Since 1835 when a state constitutional convention denied them the right to attend school, the Lumbee Indians of Robeson County, North Carolina have established a strong educational system. Although another constitutional convention in 1868 mandated public school terms for all children, the county had few schools until 1885 and no schools specifically for Indians. Unaccepted by the white community and too proud to fit into segregated black communities, the Lumbees remained unschooled. In 1885, Hamilton McMillan sponsored legislation to establish a normal school in Robeson County to train Lumbee Indian teachers. Because most young people interested in training were illiterate, no work above grade seven was offered until 1926. In 1926 the first normal school graduates began teaching in Robeson County schools. Interest in education grew among the Lumbees and in 1939 the high school separated from the normal college. In 1940 the normal college, then Pembroke State College, awarded the first 4-year degrees. Today former Lumbee schools are desegregated and provide education for all Robeson County children. Pembroke State College was among the first southern colleges to remove all racial restrictions, admitting whites in 1953. During the 1960s, under its first Lumbee president, Pembroke State made the transition from a small, relatively unknown college to a fast growing regional university. The rest of the paper describes present-day Pembroke State University. (LFL)