This fall, I took readers of the digital magazine The Assembly to a corner of North Carolina that has gotten scant attention: Robeson County, home to the Lumbee Tribe and a crucible of 21st-century environmental justice struggles. I spent a week in the rural county, which is sandwiched between Fort Bragg and the South Carolina, and spoke with tribal elders, scholars, environmental activists, and economic development leaders. I accompanied the Lumber Riverkeeper as he took water samples, and joined a recreational fisherman on his motorboat.

 

The resulting story was almost 6,000 words. I traced the battles over energy extraction and wetlands protection back 150 years, to the time when Henry Berry Lowry led a guerilla campaign against the white power structure and evaded capture by maneuvering through the uncharted swamps. You can read the article at https://www.theassemblync.com/long-form/the-contested-swamps-of-robeson-county.