Goins v. Bd. Of Tr.S Of Indian Normal Training Sch. At Pembroke

• Decision Date: 27 October 1915
• Docket Number: (No. 296.)
• Citation: 169 N.C. 736,86 S.E. 629
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: GOINS et al. v. BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF INDIAN NORMAL TRAINING SCHOOL AT PEMBROKE.

86 S.E. 629

169 N.C. 736

GOINS et al.

v.BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF INDIAN NORMAL TRAINING SCHOOL AT PEMBROKE.

(No. 296.)

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Oct. 27, 1915.

Appeal from Superior Court, Robeson County; Allen, Judge.

Proceeding by A. A. Goins and others against the Board of Trustees of Indian Normal Training School at Pembroke in Robeson County. Judgment for plaintiffs, and defendant appeals. No error.

McLean, Varser & McLean, of Lumberton, for appellant.

Johnson & Johnson and McIntyre, Lawrence & Proctor, all of Lumberton, for appellees.

CLARK, C. J. This is a proceeding to compel the board of trustees of the Cherokee Normal School at Pembroke in Robeson county to admit the children of plaintiffs as pupils in that school. The plaintiffs contend that their immediate ancestors had lived in Sumpter county, S. C, but had gone there from Cumberland county, N. C, that they had no negro blood in their veins, and that their children are entitled to be admitted to said normal school under the statutes establishing it. The defendants contend that the plaintiffs' children are not entitled to attend said school, because: (1) Said children are of negro blood within the prohibited degree; (2) that said children did not belong to that class of persons designated as Croatan Indians and now known as Cherokee Indians of Robeson county under acts establishing said school. The jury found the issue of fact raised by the above two propositions in favor of plaintiffs.

The real controversy of law is raised by the defendants' contention that the Act of 1885, c. 51, "To provide for separate schools for Croatan Indians of Robeson county, " after reciting, "whereas, the Indians now living in Robeson county claim to be descendants of a friendly tribe who once resided in eastern North Carolina on the Roanoke river, known as Croatan Indians, " enacted that "said Indians and their descendants shall hereafter be known and designated as the Croatan Indians * * * and shall have separate schools for their children, school committees of their own race and color, and shall be allowed to select teachers of their own choice, " etc. It was therefore strenuously argued that these plaintiffs, though it was shown that their ancestors a few generations back resided in Cumberland county, had removed to South Carolina, and had recently removed from South Carolina to Robeson, could not come within the terms of the act above recited. Chapter 400, Laws 1887, however, which established this normal school, was not so restricted, and provided that the purpose was to establish and maintain "a school of high grade for teachers of the Croatan race in Robeson county, " and chapter 215, Laws 1911, amended the above recited chapter 51, Laws 1885, by striking out the words "Croatan Indians" wherever those words occur in said chapter, inserting in lieu thereof the words "Indians of Robeson county." Chapter 123, Laws 1913, amended the last-named act by striking out the words "Indians of Robeson county" and inserting in lieu thereof the words "Cherokee Indians of Robeson county." We find nothing in the act establishing the normal school or in the acts of 1911 and 1913 above referred to, or in chapter 199, Laws 1913 (which provided further appropriation for the support of this normal school), which restricted the pupils to the children of the Croatan race who resided in Robeson in 1885. The court properly told the jury that the statute in regard to the normal school—

"did not embrace alone the Croatan Indians of Robeson county, but Croatan Indians who put themselves within the limits of the school in good faith and became residents within the limits that would embrace them though they came from other territory, adjacent territory, or a...