Robeson County | |
|---|---|
_17_(cropped).jpg) Robeson County Courthouse and Confederate Monument in Lumberton | |
 Flag  Seal | |
 Location within the U.S. state of North Carolina | |
 North Carolina's location within the U.S. | |
| Coordinates: 34°38′N 79°06′W / 34.64°N 79.10°W | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  North Carolina |
| Founded | 1787 |
| Named for | Thomas Robeson |
| Seat | Lumberton |
| Largest community | Lumberton |
| Area | |
| • Total | 949.26 sq mi (2,458.6 km2) |
| • Land | 947.30 sq mi (2,453.5 km2) |
| • Water | 1.96 sq mi (5.1 km2) 0.21% |
| Population (2020) | |
| • Total | 116,530 |
| • Estimate (2023) | 117,365 |
| • Density | 123.01/sq mi (47.49/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−5 (Eastern) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
| Congressional district | 7th |
| Website | www |
Robeson County (/ˈrɒbɪsən/ ROB-ih-sun)[1] is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of North Carolina and is its largest county by land area. Its county seat and largest community is Lumberton. The county was formed in 1787 from part of Bladen County and named in honor of Thomas Robeson, a colonel who had led Patriot forces in the area during the Revolutionary War. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 116,530. It is a majority-minority county; its residents are approximately 38 percent Native American, 22 percent white, 22 percent black, and 10 percent Hispanic. It is included in the Fayetteville-Lumberton-Pinehurst, NC Combined Statistical Area. The state-recognized Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is headquartered in Pembroke.
The area eventually comprising Robeson was initially inhabited by Native Americans, though little is known about them. By the mid-1700s, a Native community had coalesced around the swamps near Lumber River, which bisects the area. Later in the century, Scottish, English, and French settlers occupied the other lands. The population remained sparse for decades due to the lack of suitable land for farming, and timber and naval stores formed a crucial part of the early economy. The proliferation of the cotton gin and rising demand for cotton led Robeson County to become one of the state's major cotton-producing counties throughout the 1800s. The Lowry War was fought between a group of mostly-Native American outlaws and local authorities during the latter stages of the American Civil War and through the Reconstruction era. After Reconstruction ended, a unique system of tripartite racial segregation was instituted in the county to separate whites, blacks, and Native Americans.
In the early 20th century, Robeson developed significant tobacco and textile industries while many of its swamp lands were drained and roads were paved. From the 1950s to the 1970s, the county experienced tensions over racial desegregation. During the same period, local agriculture mechanized, and the manufacturing industry grew. The new sector was unable to provide stable enough employment to locals, and by the 1980s, Robeson was heavily afflicted by cocaine trafficking. The narcotics trade fueled violence, social unrest, political tensions, and police corruption and caused the county's statewide reputation to suffer. The county's economy was further damaged by significant declines in the tobacco and textile industries in the 1990s and early 2000s, which have now been supplanted by the supply of fossil fuels, poultry farming, biogas and bio-mass facilities, and logging. Robeson continues to rank low on several statewide socioeconomic indicators.
- ^ Talk Like a Tarheel Archived June 22, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, from the North Carolina Collection website at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved August 16, 2023.