern United States. There are documented accounts of the Native Americans using the herb therapeutically. Reportedly, they used the plant to prepare tea and as filler for bedding. Additionally, they smoked the plant material. To date, there has been little research published on the chemical composition of this plant. Thus, the objective of this work was to conduct a chemical survey of P. obtusifolium using methodologies that would simulate the three historical routes of administration (tea, bedding material, and smoke inhalation). To determine the types of compounds that may be found in the plant, initial experiments using pressurized solvent extraction (PSE) with an ethanolic solvent were performed followed by analysis using gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in scan mode. This extraction technique enabled a broad range of compounds to be identified. For the analysis of the tea, the leaves and the flowers were ground and analyzed separately. The “tea” simulation was then performed using a water extraction which was then back extracted into dichloromethane for GC-MS analysis in Selected Ion Monitoring (SIM) mode. Seventeen target compounds (terpenes, terpinoids, flavanoids, etc.) were quantified using this method. A bedding material simulation was performed using headspace solid phase micro-extraction (HS-SPME) to collect the volatile and/or semi-volatile components of the headspace. The compounds collected on the SPME fiber were then analyzed by GC-MS in scan and SIM modes to qualitatively and quantitatively determine the types of chemical compounds (most of which were terpenes) that may be off-gassed from bedding material. This analysis compared levels of compounds in two different crop years and four terpene compounds were quantified. To simulate smoking of the plant material, the leaves and flowers were fashioned into smoking articles. Sample collection was performed by a smoking machine and smoke condensate was collected. The smoke condensate was then analyzed by GC-MS in scan mode. As combustion and pyrolysis of plant material are known to produce toxic products, specific potentially harmful compounds were investigated and quantified. This chemical analysis of P. obtusifolium identified target compounds that can be found in the three simulated usage forms. Identification of these compounds gives insight on why the Native Americans may have used P. obtusifolium as an herbal medicine. Among the detected compounds, there were many unknowns. Elucidating these unknown compounds will be important in the effort to understand the full chemical profile of this plant.