List of Lumbees
This is a list of notable Lumbee people, including members of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.
List
- Pamela Brewington Cashwell, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources[1]
- Dean Chavers, Ph.D., Director of Catching the Dream, formerly called the Native American Scholarship Fund.[2]
- Ben Chavis, Ph.D., author, and advocate of high-quality urban education. From 2000, he was an early leader of Oakland's American Indian Public Charter School. It won a National Blue Ribbon Award in 2007. He was indicted in March 2017 on six felony counts for money laundering and mail fraud. In 2019, all original federal charges were dropped.[3][4]
- Chris Chavis, professional wrestler.[5]
- Anybody Killa (aka ABK), hip hop artist from Detroit, MI signed to Psycopathic Records whose parents are Lumbee from North Carolina[6]
- Kenwin Cummings, NFL player (linebacker); attended Wingate University[7]
- Charles Graham, member of the North Carolina General Assembly.[8][9]
- Johnny Hunt, Southern Baptist clergyman, senior pastor, former national president of the Southern Baptist Convention.[10]
- Ashton Locklear, elite artistic gymnast, 2014 world champion with the United States team, 2016 Olympic Team Alternate and 2017 World Championship team member[11]
- Gene Locklear, Major League Baseball player with the Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres and two other teams.[12]
- Heather Locklear, American actress.[13]
- Jarrod Lowery, state legislator.[14]
- John Lowery, tribal leader and state legislator.[15]
- Julian Pierce, lawyer. In 1988, Pierce ran for a newly created Superior Court Judgeship in Robeson County but was shot and killed at home. Ballot counts gave the victory to Pierce. He would have been the first Native American to hold the position of Superior Court Judge in the state.[16]
- Jana Mashonee (born Jana Sampson), two-time Grammy-nominated singer. She has won 10 Nammy Awards.[17]
- Stacy Layne Matthews, competitor on season 3 of RuPaul's Drag Race[18][19]
- John Oxendine, former Insurance Commissioner for the state of Georgia[20]
- Freda Porter, applied mathematician and environmental scientist known as one of the first Native American women to earn a PhD in the mathematical sciences[21]
- Martha Redbone, singer[22]
- Hiram R. Revels, former U.S. Senator from Mississippi and Secretary of State of Mississippi. Also had European and African-American ancestry.[23]
- Kelvin Sampson, collegiate and professional basketball coach, currently the Head Coach of the Houston Cougars.[24]
- Helen Maynor Scheirbeck, appointed by Congress to the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) Board of Directors, and served as NMAI's Assistant Director of Public Programs.[25][26]
- Ruth Dial Woods, educator, community worker and activist.[27]
References
- ^ "Pam Brewington Cashwell Sworn in as Secretary of N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources | NC DNCR". www.dncr.nc.gov. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
- ^ "SAIO 50 for 50: Dean Chavers | Native American Cultural Center". nacc.stanford.edu. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
- ^ "Chavis indicted for money laundering and mail fraud", The Robesonian, 30 March 2017
- ^ Jill Tucker, "Former Oakland charter schools director charged with fraud", San Francisco Chronicle, 30 March 2017; accessed 5 May 2017
- ^ Ore, Jonathan (November 16, 2018). "How Indigenous pro wrestlers lock up with racial stereotypes inside the ring". CBC.ca. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
Chavis himself, however, is from the Lumbee tribe.
- ^ "Anybody Killa biography".
- ^ "Type 1 diabetes not slowing Jets backup inside linebacker Kenwin Cummings". The Star-Ledger - NJ.com. Archived from the original on September 8, 2010. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
- ^ "His Anti-KKK Ad Went Viral. His Congressional Campaign Did Not". POLITICO. November 6, 2022. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
- ^ Brewer, -Graham Lee; Brewer, Associated Press Graham Lee; Race, Associated Press Graham Lee Brewer is an Oklahoma City-based member of AP's; team, Ethnicity (December 17, 2025). "Lumbee Tribe's federal recognition is assured after final push by Trump". PBS News. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
- ^ Wingfield, Maina Mwaura, Jon Bullock and Mark (May 22, 2023). "'Pastor Johnny' is the head of a family empire that feeds off the SBC". Baptist News Global. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Anonymous (May 12, 2022). "Lumbee gymnast Ashton Locklear named alternate for U.S. Olympics team". Digital Scholarship and Initiatives. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
- ^ "Locklear Is a Yankee With an Unusual Past and Future (Published 1976)". August 22, 1976. Archived from the original on April 7, 2025. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
- ^ "Locklear | FRONTLINE". www.pbs.org.
- ^ "Lumbee Indian shift to GOP solidifies with flipped Robeson County state House seat". November 14, 2022.
- ^ "Lumbee leader to join North Carolina statehouse as tribe's federal recognition push gains attention". AP News. October 8, 2025. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
- ^ "2021 Legal Legends of Color: Julian Pierce - North Carolina Bar Association". August 16, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
- ^ N; P; R (December 23, 2005). "Jana's 'American Indian Christmas'". NPR. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
- ^ Riedel, Samantha (August 3, 2021). ""Drag Race" Star Stacy Layne Matthews Is in Danger of Losing Her Home". Them. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
- ^ Upadhyah, Nishant (2019). "'Can you get more American than Native American?': Drag and settler colonialism in RuPaul's Drag Race". Cultural Studies. 33 (3): 480–501.
- ^ Anonymous (May 12, 2022). "[Question about John Oxendine.]". Digital Scholarship and Initiatives. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
- ^ "Freda Porter". www.agnesscott.edu. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
- ^ Rowlands, Lucinda (October 22, 2002). "'Home of the Brave' by Martha Redbone". ICT. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
- ^ "HIRAM REVELS". February 12, 2007. Retrieved September 20, 2025.
- ^ "Houston's Kelvin Sampson is 'carrying the banner' for his Lumbee Tribe in quest for federal recognition". CBS Sports. April 6, 2025. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
- ^ "https://www.berea.edu". www.berea.edu. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
{{cite web}}: External link in|title= - ^ "Project MUSE -- Verification required!". muse.jhu.edu. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
- ^ "Ruth Dial Woods". uncfsu.edu/whm. Fayetteville, North Carolina: Fayetteville State University. 2015. Archived from the original on December 3, 2015. Retrieved August 4, 2020.