In 1984, some of the Indians reorganized as the Eno-Occaneechi Indian Association with the goal of preserving the Indian heritage of the community and teaching the young about their own history. To this end, an annual pow-wow has been held each August, with Indians from many different tribes visiting with the community. In 1995, the association's name was changed to the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation in order to reflect more properly the historical record.
A petition for official state recognition was submitted to the North Carolina Commission on Indian Affairs in January 1990. In December 1995, the commission rejected this petition. This decision currently is being appealed. Also in 1995, the tribe received a grant from the Administration for Native Americans to begin work on a petition for federal acknowledgment.
The Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation has worked to correct official records of tribal members, so that birth records and other documents incorrectly recording the person as black or colored may be revised to show the correct race of the individual. Members of the tribe also have been active in Indian politics statewide, and two tribal members, John Jeffries, assistant chief, and Wanda Whitmore, served as head dancers at the 1990 Meherrin Tribal Pow-wow in Winton, North Carolina. John Jeffries also has served on the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Indian Cultural Center in Pembroke, North Carolina. With more young people showing an interest in their traditions and heritage, the future looks promising for the Indian people of the Texas community, as they learn to live in a modern world while never forgetting their roots in the Indian tribes of the North Carolina Piedmont.
Finally, there are two other communities which should be noted as possibly relevant to ongoing research into the descendants of historic Indian tribes in piedmont North Carolina: the Goinstown community and the Burnette's Chapel community.
The Goinstown community is located in the northwest corner of Rockingham County, North Carolina, on the border with Stokes County. The prominent family names are Goins, Hickman, Harris, Richardson, and Kimmons. These related families can be traced back at least to the early 1800s in the area as so-called free colored persons. The tradition is that they are descended either from "Croatan" Indians (there was a period in the 1930s and 1940s when it was popular to describe any group of Indian people of uncertain origin as descendants of the "Croatans") or from remnants of the Saura who mixed with non-Indians in the area. The community had a school until the early 1960s that was officially classed as Indian and has gradually merged with the white community. There is still a perception among the local whites that the Goinstown people are of Indian descent. With the location of the old Saura Town nearby on the Dan River, it is possible that these people possess, to some degree, Saura ancestry. Further research is needed, but would probably not be popular with the members of the community.
The Burnette's Chapel community of southern Alamance County also can be traced back to the early 1790s, and some families, like the Whites, on into the 1700s. This community, made up of the Bowdens, Burnettes, Whites, Allens, and others, also has a strong tradition of Indian ancestry, with no tradition of ever having been "under bondage." In the case of this community, as well as that of Goinstown, the physical features of the people clearly show at least mixed Indian ancestry, with some of the older persons appearing to have little mixture other than that of Indian. These people may be of Sissipahau descent, although showing conclusive links would certainly be difficult.
In conclusion, it should be borne in mind that the history of any group of people is a tricky topic to write about. It is all very neat and clean to write about someone as the "last Nottoway" or the "last of the Tutelo," but the actual picture usually is far less simple. The common view of the Piedmont Indians having disappeared either through out-migration or death needs revising in light of the present evidence, circumstantial as it may be in some cases, that the Indian people of the Piedmont still exist. Whether a person visits Goinstown, Burnette's Chapel, or the Texas community, he or she comes away realizing that the Indian people of the Piedmont did not vanish, but continue to survive in the land that they have for so long called home.
Author's Note
On May 31, 1992, Mr. Goetha C. Whitmore passed into the Spirit World. At 97 years of age, he was one of the oldest of the Occaneechi people and his keen memory made much of this research possible. It is to him, and his family, that this research is dedicated.
