Editing Robeson County, North Carolina (section)

===End of Reconstruction and establishment of racial segregation===
[[File:Croatan Normal School in Pates.jpg|thumb|The first [[Croatan Normal School]] building in [[Pates, North Carolina|Pates]]]]
Dissatisfied with the 1868 Reconstruction constitution, Conservatives/[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]]{{efn|The state Conservative Party officially changed its name in 1874 to align itself with the national Democratic Party.{{sfn|Paschal|2021|p=67}}}} pushed for a convention to be held in 1875 to revise the document. Elections to determine the delegates to attend were held in August. Early returns indicated that a Republican-majority convention was likely, and the final results from Robeson County were, depending on the outcome, likely to provide either party with their majority. The  Democratic state chair telegrammed the local Democrat-dominated elections board, writing, "As you love the state, hold Robeson."<ref name= faulkner>{{cite web| url = https://www.ncpedia.org/government/convention-1875| title = Convention of 1875| last = Faulkner| first = Ronnie W.| date = 2006| website = NCPedia| publisher = North Carolina Government & Heritage Library| access-date = December 11, 2022}}</ref> The board then voted to certify the elections without counting results from four Republican-majority precincts, giving the county's two Democratic delegate candidates a slim margin of victory. With their narrow majority at the convention, the Democrats reversed many of the reforms instituted in the 1868 constitution, making it harder for Republicans and blacks to hold office.<ref name= faulkner/>

With Reconstruction thus ended, Democrats reasserted their dominance over politics in the South, but Republicans remained competitive in North Carolina, and the Indian population in Robeson continued to support them.{{sfn|Lowery|2018|pp=97–98}} Though Republicans still made up the majority of registered voters in Robeson, disagreements caused by the Lowry War prevented them from solidifying local control.{{sfn|Lowery|2010|p=24}} The Indians also resisted being treated the same as blacks under the new socio-political hierarchy, who were relegated to a subordinate position.{{sfn|Dial|Eliades|1996|pp=89–90}} Hamilton McMillan, a Robesonian member of the [[North Carolina House of Representatives]] and a Democrat, sought to switch the Indians' allegiance to solidify his party's control over the state.{{sfn|Lowery|2018|pp=97–98}} He convinced the General Assembly to formally recognize the Indians as "Croatoans"—arguing that they descended from English settlers of the [[Lost Colony]] who mixed with [[Croatan]] Indians.{{sfn|Lowery|2018|p=98}}

In 1887, McMillan convinced the legislature to appropriate money to establish a [[Croatan Normal School]] to train teachers who could staff new Indian schools. As a result, most Robeson Indians began to vote for Democrats, and their voting rights were preserved when blacks were disenfranchised by constitutional amendment in 1900.{{sfn|Lowery|2018|p=98}} This distinction birthed a system of tripartite segregation which was unique in the [[American South]]. However, whites generally regarded both the Indians and blacks as "[[colored]]".<ref name= coffey>{{cite web| url = https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/lumbee-battle-hayes-pond-1958| title = The Lumbee Organize Against the Ku Klux Klan January 18, 1958: The Battle of Hayes Pond, Maxton, N.C.| last1 = Coffey| first1 = Mike| last2 = Agan| first2 = Kelly| date = 2020| website = Anchor| publisher = North Carolina Government & Heritage Library| access-date = October 7, 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206153940/https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/lumbee-battle-hayes-pond-1958| archive-date=December 6, 2021| url-status=live}}</ref> Indians and blacks nevertheless maintained separate identities.{{sfn|Lowery|2010|p=84}} Some other county facilities were separated for "Whites", "Negroes", and "Indians",{{sfn|Cunningham|2013|p=33}} including the courthouse in Lumberton.{{sfn|Lowery|2010|pp=20–21}} Under this racial hierarchy, whites constituted the dominant racial caste, and blacks were socially subordinated, while the Indians formed a middle caste and, though retaining more privileges than blacks, were still subject to discrimination.{{sfn|Evans|1971|pp=253–254}}

The county's second rail line was established in 1884 by the [[Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railway]], connecting [[Lumber Bridge, North Carolina|Lumber Bridge]], [[Red Springs, North Carolina|Red Springs]], and Maxton.{{sfn|Land potential study, Robeson County|1969|p=6}} In 1892, the [[Wilmington and Weldon Railroad]] built a north–south line through the county, intersecting with the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad at the site of Campbell's Mill. A train station was subsequently built, and a strong trading community was established.{{sfn|Dial|Eliades|1996|p=142}} It was incorporated in 1895 as the town of [[Pembroke, North Carolina|Pembroke]], and in 1909, the Croatan Normal School was moved there from its original location in [[Pates, North Carolina|Pates]].{{sfn|Dial|Eliades|1996|pp=142–143}} Pembroke became a center for Indian commercial activity.{{sfn|Dial|Eliades|1996|p=146}} Due to the Indians' predominance in the community, the town lacked strict adherence to many [[Jim Crow]] norms common in the rest of the county and the wider South in the early-to-mid 20th century.{{sfn|Lowery|2010|pp=1–2}}{{sfn|Dial|Eliades|1996|pp=156–157}} [[St. Pauls, North Carolina|St. Pauls]] and Red Springs developed as white-majority towns hostile to nonwhites, while the towns of [[Fairmont, North Carolina|Fairmont]] and [[Rowland, North Carolina|Rowland]] retained significant black labor forces.{{sfn|Sider|2015|p=205}} In 1913 the General Assembly reclassified the Indians as [[Cherokee]]s.{{sfn|Oakley|2008|p=58}}