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Lumbee

The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is a state-recognized Native American tribe comprising approximately 55,000 enrolled members, the largest such group east of the Mississippi River, primarily residing in Robeson, Hoke, Scotland, and Cumberland counties in the southeastern part of the state.^[1]^[2] The tribe derives its name from the Lumbee River and traces its formal recognition as an Indian people to an 1885 North Carolina state law, though historical records document their ancestors as a mixed-race community often classified as "free persons of color" or mulatto in 19th-century censuses, with claims of descent from Siouan-speaking tribes, Cherokee, or the Lost Colony of Roanoke that have shifted over time and lack corroboration from continuous pre-colonial tribal continuity.^[1]^[3] While self-identifying as indigenous, empirical assessments including autosomal DNA analyses of sampled individuals reveal predominantly European and African genetic ancestries, averaging around 4 percent Native American components, challenging narratives of distinct tribal purity and highlighting admixture from colonial-era interactions. In 1956, the U.S. Congress passed the Lumbee Act acknowledging their Indian status but explicitly withholding full federal tribal benefits and requiring further administrative determination of origins, a limitation that persists despite state-level affirmation and recent federal legislative pushes, including a January 2025 presidential memorandum and a September 2025 House-passed measure advancing toward potential full recognition.^[4]^[5]^[6] The tribe maintains cultural practices such as annual powwows and homecomings, alongside notable historical episodes like the 1958 armed disruption of a Ku Klux Klan rally by Lumbee men, which underscored their community resilience amid racial tensions.^[1]

Historical Background

Colonial and 18th-Century Presence

The earliest recorded land grants to individuals ancestral to the Lumbee in the Robeson County region occurred in the 1730s, when King George II issued patents to Henry Berry and James Lowrie in 1732, followed by a grant to James Lowrie in 1738 for property east of the Lumber River in Lowrie Swamp.^[7]^[8] These transactions, situated along waterways like Drowning Creek (a tributary of the Lumber River), reflect initial settlement by mixed-race groups in what became Robeson County, then part of Bladen County. By 1750, Henry Berry received additional grants in south-central North Carolina, including areas now within Robeson, indicating expanding land claims amid colonial expansion.^[9] Colonial records from 1754 document a "mixed crew" of squatters on Drowning Creek, described by Bladen County militia leader Colonel Rutherford as lawless inhabitants evading authority, suggesting the formation of independent, mixed-race communities in isolated swamp lands.^[10] These groups, often labeled mulattoes or free people of color in legal documents, secured further grants in the 1750s–1770s, such as Robert Sweat's 1754 patent on Shoe Heel Swamp and John Locklear's 1764 deed east of Long Swamp.^[11] Land ownership enabled avoidance of enslavement, as free status under colonial law permitted transactions without re-enslavement risks, fostering self-reliant agrarian settlements.^[10] By the mid-18th century, distinct communities had emerged along the Lumber River, with deeds proliferating in the 1760s–1790s to bearers of surnames like Braveboy (1767, Mill Prong of Raft Swamp), Lowery (1767, same area), Chavers (1772, east of Drowning Creek), and Locklear (1779, south of Ashpole Swamp).^[11] Interactions with colonial officials remained sparse, confined largely to land patents and tax rolls, where these free persons of color were noted separately from white settlers and enslaved Africans, highlighting their liminal status in a biracial colonial framework. This pattern of frontier isolation along riverine swamps supported community cohesion by the 1770s, predating Robeson's formal county establishment in 1787.^[10]^[11]

Antebellum Developments

The ancestors of the Lumbee inhabited the swampy, marginal lowlands of Robeson County, North Carolina, particularly along the Lumber River, where poor soil and isolation limited integration into the broader plantation economy. They practiced subsistence agriculture akin to that of neighboring white smallholders, cultivating crops like corn and raising livestock on small plots, while supplementing livelihoods through hunting, fishing, and occasional timber work in the wetlands. This geographic seclusion fostered social cohesion and autonomy, shielding communities from the intensifying slave-based cotton production that dominated fertile eastern regions by the 1840s and 1850s.^[12] Official records, including federal censuses and state tax lists, routinely classified these groups as "free persons of color," a broad category encompassing mulattoes and individuals of mixed ancestry, reflecting white authorities' reluctance to acknowledge separate Indian status amid rising racial binaries post-Nat Turner's 1831 rebellion. In the 1830 and 1850 U.S. Censuses for Robeson County, hundreds of households bearing surnames later linked to Lumbee families—such as Oxendine, Locklear, and Chavers—were enumerated under this rubric, often without slaves or large landholdings.^[12]^[13] Despite such impositions, community members asserted a distinct Indian identity, resisting reclassification as "mulatto" or "free Negro" through local disputes and court challenges that tested exclusionary laws. The 1835 North Carolina constitution explicitly disenfranchised free persons of color, revoking voting rights and militia participation, which applied to these groups and heightened their liminal position. Notable cases included State v. Oxendine in June 1837, State v. Noel Locklear in 1853, and proceedings against William Chavers in 1857, where defendants contested non-Indian labels to preserve communal separation from both white and Black populations.^[12]

Civil War Era and the Lowry War

During the American Civil War, Lumbee men in Robeson County, North Carolina, faced conscription by the Confederate Home Guard into forced labor battalions, including work on fortifications such as Fort Fisher near Wilmington, under harsh conditions with high mortality rates.^[14] Many Lumbee, including members of the Lowry family, evaded these drafts by hiding in the swamps along the Lumber River, reflecting broader community resistance to Confederate authority among non-slaveholding Native families who held no stake in the plantation system.^[15] This evasion stemmed from practical survival needs and opposition to impressment, as Lumbee were often classified as "free persons of color" and targeted for menial labor without combat exemptions afforded to whites.^[16] Tensions escalated in 1864 when Henry Berry Lowry, a young Lumbee man born around 1845, killed two individuals: one who accused him of hog theft—a common pretext for property disputes against Native families—and a conscription officer who had insulted and mistreated women in the Lowry community.^[16] In retaliation, the Home Guard arrested Allen Lowry, Henry's father, and his brother William, subjecting them to a sham trial on March 3, 1865, for alleged theft and murder before executing them extrajudicially by forcing them to dig their own graves and shooting them.^[17] ^[18] These killings, occurring amid the war's final months, ignited the Lowry War, as Henry assumed leadership of a guerrilla band comprising primarily Lumbee members, along with some African Americans and at least one white ally, initiating raids against Home Guard units, Confederate officials, and sympathizers.^[15] The band's actions were driven by revenge for the executions, ongoing conscription threats, and defense against property seizures and racial oppression, rather than mere criminality, as evidenced by their selective targeting of authorities and wealth redistribution to poorer community members.^[16] ^[19] From 1865 through 1871, the Lowry Band conducted persistent raids, ambushing pursuers, robbing plantations of wealthy Confederates, and evading capture through community support in Robeson County's rugged terrain, which solidified Lumbee collective resilience against external coercion.^[15] Governor William W. Holden declared Henry Berry Lowry an outlaw in 1868, and by 1871, the North Carolina General Assembly offered a $10,000 bounty, yet federal artillery deployments and militia efforts, such as Colonel Wishart's operations, failed to dismantle the group, capturing only peripheral members.^[19] ^[15] The band's survival underscored causal factors of familial loyalty, geographic advantage, and widespread Lumbee sympathy, forged from shared experiences of marginalization, culminating in Lowry's unexplained disappearance in early 1872 after a final raid, which effectively ended the conflict.^[19] This era marked a pivotal assertion of autonomy for the Lumbee, transforming localized resistance into a legendary narrative of defiance.^[16]

Reconstruction and State Recognition Efforts

Following the Civil War and during the Reconstruction era, the Indians of Robeson County pursued political strategies to assert a distinct identity amid intensifying racial binaries, rejecting classification alongside freed Blacks or full assimilation with whites. Community leaders, including figures like James Dial, lobbied state officials to acknowledge their Indian heritage, emphasizing descent from earlier indigenous groups to justify separation from the emerging Jim Crow segregation framework. This maneuvering was driven by practical needs, such as access to public resources denied under post-1875 constitutional amendments that segregated schools for whites and Blacks but omitted provisions for Indians, effectively barring them from white institutions while associating them with colored facilities.^[20] By the early 1880s, these advocacy efforts coalesced around demands for legal recognition and separate institutional status, with petitions highlighting the group's self-identification as Indians unaffiliated with African descent. Refusal to enroll children in schools for free persons of color underscored their resistance to binary racial categorization, prompting alliances with Democratic legislators seeking to consolidate power in eastern North Carolina counties. Local opposition arose from some white residents and officials wary of diluting segregation's racial hierarchy, who argued the group exhibited mixed ancestry and should remain in the "colored" category to preserve white supremacy.^[21]^[22] These pressures culminated in state acknowledgment on February 10, 1885, when the North Carolina General Assembly enacted Chapter 92 of the Session Laws, officially designating the "Indians of Robeson County" as Croatan Indians—referencing the Croatan tribe linked to colonial-era narratives—and granting authority for distinct schools and governance structures. This legislation marked initial state-level validation of their claims, though it imposed ongoing navigation of segregation laws that tested the durability of their intermediate status against persistent local skepticism and binary enforcement.^[23]^[24]

Establishment of Indian Schools

In response to the lack of educational opportunities for Indian children in North Carolina's emerging segregated public school system post-Civil War, the state legislature recognized the Croatan Indians—precursors to the Lumbee—in 1885 and authorized a distinct school system for them.^[25] This culminated on March 7, 1887, when the General Assembly passed legislation establishing the Croatan Normal School in Robeson County as a teacher-training institution specifically for Indian youth, following petitions from community leaders emphasizing their separate ethnic status.^[26] ^[27] The school operated as a state-funded entity within a tripartite segregation framework—separate from white and Black systems—receiving appropriations from county and state taxes allocated for Indian education, which supported construction of a clapboard building and basic operations.^[28] ^[23] Its curriculum focused on elementary instruction and normal training to produce certified teachers, reinforcing community self-sufficiency amid Jim Crow-era restrictions that barred Indians from white schools while distinguishing them from Black ones.^[26] By the early 20th century, additional Indian schools proliferated in Robeson and adjacent counties, funded through similar mechanisms and governed by Indian-elected committees to maintain autonomy.^[29] These institutions played a pivotal role in elevating literacy rates among Lumbee children, who previously faced informal or no schooling, with enrollment growing from dozens in the 1890s to hundreds by the 1920s as state per-pupil funding enabled expansion.^[30] Graduates, often serving as educators and administrators within the Indian school network, cultivated leadership cadres that advocated for tribal interests, including subsequent recognition efforts, though the system's isolation limited broader academic resources until desegregation in the 1950s.^[1] ^[31]

Confrontation with the Ku Klux Klan

On January 18, 1958, amid heightened Ku Klux Klan activity in the Southeast following the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, Klan leader James W. "Catfish" Cole organized a rally near Hayes Pond in Maxton, Robeson County, North Carolina, an area with a significant Lumbee population. Cole, the Grand Dragon of the South Carolina Klan, aimed to intimidate local residents through cross burnings and speeches promoting white supremacy, drawing about 50 Klansmen equipped with robes and a wooden cross. Word of the planned event spread quickly among Lumbee communities, prompting an estimated 400 to 500 armed Lumbee men—many carrying rifles, shotguns, and pistols—to converge on the site, organized informally under leaders including Simeon Oxendine.^[32]^[33]^[34] The confrontation escalated rapidly as Lumbee participants surrounded the Klansmen, firing warning shots into the air and dismantling the rally setup. Oxendine and others seized Klan regalia, including the cross, robes, and a Confederate flag-draped banner, with Oxendine famously wrapping himself in the captured cloth amid cheers from the crowd. Panicked Klansmen fled into the pond and surrounding woods, abandoning their vehicles and equipment; no fatalities occurred, though minor injuries were reported from the chaos. Cole escaped but later surrendered to authorities. National media outlets, including Life magazine and the Associated Press, covered the event extensively, framing it as a decisive Lumbee victory that exposed Klan vulnerability and highlighted the community's resolve against intimidation.^[35]^[36]^[37] In the legal aftermath, eight Lumbee individuals faced charges such as carrying concealed weapons and public drunkenness, but all were either acquitted or had charges dismissed due to lack of evidence or sympathetic local juries. Cole, however, was arrested, tried, and convicted of incitement to riot, receiving a two-year prison sentence that effectively curtailed Klan organizing in the region. The incident fostered widespread local pride among Lumbee residents, symbolizing effective self-defense against external threats and reinforcing communal solidarity without reliance on external intervention.^[32]^[34]^[38]

Initial Federal Interactions and the Lumbee Act

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) conducted multiple investigations into the status of the Indians of Robeson County and adjoining areas beginning in the early 1910s, prompted by state legislative petitions and congressional bills seeking federal acknowledgment. A key inquiry followed a U.S. Senate resolution on April 28, 1914, directing the Office of Indian Affairs to examine their conditions and educational needs; Special Agent O.M. McPherson's subsequent report detailed their segregated schools but did not recommend extension of federal services. Over the period from 1912 to 1956, the BIA produced 11 reports in response to recognition proposals, consistently affirming the group's Indian descent from Siouan-speaking coastal tribes such as the Cheraw and their continuous community residence along the Lumber River since European contact, yet these assessments highlighted the absence of treaties, reservations, or established federal oversight, precluding eligibility for benefits like enrollment under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.^[39]^[40] In the 1930s, limited applications for Indian Reorganization Act enrollment yielded only partial approvals—22 out of 209 applicants in 1939 met blood quantum criteria—reflecting BIA skepticism toward broader tribal continuity for service provision absent a historical government-to-government relationship.^[40] Legislative attempts in the 1910s through 1930s, including bills designating the group as "Cherokee," "Cheraw," or "Siouan" Indians, failed to pass, as federal officials emphasized the lack of prior recognition or land base despite acknowledged Indian ancestry.^[40] This pattern of affirmation without action culminated in the Lumbee Act (Public Law 84-570), enacted on June 7, 1956, which officially named the Indians of Robeson, Hoke, Scotland, and Robeson counties, along with related groups in Alamance, Cumberland, and Sampson counties, as the Lumbee Indians of North Carolina and acknowledged their descent from indigenous peoples. The law simultaneously terminated their prior informal designation as "Cherokee Indians of Robeson County" under a 1913 state act and stipulated that "nothing in this Act shall make such Indians eligible for any services performed by the United States for Indians because of their status as Indians," while excluding them from population counts for federal Indian program allocations.^[41]^[42] The Act's structure embodied a paradoxical federal acknowledgment—affirming ethnic Indian identity while barring access to services and benefits—enacted amid the U.S. government's termination policy era (roughly 1953–1968), which sought to assimilate Indian groups by ending special federal trusteeships for those without reservations or treaties, thereby curtailing new fiscal commitments during a period of broader fiscal conservatism and anti-communist domestic reforms.^[40]^[43] Congressional records indicate the measure aimed to resolve ongoing naming disputes and state-federal tensions without expanding obligations, preserving a limited acknowledgment that avoided the administrative recognition process later formalized in 1978.^[40]^[44]

Efforts Toward Federal Recognition

Early 20th-Century Petitions and Reports

In 1915, representatives of the Indians of Robeson County, later known as the Lumbee, petitioned the Office of Indian Affairs for federal acknowledgment and educational support, claiming descent from the Lost Colony of Roanoke and continuous presence in the region.^[45] The petition was denied by Commissioner Cato Sells, who cited the absence of any prior treaty relations, reservation lands, or documented federal oversight as disqualifying factors, emphasizing that federal jurisdiction required historical government-to-government ties rather than self-identification alone.^[46] This decision underscored evidentiary gaps, including no records of the group maintaining distinct tribal political structures under federal purview since colonial times. During the 1930s, amid the Indian Reorganization Act's push for tribal consolidation, Lumbee leaders renewed petitions to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for services and recognition, submitting affidavits from elders attesting to unbroken community cohesion and separation from white and Black populations in Robeson County.^[47] In response, the BIA commissioned anthropological investigations, including field studies by researchers such as Anton V. Williams and later reviews, which documented evidence of Native American ancestry through oral histories, physical traits, and local customs but noted pervasive intermarriage with European and African-descended individuals, resulting in mixed heritage without a singular tribal origin or centralized governance.^[48] These reports, while affirming Indian elements in the population's identity, highlighted the lack of continuous political organization or distinct reservation-based existence, leading BIA officials to withhold support on grounds that the group did not constitute a cohesive tribe under federal criteria.^[46] Lumbee advocates countered these findings by stressing persistent endogamy, shared schools, and resistance to assimilation as proxies for tribal continuity, arguing that historical marginalization by state and federal policies had obscured formal structures rather than negated them.^[47] Nonetheless, the BIA's 1934–1936 assessments, drawing on four separate ethnological inquiries, concluded that while individuals exhibited Indian traits, the absence of unified leadership or treaty-derived rights precluded collective eligibility for reorganization benefits, perpetuating the denial pattern from earlier decades.^[47] These pre-World War II exchanges revealed tensions between community-based claims and bureaucratic demands for documentary proof of pre-contact continuity or federal superintendence.

Impact of the Indian New Deal

In the wake of the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of June 18, 1934, which aimed to restore tribal self-government, restore lands, and promote economic development for federally recognized tribes, Indians in Robeson County, North Carolina—later known as Lumbee—sought to organize under its provisions to establish a formal tribal structure and access benefits like land trusts and charters. Local leaders petitioned the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for inclusion, viewing the IRA as an opportunity to formalize their community amid ongoing economic hardship during the Great Depression, but the effort faced immediate scrutiny due to their non-reservation status and lack of prior federal oversight. BIA Commissioner John Collier dispatched Indian Agent Fred A. Baker to Robeson County in 1935 to investigate claims of Siouan ancestry and eligibility for IRA organization, prompted by proposals for a resettlement project to alleviate poverty through federal aid. Baker's July 9, 1935, report detailed a population of approximately 7,500 individuals maintaining social separation from whites and blacks, with evidence of Indian bloodlines tracing to pre-colonial Siouan groups like the Cheraw, but emphasized extensive intermarriage, absence of a unified tribal government, and no historical reservation, rendering them ineligible for full IRA tribal reorganization.^[49] ^[1] Collier's administration, while sympathetic to their Indian identity, affirmed Baker's findings, recognizing only 22 individuals as qualifying Indians for minimal services but explicitly barring the group from tribal status, land provisions, or economic programs under the IRA, as they failed criteria requiring continuous federal-tribal relations. The rejection underscored the IRA's emphasis on reservation-based tribes, forcing Lumbee leaders to pivot toward localized self-governance adaptations, including enhanced community councils and petitions to state authorities for educational and welfare support, which bolstered internal cohesion without federal backing. This period marked a causal shift: while denying immediate resources, federal scrutiny via Baker's report lent empirical validation to their distinct Indian descent, informing subsequent claims of Siouan heritage and sustaining advocacy efforts despite the policy's exclusionary framework.^[50] Local initiatives, such as expanded Indian boarding schools, drew partial New Deal funding through state channels, fostering resilience but highlighting the limitations of IRA applicability to non-reservation communities.^[1]

Post-1956 Recognition Campaigns

Following the 1956 Lumbee Act, which acknowledged the Lumbee as Indians but explicitly barred them from eligibility for federal services and benefits provided to other federally recognized tribes, Lumbee advocates pursued administrative recognition through the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in the 1970s as the agency developed formalized acknowledgment procedures.^[51] However, the BIA denied the Lumbee access to this process, citing the 1956 statute's limitations on their tribal status, which prevented evaluation under criteria requiring continuous existence as a distinct community descended from a historical tribe with prior federal dealings.^[51] This rebuff highlighted federal skepticism toward the Lumbee's claims of tribal continuity, as the Act had designated them without a specific tribal affiliation or reservation history, fueling arguments that they lacked the evidentiary foundation for full acknowledgment.^[51] In response to these barriers and the absence of federal support, Lumbee leaders established the Lumbee Regional Development Association (LRDA) in 1968 as a nonprofit entity chartered by North Carolina to promote economic self-sufficiency and community services in Robeson, Hoke, and Scotland counties.^[21] The LRDA focused on initiatives such as housing, education, and job training, drawing limited federal funds available to non-recognized groups under programs like the Economic Opportunity Act, while advocating for expanded eligibility amid state-federal disparities where North Carolina provided some Indian-specific aid but could not replicate federal benefits like health services or land trusts.^[21] This self-help approach underscored tensions over benefits, as Lumbee eligibility for certain state resources clashed with federal exclusions, prompting campaigns to amend the 1956 Act or secure standalone legislation for parity with tribes receiving Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian Health Service support.^[52] The national Red Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s further galvanized Lumbee efforts, inspiring local mobilization for political organization and cultural assertion against both federal inaction and lingering state-level discrimination.^[53] Activists drew on this era's emphasis on tribal sovereignty to lobby Congress for bills extending recognition beyond the 1956 framework, though these legislative pushes faced resistance from federal agencies wary of setting precedents for groups without documented pre-contact tribal governance or treaties.^[53] Such advocacy highlighted causal frictions: the Lumbee's numerical strength (over 40,000 self-identified members by the 1970s) and state backing contrasted with evidentiary gaps in federal criteria, perpetuating a cycle where administrative denials reinforced the need for targeted bills while state support mitigated but did not resolve economic dependencies.^[53]

Contemporary Legislative Pushes (1980s–2010s)

Legislative efforts to grant full federal recognition to the Lumbee Tribe intensified in the 1980s, with the introduction of S. 901, the Lumbee Recognition Act, in the 101st Congress on May 3, 1989, which sought to extend federal acknowledgment and eligibility for services to the tribe while prohibiting gaming activities. Similar bills followed in the 1990s, including a measure passed by the House in 1993 that aimed to amend the 1956 Lumbee Act to remove restrictions on federal benefits.^[54] These initiatives highlighted bipartisan support in the House but encountered consistent stalls in the Senate, often due to concerns over bypassing the Department of the Interior's administrative recognition process. In the 2000s, pushes continued with H.R. 898 introduced in the 108th Congress and H.R. 65 in the 110th Congress, the latter passing the House on June 7, 2007, by a wide margin after committee approval.^[55] The bill's companion, S. 333, underscored alliances within the North Carolina delegation, including testimony from figures like Senator Elizabeth Dole and Representative Mike McIntyre, who emphasized the tribe's longstanding state recognition since 1885 as a proxy for federal acknowledgment.^[56] Despite this congressional momentum, executive branch opposition from the Department of the Interior persisted, citing insufficient evidence of continuous tribal governance and community under federal criteria. The 2010s saw further attempts, such as H.R. 31 in the 111th Congress, introduced on January 6, 2009, and passed by the House on June 4, 2009, as part of a package recognizing multiple tribes.^[57] President Barack Obama expressed support for Lumbee recognition, yet the bill failed to advance in the Senate amid procedural hurdles and inter-tribal concerns.^[58] North Carolina senators, including later efforts aligned with Thom Tillis from 2015 onward, framed the Lumbee's case around historical continuity and state-level precedents, though full enactment remained elusive through the Obama administration, reflecting a pattern of strong House backing contrasted by senatorial and administrative barriers.^[59]

Developments in the 2020s

In January 2025, Representative David Rouzer introduced H.R. 474, the Lumbee Fairness Act, aimed at amending the 1956 Lumbee Act to grant full federal recognition to the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, thereby extending eligibility for services and benefits available to members of other federally recognized tribes.^[60] On September 10, 2025, the House of Representatives passed the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 3838), incorporating the Lumbee Fairness Act via amendment H.Amdt.98, marking a significant legislative advancement for the tribe's long-standing recognition campaign.^[61] ^[62] As of October 2025, the amended NDAA awaits Senate consideration, with proponents expressing optimism due to Republican majorities in both chambers following the 2024 elections, potentially facilitating passage without the stringent administrative criteria imposed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.^[6] ^[63] This momentum builds on a January 2025 presidential memorandum directing the Department of the Interior to pursue recognition, though subsequent agency review in August 2025 redirected efforts toward congressional action amid procedural challenges.^[64] Federal recognition efforts have encountered persistent opposition from several federally recognized tribes, including the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, who argue that granting status to the Lumbee would dilute limited federal resources allocated for tribes with documented continuous governmental and cultural existence since first European contact.^[65] Critics among Native American organizations further contend that the Lumbee's historical claims lack substantiation under the administrative acknowledgment process, potentially undermining the integrity of federal criteria designed to verify tribal authenticity and prevent resource strain on programs serving approximately 574 recognized tribes.^[66] ^[67]

Theories of Ethnic Origins

Lost Colony of Roanoke Hypothesis

In 1885, North Carolina legislator Hamilton McMillan proposed that the Lumbee people descended from survivors of the Roanoke Lost Colony, who allegedly intermarried with local Croatan Indians and migrated inland to the Lumber River region by around 1650.^[68] McMillan's theory, elaborated in his 1888 pamphlet Sir Walter Raleigh's Lost Colony, drew on linguistic similarities, such as the presence of "Croatan" in local place names like Croatan Sound and the self-designation of some Lumbee families as "Croatans" in the mid-19th century, to argue for a direct English-Indian admixture preserving colonial surnames and customs.^[69] He posited that these mixed descendants maintained a distinct identity amid colonial disruptions, avoiding full assimilation into either European or other Native groups.^[70] The evidential foundation of McMillan's hypothesis rests primarily on circumstantial observations rather than contemporary documents or artifacts linking specific Roanoke colonists to 19th-century Lumbee ancestors. No archaeological finds, such as European-style artifacts in Lumbee settlements datable to the late 16th century, substantiate the migration narrative, and colonial records from Jamestown expeditions, including those by John Smith in 1607–1609, report no confirmed sightings of white-Indian hybrids matching the described profile.^[71] Genealogical scrutiny reveals minimal overlap between documented Roanoke passenger lists—featuring surnames like Dare, White, and Harvie—and prevalent Lumbee family names such as Lowry, Oxendine, and Locklear, undermining claims of direct patrilineal descent.^[70] McMillan's interpretation amplified anecdotal white ancestry assertions common among eastern U.S. Indian groups seeking social distinction, but it lacks primary sources tying these to the 1587 Roanoke abandonment.^[71] This hypothesis gained traction in 19th-century Lumbee advocacy efforts, particularly to secure state-funded Indian schools separate from black and white institutions amid post-Reconstruction racial segregation. McMillan, representing Robeson County in the North Carolina General Assembly, leveraged the theory to portray Lumbee as civilized descendants of English explorers, facilitating the 1885 establishment of the Croatan Normal School (later Pembroke State University) and influencing self-identification as "Croatan Indians" in the 1880 census.^[68] While politically expedient for elevating Lumbee status against discriminatory policies, the theory's speculative nature—prioritizing romantic narrative over verifiable records—has been critiqued as a constructed origin myth tailored to contemporary needs rather than historical causality.^[70]

Claims of Cherokee Ancestry

The Indians of Robeson County asserted Cherokee ancestry through oral traditions dating to the late 19th century, positing descent from Cherokee groups that purportedly migrated eastward from Appalachian strongholds to the coastal plain during or after colonial conflicts like the Tuscarora War (1711–1715).^[72] These narratives, propagated by local leaders and historian Hamilton McMillan, linked figures such as John Lowery—a purported Cherokee treaty signer in 1806 with descendants in the area—to the community's lineage.^[72] By 1911–1913, amid dissatisfaction with the "Croatan" label's pejorative connotations, the group petitioned the North Carolina legislature for redesignation as the "Cherokee Indians of Robeson County," a change enacted in 1913 to facilitate state schooling and federal outreach.^[71]^[73] Cherokee historical territory, however, encompassed the southern Appalachian highlands—spanning western North Carolina's mountains, eastern Tennessee, northern Georgia, and parts of South Carolina's upcountry—with primary settlements along rivers like the Tennessee and Hiwassee, far removed from the Atlantic coastal plain.^[74] No colonial maps, explorer accounts, or archaeological findings document Cherokee villages, migrations, or sustained presence in the lowlands of southeastern North Carolina, including Robeson County's Lumber River vicinity, which lies over 250 miles east of Cherokee core areas.^[72] Ethnographic records from the 18th and early 19th centuries, including treaty negotiations and missionary reports, similarly omit any eastward Cherokee displacement to coastal zones, rendering such claims historically implausible absent supporting evidence.^[72] The U.S. Department of the Interior's 1915 investigation by Special Indian Agent O.M. McPherson rejected Cherokee affiliation, attributing Robeson County origins instead to intermixtures of English colonists from Roanoke's 1587 Lost Colony and local coastal groups like the Hatteras Indians, who migrated inland by circa 1650.^[72] McPherson highlighted geographic disconnection—"no tradition that [Cherokees] ever occupied the coast country in North Carolina"—and cultural divergences, including the community's English monolingualism, sedentary farming, and lack of Iroquoian language or matrilineal clans typical of Cherokee society.^[72] Eastern Cherokee representatives corroborated this, stating the groups "have had nothing whatever to do with" one another, leading to denial of tribal rights or appropriations.^[72] Subsequent federal reviews, including 1914 Senate hearings, found no basis for Cherokee-linked entitlements.^[75]

Siouan and Cheraw Connections

The Cheraw, a Siouan-speaking tribe historically located in the Piedmont region of present-day South Carolina and North Carolina, experienced significant dispersal in the mid-18th century due to conflicts, epidemics, and colonial pressures. A 1725 map by colonial surveyor John Herbert depicted Cheraw settlements extending into areas that would later become Robeson County, North Carolina, suggesting early presence near the proto-Lumbee communities.^[76] By 1759, a smallpox outbreak decimated their numbers, and the last independent record of the Cheraw as a distinct group dates to 1768, following interactions with colonial authorities that fragmented their remnants.^[77] Historians have hypothesized that surviving Cheraw families migrated northward and integrated into mixed Indian communities along the Lumber River in Robeson County during the late 18th century, contributing to the ethnic formation of groups later identified as Lumbee. This absorption theory posits that post-1768 dispersal led some Cheraw to join local Siouan remnants, such as the Saura or Keyauwee, amid broader regional upheavals from warfare and land cessions. Anthropologist Robert K. Thomas, in his 1970s research on Lumbee origins, acknowledged partial descent from Cheraw-linked Chavis lineages but found no comprehensive tribal continuity, describing the Siouan amalgamation model as a plausible but indirect inference rather than proven linkage.^[10] Ethnographic studies, including those by state investigators in the early 20th century, supported Siouan roots primarily through geographic overlap and family surnames, though direct documentary evidence of mass absorption remains sparse.^[68] Linguistic evidence for Siouan connections is limited to speculative remnants, with no preserved Cheraw or Eastern Siouan dialect among Lumbee descendants, who adopted English by the 19th century. Place names in the Robeson region, such as those evoking indigenous terms, have been interpreted by some linguists as faint echoes of Siouan vocabulary, but these lack definitive attribution and could stem from multiple language families. Overall, while anthropological assessments view Siouan elements as a foundational layer in select Lumbee lineages, the connections rely on circumstantial migration patterns rather than unbroken cultural transmission, with critiques noting the absence of archaeological or oral traditions substantiating exclusive Cheraw ties.^[10]^[68]

Keyauwee and Other Small Tribe Theories

The Keyauwee, a small Siouan tribe inhabiting the Piedmont region of North Carolina near the Uwharrie and Deep Rivers in the late 17th century, numbered fewer than 200 individuals by 1701 according to explorer John Lawson's accounts of their palisaded village.^[78] Facing pressures from intertribal conflicts, colonial expansion, and epidemics, the Keyauwee undertook migrations in the early 1700s, relocating eastward toward the Pee Dee River and coastal areas, with some groups documented near the Albemarle Sound by 1702.^[79] Anthropologist John R. Swanton hypothesized in the mid-20th century that survivors of these displacements, rather than fully joining the Catawba Nation, contributed to isolated communities in Robeson County, forming a demographic base for the Lumbee alongside other fragmented Siouan remnants.^[80] Colonial records provide sparse but corroborative evidence of Keyauwee movements, including Virginia Governor Alexander Spotswood's 1716 proposal to resettle them with the Eno and Sara tribes along the North Carolina frontier near present-day Enotown, amid the disruptions of the Tuscarora War (1711–1713).^[81] Maps and surveys from the era, such as those referencing their alliance with the Tutelo and Occaneechi, depict their shift from inland villages to more peripheral lowlands, potentially allowing small bands to evade larger confederacies and persist in the Lumber River watershed.^[82] However, no continuous genealogical or linguistic records link Keyauwee directly to Lumbee families, rendering the theory reliant on inferred continuity from geographic overlap and the absence of ties to dominant tribes. Parallel hypotheses extend to other diminutive extinct tribes, such as the Shakori and Eno, which similarly dispersed from Piedmont strongholds during the same period of upheaval.^[83] These groups, often numbering under 100 by the 1720s, appear in fragmented colonial dispatches as merging into ad hoc alliances or scattering into remote settlements, with some scholars positing their absorption into proto-Lumbee enclaves to account for the latter's lack of preserved Siouan dialects or centralized political structures.^[10] Such theories emphasize causal factors like warfare-induced depopulation and colonial buffer zones, which fostered survival through isolation rather than assimilation, though archaeological and documentary traces remain inconclusive beyond 18th-century mentions.

Multi-Tribal or Mixed Ancestry Model

The multi-tribal or mixed ancestry model interprets the Lumbee as a creolized population formed through the intermarriage of remnant indigenous groups from multiple linguistic families (including Siouan, Algonquian, and Iroquoian speakers), European settlers, and individuals of African descent in the isolated swamps and frontiers of southern North Carolina during the 18th and early 19th centuries. This framework, articulated in mid-20th-century anthropological studies of "tri-racial isolates," highlights how social fluidity in frontier zones enabled racial mixing, followed by endogamy within secluded communities to maintain separation from dominant white and Black populations.^[10] Scholars such as Brewton Berry described these groups, including the Lumbee, as exhibiting variable admixtures where indigenous elements were often overshadowed by European and African contributions, leading to physical and social traits that defied binary racial classifications.^[84] U.S. census records from the antebellum period provide empirical documentation of this admixture among Lumbee ancestors in Robeson County. In the 1850 census, numerous households bearing surnames later associated with the Lumbee—such as Locklear and Lowry—were classified as "mulatto" or "free colored," terms denoting persons of mixed white and Black parentage under census instructions that lumped non-white mixtures together regardless of indigenous input.^[85] Similarly, the 1860 census enumerated comparable families with designations reflecting interracial unions, with tax lists and court records from the era reinforcing mulatto status for the majority, indicating that African-European mixing preceded or coincided with any consolidated indigenous identity.^[86] These records underscore a pattern of regional coalescence, where diverse migrants—indigenous refugees fleeing colonial wars, indentured Europeans, and escaped or free Africans—intermarried in lowlands offering refuge from stricter racial enforcement elsewhere.^[87] This model contrasts with single-tribe descent narratives by prioritizing historical processes of isolation and hybridization over primordial tribal continuity, positing the Lumbee as one of over 200 documented U.S. racial isolates that developed distinct intermediate statuses.^[88] It aligns with demographer Calvin Beale's 1957 cataloging of tri-racial communities, where the Lumbee were grouped with others like the Melungeons based on shared genealogical patterns of multi-source ancestry rather than linguistic or cultural ties to a specific pre-contact polity.^[84] Consequently, the model complicates federal recognition standards under the Indian Reorganization Act and subsequent criteria, which demand proof of descent from a historical tribe maintaining political cohesion, as mixed isolate formation implies a post-contact ethnogenesis without such verifiable continuity. Proponents argue this view better explains the absence of a retained indigenous language or centralized governance in early records, attributing community persistence to adaptive racial ambiguity amid slavery and Jim Crow segregation.^[89]

Genetic and Anthropological Evidence

Genetic studies of Lumbee individuals, primarily through Y-chromosome, mitochondrial, and autosomal DNA analysis, reveal a predominant admixture of European and sub-Saharan African ancestry, with Native American markers present but variable and typically low, averaging 4–20% in autosomal estimates across tested samples. Y-DNA haplogroups in Lumbee regional projects are overwhelmingly European (e.g., R1b, I1) or African (e.g., E1b1a), comprising about 96% of lineages, with minimal Native-specific markers like Q-M3.^[90] Autosomal results from commercial testing and targeted projects similarly show European components at 50–80%, African at 10–30%, and Native American at 0–20%, lacking uniformity that would indicate descent from a single pre-colonial tribe such as the Cheraw or Keyauwee.^[91] These patterns align with tri-racial isolate groups like the Melungeons, where post-contact intermixing dilutes any original Native genetic signal without evidence of bottled-up endogamy preserving distinct tribal haplogroups.^[92] Anthropological examinations, including physical anthropology from the mid-20th century and ethnographic work, support a post-contact ethnogenesis for the Lumbee, characterized by the coalescence of diverse ancestries in isolated southeastern North Carolina communities rather than continuity from a unified indigenous polity. Early serological and craniometric studies classified Lumbee physical traits as intermediate between European and African, with limited Native indicators, leading to estimates of majority non-Native admixture.^[93] Ethnographers like Karen Blu describe Lumbee identity as emerging from shared regional kinship and resistance to binary racial categorization in the Jim Crow South, without archaeological or oral traditions evidencing preserved tribal structures, languages, or ceremonies from pre-1600s groups.^[22] Consensus among anthropologists holds that the group's formation involved remnant Native survivors integrating with colonial-era free persons of color and whites, fostering a distinct "Indian" category sustained by endogamy and self-identification rather than verifiable descent from any documented historical tribe.^[94]

Skepticism and Critiques of Origin Narratives

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has repeatedly denied Lumbee petitions for federal recognition, citing failure to meet mandatory criteria under 25 C.F.R. Part 83, including evidence of descent from a historical tribe with continuous community existence since first sustained contact, maintenance of political influence over members, and distinct cultural practices such as a unique language or traditional governance structures.^[25]^[95] The Lumbee lack historical treaties with the federal government, have never maintained a reservation, and possess no aboriginal language, relying instead on English with regional dialects shared by non-tribal neighbors.^[25]^[95] Historical records document multiple shifts in Lumbee self-identification, undermining claims of unbroken tribal continuity from a specific pre-colonial group. Initially designated "Croatan Indians" by North Carolina legislation in 1885, the group petitioned for federal acknowledgment by associating with the Croatan tribe mentioned in 1580s colonial accounts; this name was abandoned by 1911 due to its pejorative connotations.^[71] Subsequent rebrandings included "Cherokee Indians of Robeson County" in 1913 and "Siouan Indians" in the 1930s, before adopting "Lumbee" in 1956 via congressional act, reflecting adaptation to contemporary political opportunities rather than fixed ancestral ties.^[71]^[96] Anthropologists and federal reviewers have noted these inconsistencies as evidence of ethnogenesis in the 19th century amid post-Civil War racial classifications, rather than descent from a singular indigenous polity.^[97] Recognized tribes, particularly the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, have voiced strong opposition to Lumbee recognition, arguing it would validate unsubstantiated claims and strain limited federal resources allocated to verified indigenous groups. Eastern Band Principal Chief Michell Hicks testified in 2020 that the Lumbee's "shifting claims" to ancestries including Cherokee, Siouan, and Lost Colony survivors lack verifiable historical or genealogical support, potentially enabling non-indigenous individuals to access benefits intended for tribes with documented pre-1778 continuity.^[96]^[98] The Cherokee Nation and Choctaw Nation echoed these concerns in a 2020 letter to Congress, warning that bypassing BIA standards for the Lumbee—whose members show predominant European and African admixture in available genetic surveys—could dilute services for tribes meeting rigorous evidentiary thresholds.^[99] Such critiques, grounded in tribal sovereignty interests, highlight risks of precedent for other groups fabricating indigenous identity without empirical substantiation.^[98]

Demographics and Socioeconomic Profile

Population Size and Geographic Distribution

The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina maintains enrollment of approximately 55,000 members, making it the largest state-recognized tribe east of the Mississippi River.^[1]^[100] This figure reflects self-determined tribal membership criteria, distinct from federal enrollment processes, with updates based on applications and genealogical verification by the tribe's enrollment office. The vast majority of enrolled members reside in southeastern North Carolina, concentrated in Robeson County—where over 38% of the state's Native American population is located—and adjacent Hoke, Cumberland, and Scotland counties.^[101]^[102] Pembroke, within Robeson County, serves as a central hub for the community. Smaller numbers live elsewhere in the state and beyond, including diaspora populations formed through mid-20th-century migrations to urban centers for employment; notable examples include several thousand Lumbee in Baltimore, Maryland, particularly in areas like Upper Fells Point, stemming from post-World War II labor opportunities in shipyards and factories.^[103]^[104] U.S. Census Bureau data for American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) populations, including those self-identifying as Lumbee, indicate historical undercounts attributable to inconsistent self-reporting, evolving racial classifications (such as prior designations as "Croatan" or "free people of color"), and lack of federal recognition prompting varied identity assertions.^[105]^[106] For instance, national AIAN undercounts reached 4.9% in the 2010 Census, with similar challenges persisting due to reliance on self-identification rather than verified tribal affiliation.^[105] These factors result in census figures often lower than tribal enrollment totals, though 2020 data showed growth in AIAN self-identification overall.^[107]

Community Structure and Settlements

The Lumbee maintain their primary settlements along the Lumber River in Robeson County, North Carolina, with Pembroke emerging as the central hub for community life since the late 19th century.^[1] Other key locales include Maxton, Fairmont, Rowland, and Prospect, where Lumbee residents historically formed tight-knit enclaves, often comprising nearly exclusive populations tied to specific riverine and swamp-adjacent lands.^[108] These rural concentrations reflect adaptations to geographic isolation, fostering self-sustaining social units centered on shared territory rather than formal administrative boundaries.^[22] Social organization among the Lumbee emphasizes extended kinship networks, where identity derives from intergenerational family connections, shared surnames, and localized histories of residence.^[109] Relatives frequently cluster in multi-generational households or adjacent properties, reinforcing mutual support systems through obligations of reciprocity and communal storytelling about ancestral places.^[110] Churches, predominantly Baptist and Methodist congregations such as those affiliated with the Burnt Swamp Baptist Association founded in 1881, anchor these networks by hosting worship, education, and social events that sustain cohesion across generations.^[111] ^[112] While the majority of Lumbee communities remain rural, reflecting the agrarian character of Robeson County's landscape, migration to urban centers like Baltimore and Lumberton has introduced divides in identity preservation.^[113] Rural settlements continue to embody core traditions through place-based kinship, whereas urban Lumbee often replicate church-centered structures to mitigate assimilation pressures and uphold ties to river valley origins.^[114] This duality underscores a resilient social fabric, where even dispersed members reference rural homesteads and family churches as anchors of belonging.^[115]

Economic Activities and Challenges

The Lumbee community's historical economy centered on subsistence agriculture, including tobacco and cotton farming, supplemented by lumber harvesting in the pine forests of Robeson, Hoke, and Scotland counties, which provided seasonal employment and timber for local mills until the mid-20th century.^[1] These activities sustained rural households amid limited infrastructure, though they offered low yields and vulnerability to crop failures and market fluctuations. Transitioning post-World War II, many Lumbee individuals entered manufacturing roles in nearby textile plants and poultry processing facilities, alongside service-sector jobs in education and healthcare concentrated around Pembroke, the tribe's economic hub.^[3] Contemporary economic pursuits reflect a diversification into services (such as retail and public administration), light manufacturing, and emerging tourism, with the Lumbee Regional Development Association (LRDA), established in 1968, facilitating workforce training and small business support to foster self-reliance.^[116] The tribe's 2025 creation of an Economic Development and Tourism Department aims to expand entrepreneurial opportunities, including vendor markets at events and natural resource ventures, building on prior efforts like the 2022 Agriculture and Natural Resources Department.^[117] Pursuits in gaming, such as proposed casinos in southeastern North Carolina, represent a strategic bid for revenue generation, though state legislative barriers have stalled implementation as of 2023.^[118] Persistent challenges include elevated poverty rates, with approximately 30% of Robeson County residents—where nearly half identify as Lumbee—living below the federal poverty line, double the North Carolina average of about 13%, and unemployment exceeding the state rate by 40%.^[119] These disparities stem causally from inadequate infrastructure, educational attainment gaps, and the absence of federal recognition, which denies access to Bureau of Indian Affairs funding, housing grants, and health services available to federally recognized tribes, perpetuating cycles of food insecurity affecting 34% of county children. Tribal programs like the HUD-funded Resident Opportunities and Self-Sufficiency (ROSS) initiative target housing stability and job placement to mitigate these issues, emphasizing local enterprise over external dependency.^[120]

Cultural Practices and Identity

Language and Linguistic Heritage

The Lumbee people possess no surviving indigenous language, having lost their ancestral tongues through extensive intermarriage, early adoption of English for economic and social survival, and lack of geographic isolation from European settlers beginning in the colonial era.^[121]^[122] This linguistic shift occurred relatively early compared to many other Native groups, with evidence suggesting complete transition to English varieties by the early 19th century, as no records of Native-language use persist in Lumbee oral traditions or documents from that period.^[123]^[124] In place of a Native language, Lumbee speakers use Lumbee Vernacular English, a dialect closely aligned with broader Southern American English patterns, particularly those influenced by early English, Highland Scots, and Scots-Irish settlers in the Southeast.^[125] This variety features distinctive phonological traits, such as non-rhotic pronunciation (e.g., "caar" for car) and vowel shifts, alongside lexical items unique to the community, including "cuz" as a greeting among kin or peers, "toten" denoting a supernatural omen, and "chauld" meaning embarrassed or shy.^[121]^[125] While some researchers have speculated on substrate influences from lost Siouan or Algonquian languages in isolated archaic terms or grammatical structures (e.g., "I am been there" for "I have been there"), empirical analysis shows minimal transparent evidence of such transfer, attributing most features to regional English evolution rather than direct Native retention.^[123]^[125] Cultural revival efforts since the late 20th century have centered on documenting and preserving Lumbee English as a marker of ethnic identity, rather than reconstructing extinct indigenous languages, given the absence of fluent speakers or written records.^[121] The North Carolina Language and Life Project at North Carolina State University initiated systematic linguistic surveys of Lumbee speech in 1994, producing resources like dialect dictionaries and films such as Indian by Birth: The Lumbee Dialect (2000), which highlight vernacular features to foster community pride and counter assimilation pressures.^[121]^[126] These initiatives, building on post-1970s federal policies like the Indian Self-Determination Act of 1975 that encouraged tribal cultural programs, have integrated dialect studies into local education but have not pursued bilingual models, as no heritage language exists for dual instruction; instead, they emphasize oral history and vernacular literacy to maintain linguistic distinctiveness amid standardization in schools.^[121]^[124]

Traditional Events and Festivals

The Lumbee Homecoming, an annual communal gathering, occurs over approximately one week in late June to early July, primarily in Pembroke, North Carolina, emphasizing family reunions, parades, and shared cultural activities that strengthen tribal identity.^[127] The event, which began in the late 1960s, marked its 56th iteration from June 30 to July 6, 2025, and includes pageantry, athletic competitions, car shows, food and craft vendors, and a concluding parade.^[128] These activities facilitate intergenerational connections by drawing participants from across the Lumbee community, preserving oral histories and social ties amid contemporary influences.^[129] The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina organizes the "Dance of the Harvest Moon" Powwow each fall, blending adopted pan-Indian practices such as competitive dancing and drumming with local customs to affirm cultural continuity.^[130] Held September 26-28, 2025, at the Lumbee Tribe Cultural Center in Maxton, the event features drum contests, traditional dances in regalia, and demonstrations of Native arts, attracting participants and spectators to reinforce communal heritage.^[131] Through these festivals, younger Lumbee members engage in performances and observations that transmit identity markers, countering assimilation pressures from modernization.^[132] Local fairs, such as those integrated into Homecoming, further promote Lumbee-specific traditions like vendor markets showcasing regional crafts and foods, distinct yet complementary to broader Native American powwow elements.^[133] These events collectively serve as vital platforms for cultural reinforcement, with attendance often exceeding thousands, underscoring their role in sustaining Lumbee cohesion without reliance on federal recognition structures.^[129]

Religious Beliefs and Practices

The Lumbee predominantly practice Protestant Christianity, with Baptist and Methodist denominations being the most common affiliations, alongside smaller Pentecostal groups. This religious orientation reflects historical intermarriage and cultural adaptation post-European contact, where Christianity became integral to community identity by the 19th century. Robeson County, the core of Lumbee settlement, hosts approximately 130 Lumbee churches, underscoring their density and prominence in daily life.^[121]^[134]^[135] Churches function as vital social centers, organizing activities extending beyond Sunday services to include communal events, mutual aid, and political mobilization, a role solidified since the 1800s amid segregation and identity struggles. Lumbee religious life emphasizes Bible study, gospel music, and fervent church attendance, which reinforce kinship ties and moral frameworks within the tribe. Historical records indicate that Baptist and Methodist congregations, such as those established in the Lumber River region during the antebellum period, provided spaces for education and resistance against external racial classifications.^[121]^[134]^[114] Evidence for pre-Christian indigenous rituals among the Lumbee is sparse, as their coalescent tribal formation after colonial disruption prioritized adopted Christian practices over preserved traditional spiritualities; contemporary faith centers on scriptural literalism rather than syncretic elements from potential ancestral sources. While some Lumbee individuals incorporate vague pan-Indian motifs, such as references to a "Great Spirit," these remain marginal and lack institutional endorsement, often clashing with the tribe's entrenched evangelical commitments. Tensions arise when external pan-Indian revival movements advocate reconnecting with pre-colonial rites, viewed by many Lumbee leaders as incompatible with their Bible-centric heritage and post-contact ethnogenesis.^[136]^[135]

Cuisine and Daily Traditions

Lumbee cuisine centers on hearty, home-cooked dishes utilizing locally available ingredients, reflecting a blend of indigenous foraging and farming practices with rural Southern staples. Common foods include cornbread, collard greens, and chicken with pastry—a thick-noodle stew simmered with chicken broth—that serves as a communal staple during gatherings.^[137]^[138] The collard sandwich, made by layering boiled collards between slices of cornbread or biscuits, exemplifies resourcefulness in preparing greens harvested from family gardens or wild patches.^[139] Pork features prominently, derived from traditional hog killings that historically united families and neighbors in winter processing of livestock for preservation through salting and smoking.^[1] Daily traditions emphasize family-centric routines, with extended kin maintaining close, often daily contact through shared meals and labor. Meals are typically prepared and consumed in large, multi-generational settings, fostering social bonds amid rural lifestyles in Robeson County.^[121] Hunting persists as a seasonal practice, targeting deer, turkey, and small game in the surrounding woodlands and Lumber River environs, supplementing diets with fresh protein while adhering to local ecology and regulations. Foraging for wild plants and berries continues in limited forms, tied to ancestral knowledge of edible flora, though modern reliance on cultivated crops like corn and sweet potatoes predominates.^[140] These foodways incorporate influences from neighboring Scots-Irish settlers in baking techniques and African American communities in greens preparation, resulting in a cuisine that parallels broader Southern patterns without distinct tribal markers. Sweet potatoes, boiled or baked into puddings, round out meals as a versatile root vegetable grown in sandy soils. Preservation methods, such as canning vegetables and drying meats, sustain households through lean periods, underscoring self-reliance in daily provisioning.^[141]^[142] The Lumbee community features a distinctive set of surnames that reflect historical settlement patterns in Robeson County, North Carolina, with many originating among free persons of color documented in 18th- and early 19th-century records. Common surnames include Locklear, Oxendine, Chavis, Brayboy, Lowry, Hunt, Freeman, and Bullard, which appear frequently in colonial deeds, censuses, and genealogical compilations tracing back to the 1740s.^[143]^[21] Locklear stands out as the most prevalent surname, comprising a significant portion of Lumbee households and linked to early intermarriages among families of mixed European, African, and Native American descent in the Pee Dee River region.^[144] These names often cluster in specific locales, serving as markers of shared ancestry and facilitating identification within the group despite lacking a unified tribal origin narrative.^[143] Kinship among the Lumbee operates on bilateral lines, extending beyond nuclear families to encompass broad networks of relatives who maintain regular interaction and mutual support, reinforcing communal identity in the absence of formal clan structures from pre-colonial tribes.^[134] This system prioritizes blood ties and affinal relationships, where marriage into Lumbee families historically incorporated outsiders, embedding them within the kinship web and promoting loyalty akin to clan-based solidarity observed in other isolate communities.^[145] Extended kin groups emphasize collective welfare, with daily or frequent contact sustaining social cohesion amid external pressures like segregation, as evidenced in mutual aid associations formed in the 20th century.^[146] Social organization revolves around these family units, which historically practiced endogamy to delineate boundaries and preserve ethnic distinctiveness during periods of racial classification and exclusion from both white and Black institutions.^[147] In-group marriages, concentrated among shared surnames and settlements, minimized admixture and sustained a tri-racial isolate status, as documented in genealogical patterns from the 19th century onward.^[148] This endogamous framework, coupled with patrilineal surname transmission, fostered tight-knit, place-based loyalties that underpin Lumbee resilience, though it has also contributed to genetic bottlenecks noted in health studies of the population.^[147]

Arts, Crafts, and Material Culture

Lumbee material culture emphasizes handmade crafts adapted from regional Southeastern traditions, including patchwork quilting and basketry. The iconic pinecone quilting pattern, originating from a late-19th-century quilt by Maggie Locklear, features interlocking diamond shapes symbolizing family unity and has become a hallmark of Lumbee identity, incorporated into regalia such as pageant gowns designed by artist Hayes Alan Locklear in the 1970s.^[149]^[150] Basketry traditions utilize local materials like longleaf pine needles for coiled sewing baskets and river cane or oak splints for utilitarian items, as practiced by artisans such as Loretta Oxendine and Gloria Tara Lowery, who coil needles with tobacco twine to create durable, decorative forms reflecting lowland environmental adaptation.^[151]^[152] Oral traditions form a core expressive medium, with storytelling conveying kinship histories, moral lessons, and cultural resilience, often integrated into family gatherings and preserved through elders' narratives as documented by scholars like Malinda Maynor Lowery.^[153] Music draws from gospel and country influences, blending Protestant hymnody with acoustic instrumentation to transmit communal values; performers like Charly Lowry employ songs rooted in oral histories to sustain these practices amid modernization.^[154]^[155] Contemporary institutions adapt these elements for preservation and display. The Museum of the Southeast American Indian at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke houses collections of Lumbee quilts, baskets, and related artifacts, fostering educational exhibits on craft techniques and symbolic motifs derived from verified tribal histories.^[156]^[157] These efforts encourage artisans to incorporate authenticated Lumbee themes, countering generic commercialization while maintaining fidelity to empirical oral and material records.^[158]

Governance and Organizational Structure

The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina

The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina functions as the central governing authority for its enrolled members, operating from its headquarters at 6984 NC Highway 711 West in Pembroke, North Carolina.^[159] The organization's structure includes a tribal council composed of 21 elected representatives, each serving staggered three-year terms from 21 designated districts within the tribe's core service area of Robeson, Hoke, Scotland, and Cumberland counties.^[160] This elected body, formalized under the tribe's constitution adopted in 2001, oversees policy-making, resource allocation, and administrative operations to address community needs.^[20] Membership in the Lumbee Tribe requires applicants to provide documented evidence of direct biological descent from individuals listed on historical census rolls of the Indians of Robeson County, including the 1885 Croatan roll, 1894 and 1924 supplemental rolls, 1951 Lumbee roll, or 1962 verification list.^[161] Enrollment applications are processed through the Office of Tribal Enrollment and Records, with adult applicants required to apply in person; minors may be sponsored by parents or guardians.^[162] This descent-based criterion ensures continuity with documented ancestral lines, supporting a membership estimated at over 55,000 individuals primarily residing in southeastern North Carolina.^[100] The tribe's operations emphasize service delivery in key areas such as education and health, often through dedicated departments and targeted initiatives. In education, programs like Project IndigeCHOICE, funded by a five-year U.S. Department of Education grant, provide American Indian students with academic support, including summer camps, technology access, counseling, and alternative learning options to improve retention and outcomes.^[163] ^[164] The Health and Human Services department coordinates community health initiatives, including support for mental health, substance misuse prevention, and general wellness services tailored to tribal members' needs.^[164] These efforts leverage partnerships with state agencies and federal grants to enhance access without duplicating broader recognition frameworks.^[165]

State-Level Recognition and Autonomy

The North Carolina General Assembly enacted legislation on February 10, 1885, recognizing the Indians of Robeson County—ancestors of the Lumbee—as the Croatan Indians, thereby authorizing the creation of a separate public school system exclusively for their children to address prior educational exclusion under state segregation laws.^[24] This initial acknowledgment laid the foundation for state-sanctioned tribal separation in education, including the 1887 establishment of the Croatan Normal Indian School (later renamed the University of North Carolina at Pembroke) dedicated to Lumbee teacher training and higher education.^[1] On April 20, 1953, the state passed Chapter 874 of the Session Laws, officially designating the group as the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and affirming their status as an American Indian tribe with a recognized governing body empowered to exercise substantial governmental duties and powers analogous to those of the state in tribal affairs.^[166] This statute, codified as G.S. 71A-3, enables internal tribal governance, including elections conducted by a Tribal Elections Board for positions such as chairman, as outlined in the tribe's constitution. The recognition supports tribal oversight of community programs, historical educational institutions, and limited land management, but lacks provisions for sovereign territory like reservations or immunity from state jurisdiction.^[167] State-level status provides access to North Carolina-specific benefits, such as eligibility for certain educational funding and state Indian affairs programs, without extending to federal treaty rights or services reserved for fully recognized tribes.^[166] Amendments, including those in 2019 via Session Law 2019-162, have reinforced this framework by clarifying tribal rights while maintaining boundaries on autonomy to align with state oversight.^[168]

Internal Factions and Unrecognized Groups

Within the broader Lumbee community of Robeson and adjoining counties, several smaller, state-unrecognized groups have emerged as splinter entities, often asserting distinct tribal affiliations such as Tuscarora or Cherokee rather than aligning with the Lumbee designation. These include the Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina, the Tuscarora Tribe of North Carolina, the Eastern Carolina Tuscarora Indian Organization, the Hatteras Tuscarora Tribe, the Cherokees of Robeson and Adjoining Counties, and the Tuscarora Indian Tribe of Drowning Creek Reservation, collectively comprising approximately 1,750 members.^[50] Formed largely since the 1970s amid debates over identity and recognition strategies, these groups have pursued independent paths, rejecting enrollment in the primary Lumbee Tribe.^[50] A prominent example is the Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina, based in Robeson County, which applied for state recognition in 2019 but was denied by the North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs on grounds that it constituted a "splinter group" derived from the Lumbee population rather than a historically continuous separate entity.^[169]^[170] Similarly, groups like the Cherokees of Robeson and Adjoining Counties have claimed Cherokee heritage, diverging from Lumbee self-identification despite shared geographic and ancestral overlaps, and have actively opposed federal acknowledgment bills that would consolidate recognition under the Lumbee name to avoid subsumption.^[50] These divisions have complicated enrollment processes and leadership cohesion within the Lumbee Tribe since the late 20th century, as competing claims fragment community unity and dilute advocacy for federal status; for instance, the 2009 Lumbee Recognition Act explicitly allowed unenrolled Indians in the region to form separate entities, potentially exacerbating splits.^[50]^[25] Such factions argue for preservation of alternative historical narratives, including ties to Tuscarora remnants or Cherokee bands, though federal evaluators and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians have contested these assertions for lacking documented continuity.^[50] This internal fragmentation has hindered broader recognition bids by portraying the regional indigenous population as politically divided rather than cohesive.^[50]

Federal Status and Implications of Partial Recognition

The Lumbee Act of 1956 (Public Law 84-570) extended limited federal recognition to the Indians of Robeson and adjoining counties in North Carolina, designating them as the Lumbee Indians and affirming their Indian status for certain purposes, but explicitly excluded them from the administrative jurisdiction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and terminated any prior federal relationship with groups such as the Cherokee Indians of Robeson County.^[4]^[171] This partial acknowledgment allows eligibility for specific programs, such as BIA higher education grants and loans, but bars access to core services including Indian Health Service (IHS) healthcare, BIA trust land management, and other government-to-government benefits reserved for fully recognized tribes.^[172]^[25] The Act's structure creates ongoing barriers to full federal acknowledgment through the BIA's administrative process, which requires meeting seven mandatory criteria: continuous Indian identity since first sustained contact with non-Indians; existence as a distinct community from historical times to present; maintenance of political influence or authority; provision of a governing document; descent from a historical tribe or identifiable group; unique historical continuity; and no evidence of state termination of federal status.^[171] For the Lumbee, these are unmet primarily due to documented historical discontinuities, including assimilation into broader populations, intermarriage diluting descent lines, and adoption of the Lumbee tribal name only in the mid-20th century rather than continuity from a specific pre-colonial entity like the Cheraw, leading to evidentiary gaps in generation-by-generation tribal lineage and political authority.^[173]^[171] Although a 2016 Department of the Interior Solicitor's opinion permitted the Lumbee to petition via this process, the tribe has prioritized legislative routes, reflecting the causal challenges posed by the 1956 Act's termination clause and historical record limitations.^[174] Partial recognition implies restricted fiscal support, with full status potentially unlocking substantial federal funding for health, education, and infrastructure; Congressional Budget Office estimates from 2022 projected costs exceeding $360 million over a decade for expanded IHS and BIA services to approximately 55,000 members, including annual per capita health expenditures comparable to other tribes.^[175] Earlier analyses similarly forecasted $75 million annually in direct program costs, plus indirect economic effects from land-into-trust eligibility, though these figures exclude potential gaming revenues under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which require full acknowledgment.^[176]^[177] Without full recognition, the Lumbee remain ineligible for these resources, perpetuating disparities in service access despite state-level acknowledgment since 1885.^[172]

References

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History and Culture Backup | lumbee-tribe-of-nc
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About that time 54 of these Indians, describing themselves as “a part of the Croatan Indians living in Robeson County,” and claiming to be “a remnant of White's ...<|separator|>
[8]
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[10]
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[12]
Lumbee Indians | NCpedia
... Lumbee were classified as ''free persons of color.'' But the 1835 constitution decreed that ''no free Negro, free mulatto, or free person of mixed blood ...Missing: resistance | Show results with:resistance
[13]
Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina - Legends of America
Jan 23, 2025 · Free people of color in the American South were primarily African ... Lumbee families, all listed as “Free Persons of Color.” Following ...
[14]
Background · Henry Berry Lowry - Civil War Era NC
But to understand the story of Henry Berry Lowry, it is important to understand his family history and what led him to being the famous outlaw.Missing: "historical
[15]
Lowry Band | NCpedia
Many Lumbee Indians of Robeson County banded together under the leadership of Allen Lowry and hid in swamps along the Lumber River to avoid forced labor.Missing: 1864-1871 motivations conscription property disputes
[16]
Henry Berry Lowry (1845 – ?) - North Carolina History
In 1864, Lowry killed two men. One accused him of stealing hogs and the other, a conscription officer, insulted and mistreated women in Lowry's community.Missing: 1864-1871 motivations property disputes
[17]
The Lowry War - NCpedia
On March 3, 1865, Allen Lowry and his son William were tried in a hastily organized sham court, declared guilty of theft, and executed in Robeson County.
[18]
Murder of Allen and William Lowry, March 3, 1865 - Civil War Era NC
The guard took William and his elderly father Allen, forced them to dig their own graves, and then shot of them dead, giving them a burial in name only.
[19]
Lumbee Legend - NC DNCR
Jul 3, 2012 · Holden declared Henry Berry Lowrie an outlaw in 1868. A bounty of $10,000 was placed on him in 1871. Lowrie disappeared in February 1872 and the ...
[20]
Lumbee Indians | NCpedia
Amendments to the state constitution in 1875 provided for segregated public schools but made no mention of Indians. Lumbees were disallowed from attending white ...
[21]
The Lumbee Indians of North Carolina - PBS
1885 NC General Assembly recognized the Indians of Robeson County as Croatan and established a separate school system for Indians. 1887 Indian leaders and NC ...
[22]
https://oxfordre.com/americanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-493
[23]
North Carolina Recognizes the Lumbee - NCpedia
On February 10, 1885, the state of North Carolina legally recognized the identity of the "Indians of Robeson County," a milestone in the history of the tribe ...Missing: Reconstruction | Show results with:Reconstruction
[24]
The Lumbees and the Road to Recognition - NC DNCR
Feb 10, 2016 · On February 10, 1885, the Indians now known as Lumbees were legally recognized by the General Assembly. The act designated the tribe as Croatan.
[25]
S. Rept. 111-116 - LUMBEE RECOGNITION ACT | Congress.gov
In 1885, the State of North Carolina recognized the Lumbee Indians (then designated as Croatan Indians) as an Indian tribe and established a separate school ...
[26]
Croatan Normal School, Forerunner of UNC-Pembroke - NC DNCR
Mar 7, 2016 · On March 7, 1887, the General Assembly passed legislation allowing for the construction of a secondary school for the Robeson County Indians ...
[27]
The University of North Carolina at Pembroke - North Carolina History
The Croatan Normal School, forerunner of UNC-Pembroke, was formed by the General Assembly on March 7, 1887, after Native Americans petitioned the ...
[28]
UNCP History | The University of North Carolina at Pembroke
Established in 1887 as a result of legislation focused on training American Indian teachers, UNCP has since grown significantly. What started as a clapboard ...
[29]
Indian schools in Robeson County, North Carolina, 1900-1920.
Bailey traces Croatan support for the Democratic Party between 1898 and 1920 as a mechanism for keeping their Indian-only schools well funded.
[30]
[PDF] unc pembroke
At the same time it allowed for the establishment of a separate school system for Indian chil- dren. In 1887 the state established the Croatan Indian Normal ...Missing: schools | Show results with:schools
[31]
General Information - UNC Pembroke - Modern Campus Catalog™
On March 7, 1887, Croatan Normal School was established after ... school in 1941 to Pembroke State College for Indians. Between 1939 and 1953 ...
[32]
Battle of Hayes Pond (I-93) - NC DNCR
Jan 3, 2024 · The Lumbee and other American Indians ousted the Ku Klux Klan from Maxton, Jan. 18, 1958, at rally, 1 1/2 miles SW.
[33]
The Battle of Hayes Pond and Lessons from the Lumbee
Nov 19, 2021 · On the heels of the landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the Ku Klux Klan and wizard James W. “Catfish” Cole of South Carolina set ...Missing: confrontation | Show results with:confrontation
[34]
[PDF] North Carolina's Lumbee Fight for Justice: The Battle at Hayes Pond ...
... Pond refers to an armed confrontation between the Ku Klux Klan and Lumbee Native Americans near Maxton, North Carolina on the night of January 18, 1958.
[35]
Lumbees Rally, Klansmen Scurry, in Robeson County | NC DNCR
Jan 18, 2016 · On January 18, 1958, the Ku Klux Klan rallied in a field outside ... Simeon Oxendine wrapped in the captured KKK banner. Oxendine was a ...
[36]
The Media, the Klan, and the Lumbees of North Carolina
The Lumbee Indians, who were relatively unknown outside of southeastern North Carolina, had humiliated the Ku Klux Klan.
[37]
The Battle of Hayes Pond Occurs - African American Registry
The Battle of Hayes Pond occurred on this date in 1958. Also called the Maxton Riot, it was an armed confrontation between members of the Ku Klux Klan and the ...
[38]
Lumbee Indians Face the Ku Klux Klan, 1958 - NCpedia
Lumbee Indians Face the Ku Klux Klan, 1958 ... From "This Month in North Carolina History" series. Reprinted with permission. ... On the night of January 13, 1958, ...Missing: incident | Show results with:incident
[39]
- PROCESS OF FEDERAL RECOGNITION OF INDIAN TRIBES
Altogether, the Department produced 11 reports on the Lumbee Tribe between 1912 and 1956. ... Tribe presented to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1989. Many ...Missing: continuity | Show results with:continuity
[40]
[PDF] m-37040.pdf - Department of the Interior
Feb 2, 2016 · Legislation introduced between 1910 and the. 1930s, but never enacted, referred to these Indians as "Cherokee," "Cheraw," or "Siouan" Indians.
[41]
84th Congress (1955-1956): An Act relating to the Lumbee Indians ...
Text for H.R.4656 - 84th Congress (1955-1956): An Act relating to the Lumbee Indians, of North Carolina.Missing: intent | Show results with:intent
[42]
Text of H.R. 4656 (84th): An Act relating to the Lumbee Indians, of ...
This Act shall become effective six months after the date of its enactment. Approved June 7, 1956. Public Law 570 CHAPTER 375 Tune 7, 1956 AN ACT IH. R ...Missing: intent | Show results with:intent
[43]
House Report 110-164 - LUMBEE RECOGNITION ACT - GovInfo
Thus, Congress simultaneously acknowledged the Lumbee Indians but effectively terminated the Tribe by denying them Federal Indian services and benefits. FEDERAL ...
[44]
Senate Report 109-334 - LUMBEE RECOGNITION ACT - GovInfo
660, amends Pub. L. 84-570, the 1956 Lumbee Act, to provide recognition to the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and to apply to the Tribe all Federal laws ...Missing: text | Show results with:text
[45]
Who's Your People? - The Assembly NC
Oct 4, 2022 · The Lumbee identified themselves as a “remnant” of the lost colony in their first petition for federal recognition as an Indian tribe in 1915.<|separator|>
[46]
[PDF] LUMBEE RECOGNITION ACT HEARING - Congress.gov
Jul 12, 2006 · Department of the Interior ignored it, in 1915 the same thing hap- pened. In 1930 the Office of Indian Affairs, based upon the Reorga-.
[47]
[PDF] Dr. Jack Campisi - Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
Dec 17, 1987 · In 1885, the State of North Carolina formally recognized the Tribe as the Croatan Indians ... The members of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina ...
[48]
Stories We Tell - Southern Cultures
I had never heard of the Lumbee Tribe operating a DNA ancestry program, as the research article claimed, and subsequent conversations with our enrollment ...<|separator|>
[49]
Report on Siouan Tribe of Indians in Robeson County, North Carolina
Baker, Fred A. Report on Siouan Tribe of Indians in Robeson County, North Carolina. Washington: Bureau of Indian Affairs, US Dept. of Interior, 9 July 1935.
[50]
[PDF] The Lumbee Tribe's Efforts to Secure Federal Acknowledgment
partial, federal recognition is deemed necessary to correct this policy problem. The Lumbees also petitioned for federal support in the 1930s-the Indian.
[51]
Lumbee and BIA Process Fact Sheet - Dole Archive Collections
When the BIA process began in the 1970s, Lumbee were denied access to the process because of the 1956 statute. To delay recognition by another decade or longer ...
[52]
Who's Your People? Lumbee Tribe fights for federal recognition
Jan 23, 2025 · North Carolina's Lumbee have been fighting for federal tribal recognition for over a century. Their story reveals a great deal about race, identity, and who ...
[53]
DANIELLE V. HIRALDO - jstor
The national Red Power movement in the 1960s and. 1970s influenced and mobilized individual Lumbee communities at the local level to organize in a formal ...
[54]
American Indian Bills Advance in 1993 - CQ Almanac Online Edition
Lumbee Tribe The House-passed bill amended a 1956 law that recognized the Lumbees as an Indian tribe but prohibited its members from receiving federal funds ...
[55]
- H.R. 898, TO PROVIDE FOR RECOGNITION OF THE LUMBEE ...
I was born and reared in Robeson County, North Carolina, the primary home of the Lumbee people. ... free persons of color.'' The federal census records are by far ...
[56]
- LUMBEE RECOGNITION ACT - GovInfo
Over the years, many bills were introduced in Congress to provide the Lumbees with Federal recognition. ... The 2000 Federal census has 51,913 members. And ...
[57]
H.R.31 - 111th Congress (2009-2010): Lumbee Recognition Act
Lumbee Recognition Act - Extends federal recognition to the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. Prohibits the tribe from conducting gaming activities as a matter of ...
[58]
NC senators introduce bill to recognize Lumbees
The House approved federal recognition for the Lumbees in June. President Barack Obama has pledged to support recognition of the Lumbee Tribe. Other tribes ...
[59]
Sens. Burr, Tillis Reintroduce Lumbee Federal Recognition Bill
Apr 26, 2021 · Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) reintroduced the Lumbee Recognition Act, legislation to grant long-overdue federal recognition to the ...<|separator|>
[60]
H.R.474 - 119th Congress (2025-2026): Lumbee Fairness Act
Introduced in House (01/16/2025) This bill extends federal recognition to the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and makes its members eligible for the services ...
[61]
H.Amdt.98 to H.R.3838 - 119th Congress (2025-2026)
474 - Lumbee Fairness Act, extends federal recognition to the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and makes its members eligible for the services and benefits ...
[62]
NDAA Passes House Legislation Includes Lumbee Fairness Act
Sep 10, 2025 · Included in the final package was legislation introduced by Congressman David Rouzer to provide full federal recognition to the Lumbee Tribe of ...Missing: 5870 2018
[63]
Supporters of federal recognition for N.C. Lumbee Tribe optimistic
Oct 9, 2025 · Thom Tillis has been pushing for Lumbee recognition. When asked about the status of the legislation in the Senate, he said, "it's one of the ...
[64]
After Trump Directive, Feds Send Lumbee Back to Congress for ...
Aug 19, 2025 · A report from the Department of the Interior encourages the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina to continue seeking recognition through Congress.
[65]
For Lumbee tribe, 'the time has come' to finally be federally recognized
Mar 10, 2025 · Over 100 years. That's how long the Lumbee have been denied federal recognition. Now, President Donald Trump is pushing for that to change.
[66]
Lumbee eyes recognition via NDAA as other tribes question their past
Sep 23, 2025 · A North Carolina tribe, whose legitimacy has been questioned by other tribal nations, is seeking to obtain federal recognition through the ...
[67]
Politics snarl federal recognition for North Carolina's Lumbee tribe
Jul 25, 2025 · The Office of Federal Acknowledgement determined the Lumbee Tribe was ineligible for recognition, but that decision was reversed in 2016 by ...
[68]
Lumbee Indians | NCpedia
The earliest and perhaps most famous theory of the Lumbee tribe's origins is the so-called Lost Colony theory, proposed in 1885 by Robeson County legislator.
[69]
Hamilton McMillan Revisited - Native Heritage Project
Nov 19, 2013 · While serving in the General Assembly, McMillan became convinced that people now called the Lumbee were descendants of Sir Walter Raleigh's Lost ...
[70]
Origin Traditions of American Racial Isolates - jstor
Lowries. It is likely that McMillan converted claims of white connections, common among Indians of the eastern United States, into a theory of direct descent.
[71]
Lumbee Shifting Claims | uinoklahoma
This report examines the historical claims of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina regarding its tribal affiliation.
[72]
[PDF] Indians of North Carolina - Carolana
views concerning the Robeson County Indians. On August. 11, 1890, in reply to a letter of July 2 of that year, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs wrote Mr. W ...
[73]
S.Hrg. 108-336 — LUMBEE RECOGNITION | Congress.gov
That was changed in 1913 to the Cherokees of Robeson County. The tribe itself was dissatisfied with that name and sought a name change. A referendum was ...<|separator|>
[74]
North Carolina Indigenous Peoples - FamilySearch
Lumbee Tribe of Cheraw Indians (also known as Lumbee Regional Development Association Inc. and Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina); Meherrin Indian Tribe ...Missing: 1850s | Show results with:1850s
[75]
The Interstitial Indian: The Lumbee and Segregation's Middle Caste
The tribe was first recognized as the “Croatan Indians” in 1885, a misnaming with considerable influence, but was renamed the “Indians of Robeson County” in ...
[76]
[PDF] Testimony of Frederick E. Hoxie Before US House of ...
Dec 4, 2019 · A 1725 map made by John Herbert showed the. Cheraw Tribe in what would become Robeson County, North Carolina. The 1725 map placed the Cheraw ...
[77]
South Carolina - Indians, Native Americans - Cheraw - SCIWAY
A smallpox epidemic killed many of the remaining independent Cheraw in 1759. The last recorded mention of the Cheraw as a separate tribe was in 1768.
[78]
[PDF] John Lawson and the Native Peoples of Carolina
These tribes included the Saponi, Tutelo, Keyauwee, Occaneechi, and Shakori, and, by the time Lawson's book was published in 1709, they had abandoned the ...
[79]
South Carolina - Indians, Native Americans - Keyauwee - SCIWAY
In 1701, the Keyauwee were found living in a palisaded village near High Point, North Carolina. · Moved eastward to the Albemarle Sound area of Virginia in 1702, ...Missing: migration | Show results with:migration
[80]
The Saura and Keyauwee Indians in the Land That Became Guilford ...
Swanton, who believe the Saura (Cheraw) and Keyauwee may or may not have joined with the Catawba but did migrate to Robeson County. Their descendants are the ...
[81]
The Keyauwee Indians - Access Genealogy
In 1716 Governor Spotswood proposed to settle the Keyauwee, with the Eno and Sara at Enotown, on the frontier of the North Carolina settlements, as already ...Missing: migration | Show results with:migration
[82]
Carolina - The Native Americans - The Keyauwee Indians - Carolana
The Keyauwee, of Siouan origin, lived in North Carolina, first near the Yadkin River, then the Pee Dee River, and likely united with the Catawba. Their name's ...Missing: migration | Show results with:migration
[83]
Keyauwee Indians - NCpedia
The Keyauwee Indians lived near the Uwharrie River, relocated to Fort Christanna, then to the Pee Dee River, and later joined the Catawba Nation.Missing: migration | Show results with:migration
[84]
27 - Genetics, Health and the Making of America's Triracial Isolates ...
Aug 12, 2023 · The Lumbee are one of the more than three hundred communities that scientists have labelled 'triracial isolates'. Coined by demographer Calvin ...
[85]
A Report on Research of Lumbee Origins by Robert K. Thomas
Aug 2, 2012 · Their race as recorded on tax lists and other documents varies. Most individuals are listed most commonly as mulattoes. In that time in NC the ...
[86]
Black/Indian relations: an overview of the scholarship
The Lumbee are discussed as one of many peoples “. . . of mixed Native American/European/African ancestry ... Eugene Griessman, and Brewton Berry) who studied tri ...
[87]
An Overview of the Phenomenon of Mixed Racial Isolates in ... - jstor
During the Civil War and Reconstruction era, Henry Berry Lowry, a folk-hero of the group now known as Lumbee Indians, led a band of fugitives and outlaws in ...
[88]
https://mixedracestudies.org/wp/?cat=5113
[89]
Triracial isolates and mixed bloods | Digital Scholarship and Initiatives
“Local Complexities of Race in the Rural South: Racially Mixed People in South Carolina. ... “Researchers Say Lumbee Bloodlines Diluted.” Greensboro Record ...Missing: ancestry | Show results with:ancestry
[90]
[PDF] Roberta Estes
The higher 4% Native American Y chromosomal DNA in the Lumbee project, compared to the 47% to 88% non-Native findings in the Bolnick (2006) and Malhi. (2008) ...
[91]
https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/robesonconcamericanindian/about/background
[92]
[PDF] MELUNGEONS, A MULTI-ETHNIC POPULATION
This paper first defines the Melungeon population study group, then uses Y-line, mitochondrial and autosomal DNA to evaluate their ancestry in conjunction with ...
[93]
27 Genetics, Health and the Making of America's Triracial Isolates ...
23 However, when sociologist Brewton Berry pub- lished his 1963 book Almost White, he framed his decision to use the term 'mestizos' as a deliberate ...
[94]
[PDF] “I Know You!”: Understanding Racial Experience and Racial ...
Lumbee people are recognized as Indian within the Southern racial context, not by blood quantum, and are physically, socially, and spiritually Indian. They are ...
[95]
Edwards speaks in support of due process for recognizing federal ...
Sep 25, 2024 · "It must be noted that the Lumbee community has no standing treaties with the federal government, no reservation land, and no common language.<|separator|>
[96]
Cherokee chief testifies against Lumbee recognition
Jan 7, 2020 · The Lumbee have been a state-recognized Indian tribe since 1885, but despite repeated efforts they have failed to attain full federal ...<|separator|>
[97]
[PDF] A Critical Legal Study of the Lumbee Indians of North Carolina
Jan 1, 1997 · The Act concedes that the. Lumbee are "Indians" who are "descendants of the earliest white settlements" in Robeson county; lived by European ...
[98]
Eastern Cherokee Chief blasts Lumbee bill; tribal leader calls it ...
Dec 19, 2024 · In his opposition to federal recognition for the Lumbee, Hicks repeated claims that “the Lumbee cannot even specify which historical tribe ...Missing: reports geographic mismatch
[99]
Cherokee, Choctaw tribes tell Congress recognizing Lumbee tribe ...
Nov 18, 2020 · The bill would give the Robeson County-based tribe full federal recognition and potentially millions of dollars in benefits.Missing: geographic mismatch
[100]
NC Tribal Communities - NC DOA
Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina The more than 55,000 members of the Lumbee Tribe reside primarily in Robeson, Hoke, Cumberland and Scotland counties. Pembroke ...Missing: 2024 | Show results with:2024
[101]
Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina
Lumbee Council and visiting leaders at Lumbee Powwow Sept 2025 ; Grand Entry Powwow 2025 ; New Construction.Services · Government · Lumbee News · AdministrationMissing: recognition | Show results with:recognition
[102]
General Demographics | NCpedia
The largest cluster is in and around Robeson County, home of the Lumbee Indians. That county alone accounts for 38 percent of the state's Native American ...Missing: geographic distribution diaspora
[103]
This Land Was Their Land: Baltimore's Lumbee Indians Claim Their ...
The tribe's complex history and Native American identity has long been a source of stigma—and skepticism—from outsiders, including Baltimoreans, who tend to ...Missing: critiques | Show results with:critiques
[104]
A Quest to Reconstruct Baltimore's American Indian 'Reservation'
Apr 23, 2019 · Following World War II, thousands of Lumbee Indians migrated from North Carolina to Baltimore seeking jobs and a better quality of life.
[105]
Data & Native American Identity - Kimberly R. Huyser, 2020
Sep 18, 2020 · The Census Bureau has reported that nationally there was a 4.9 percent undercount in 2010, a 0.7 percent undercount in 2000, and a 12.2 percent ...
[106]
American Indians without Tribes in the 21st Century - PMC
” Because the Census Bureau relies on self-identification on matters of race, the census item simply measures affiliation, not official membership. The ...
[107]
Detailed Data for Hundreds of American Indian and Alaska Native ...
Oct 3, 2023 · The Alaska Native alone population grew 10.9% to 133,311, while the Alaska Native alone or in any combination population increased 45.6% to ...
[108]
Chronology of significant events in the history of Robeson County ...
... law naming Robeson County Indians “Croatan Indians” and ... Passage of a North Carolina law changing the tribal name to “Lumbee Indians of North Carolina.<|separator|>
[109]
Introduction | The Lumbee Indians: An American Struggle - DOI
Knowledge of kinship—the relationships between different families—and place—the stories told about families in certain locations—is critical to Lumbee identity.
[110]
Lumbee | Encyclopedia.com
Other historians believe that the Lumbee were Croatoan Indians who migrated from islands off the coast of North Carolina where they had intermarried with white ...Missing: creole | Show results with:creole
[111]
Burnt Swamp Association (I-8) I-8 - NC DNCR
Dec 29, 2023 · I-8 Baptist churches serving Lumbee and other tribes. Association was formed in 1881 at Burnt Swamp Church, then 2 1/2 mi. N. Location: NC 72 at SR 1003 ( ...
[112]
United Methodists Host Delegation of Lumbee Representatives to ...
The Lumbee community is the Indian church. For the Lumbee, church is more than a religious experience; it is one of their most important social activities.Missing: centered | Show results with:centered
[113]
Lumbee church changes with community
This article gives a fairly detailed account of Lumbee church attendance in Baltimore (focusing on South Broadway Baptist Church), Lumbee worship style, ...Missing: centered | Show results with:centered
[114]
The Low Hum - Oxford American
Nov 20, 2018 · Being a Lumbee Christian is about where your family has gone to church. Deep Branch Baptist. Prospect Methodist. Berea Baptist. Shannon ...Missing: centered | Show results with:centered<|separator|>
[115]
"Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South: Adapting to Segregation ...
Nov 23, 2021 · Lumbee Indians maintained identity by using segregation to affirm their distinctiveness, while also facing constraints and maintaining autonomy.Missing: 1880s | Show results with:1880s
[116]
Lumbee | Research Starters - EBSCO
In 1968, the Lumbee Regional Development Association was organized, serving as an Indigenous government as well as an economic development agency. Rural ...
[117]
https://bizfayetteville.com/more-news/2025/10/21/lumbee-tribe-creates-new-economic-development-and-tourism-department/4826
[118]
Casino plan – including one operated by Lumbee in southeastern NC
Sep 20, 2023 · NC lawmakers say they have reached a budget deal that does not include four casinos, including one that would be operated by the Lumbee.Missing: self- sufficiency
[119]
This is the place - Business North Carolina
Sep 15, 2014 · ... nation's third-poorest for its size. Nearly a third of the people live below the poverty line, twice the state rate. Unemployment is 40% higher.
[120]
ROSS Program | LRDA, Inc.
The Resident Opportunities and Self-Sufficiency (ROSS) Program is a HUD grant awarded to LRDA that is designed to assist residents living in Lumbee Tribal ...Missing: casino enterprises
[121]
Lumbee Indians - Part 6: Language and culture - NCpedia
Researchers have found that Lumbee Vernacular English is much like other southern dialects, especially Appalachian English. It does, however, have its own ...Missing: heritage | Show results with:heritage
[122]
The politics of language, landscape and Lumbee identity - INDY Week
Dec 6, 2000 · But the features of life in Robeson County are rural, not urban. These are the sandy flatlands of pine and scrub, of river and swamp, where ...Missing: maintenance | Show results with:maintenance
[123]
2. THE ROOTS OF LUMBEE LANGUAGE - Duke University Press
There is little transparent evidence of language transfer from an ancestral American Indian language in Lumbee English today as a clue to the lost ancestral.Missing: assimilation | Show results with:assimilation
[124]
[PDF] Sounds of Survival: Language Loss, Retention, and Restructuring ...
Dec 1, 2004 · Relatively early in their contact with Europeans, the Lumbee lost their ances- tral language(s) to the linguistic hegemony of European invaders.
[125]
Lumbee Dialect - PBS
The Lumbee English dialect, Wolfram says, bears the imprint of the early colonization by the English, Highland Scots and Scots-Irish. Moreover, Lumbee Native ...Missing: indigenous assimilation
[126]
Documentary on Linguistic Heritage of NC's Lumbee Indians
Sep 27, 2000 · Their dialect is all the Lumbee Indians of North Carolina have left of a native language that has disappeared over the last 200 years.
[127]
Lumbee Homecoming - 56th | Lumberton Visitor's Bureau
Jun 24, 2025 · The 56th Annual Lumbee Homecoming is an exciting time for reunions of families and friends. The 12 day celebration begins with pageantry and ends with a parade.
[128]
56th Annual Lumbee Homecoming
Jun 30, 2025 · The 56th Annual Lumbee Homecoming is just around the corner! Join us from June 30, 2025 – July 6, 2025, as we celebrate our vibrant culture, rich history, and ...Missing: details | Show results with:details
[129]
Lumbee homecoming is largest cultural celebration east of ... - WPDE
Jul 2, 2025 · Some of the highlights of the annual event include the parade, Pow Wow, car show, music, arts and entertainment, and the Teen and Miss Lumbee ...Missing: details | Show results with:details
[130]
Save the Date - Lumbee Tribe “Dance of the Harvest Moon” Powwow
Mar 1, 2025 · The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina's “Dance of the Harvest Moon” Powwow will be held on September 26-28, 2025.
[131]
Join us on September 26-28, 2025, at the Lumbee Tribe Cultural ...
Aug 26, 2025 · Join us on September 26-28, 2025, at the Lumbee Tribe Cultural Center, for the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina's “Dance of the Harvest Moon” ...
[132]
Lumbee Tribe prepares to welcome guests to annual “Dance of the ...
Sep 22, 2025 · This annual gathering is a celebration of Native traditions featuring competitive dancing, drum contests, cultural demonstrations and a powerful ...
[133]
Lumbee Homecoming - 54th - Robesonian Calendar
The week-long celebration features a parade, outdoor gospel music concert, food and craft vendors, athletic events, a car show, and dozens of other events, ...
[134]
Introduction to the Lumbee - Digital Scholarship and Initiatives
The Lumbee tribe, with 53,800 enrolled members, was in the early 2000s the largest of North Carolina's American Indian groups and the ninth-largest tribe in the ...
[135]
Service With Spirit - Tablet Magazine
Nov 21, 2023 · The Native American tribe maintains a distinct religious culture, blending Christianity with traditional rituals.
[136]
Where Christianity Blends with Native American Culture | Duke Today
Nov 10, 2022 · “I'm a citizen of the Lumbee nation. We are a community, a tribe that was formed at contact with the Europeans when we were forced away from the ...
[137]
A taste of home for Baltimore's Lumbee tribe members
Nov 15, 2016 · Chicken 'n pastry, a sort of chicken noodle soup, is a staple of Lumbee cuisine. But there are others, too: fattening treats like golden brown ...
[138]
Get a Taste of North Carolina's Indigenous Cuisine with These Five ...
Nov 16, 2021 · From fry bread to Lumbee chicken and pastry, these indigenous foods celebrate native culture. · Lumbee Chicken and Pastry · Cherokee Bean Bread.
[139]
Meet the collard sandwich, an iconic Lumbee Tribe meal
Nov 2, 2023 · Millard and Connie Locklear describe how they make their beloved collard sandwich to Chris Smith, farmer and Heirloom Collard Project ...Missing: traditional cuisine
[140]
Lumbee Living | Our State
or some greasy cornbread — and ...
[141]
The Lumbee Table Is Equal Parts Indian, Southern, and American
Nov 23, 2016 · The answer to the question is simple: Lumbees are not a stereotype. We're Indians, Southerners, and Americans, all at once and without doubt.Missing: foraging | Show results with:foraging
[142]
Adaptation, Survival, Gratitude: A Lumbee Thanksgiving Story
Nov 8, 2023 · For the Lumbee Indians in North Carolina, Thanksgiving involves cornbread, collards, and a whole lot of pork.Missing: traditional | Show results with:traditional
[143]
List of Lumbee surnames - Digital Scholarship and Initiatives
List of Lumbee surnames with dates of appearance in the greater Lumbee Settlement (N=523 surnames) 1740-2007. 107 pages.
[144]
NC Answers: Is Locklear the most common Lumbee Indian name?
Nov 29, 2021 · The vast majority of Locklears are Lumbee Indian, a UNCP professor said. So how about Heather? The Lumbee Tribe has a complicated history.
[145]
[PDF] “Whoz Ya People?”: Defining Lumbee Citizenship and Belonging in ...
With the shadow of federal recognition looming over the Lumbee Tribe and what it means, it begs the questions: 1) how will appropriate contact by knowledge ...
[146]
Lumbee Kinship, Community, and the Success of the Red Banks ...
... John Collier, would serve as the first step to recovery for the Lumbees.(20). John Collier took office as commissioner of Indian Affairs in the spring of 1933.<|control11|><|separator|>
[147]
[PDF] Health Issues Affecting the Lumbee Indian Women of Robeson County
May 2, 1994 · In addition, overcrowding often leads to poorer sanitation conditions which also contribute to disease. Endogamy - Prior to European contact, ...
[148]
Lumbee | Native American Roots
The Lumbees have called Robeson county home since the late 1700s, many of their ancestors came from the North Carolina/Virginia border area.
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Lumbee Pinecone Patchwork–How A Quilt Became A Cultural ...
Maggie Locklear's pinecone quilt, made in the late 1800s, inspired a dress, became a pageant costume, and revitalized Lumbee art, becoming a symbol of heritage.Missing: crafts | Show results with:crafts
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Lumbee Indian tribe artist quilted new Native regalia tradition
Apr 4, 2022 · Hayes Alan Locklear created the symbol of North Carolina's Lumbee Indian tribe when a pageant queen had nothing to wear.<|separator|>
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North Carolina Baskets Aren't Just for Easter | collectionsconversations
Apr 3, 2012 · A pine needle sewing basket, made by Loretta Oxendine–a member of the Lumbee tribe, reflects the use of local materials and lowland traditions ...Missing: quilting | Show results with:quilting
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Artist passes on traditions, history | Robesonian
Jul 17, 2016 · Longleaf pine needle baskets made by Lumbee artist Gloria Tara Lowery are on display and available for purchase in Old Main on the UNCP campus.
[153]
Malinda Maynor Lowery on Lumbee Storytelling - Ideas on Fire
Dec 11, 2019 · Host Cathy Hannabach interviews Malinda Maynor Lowery about telling Lumbee history, food television, and Indigenous political sovereignty.
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the origins and experience of Lumbee Indian and African American ...
Maynor notes that, in both cultures, religious music binds the communities together and serves to transmit oral traditions. Next, Maynor explains (with some ...Missing: storytelling | Show results with:storytelling
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Lumbee / Tuscarora Native, Charly Lowry, wows audiences with her ...
Aug 17, 2023 · With her fire to keep the oral tradition alive through song, singer ... through her music. Charly's tales about being a contestant on ...
[156]
The Museum of the Southeast American Indian - UNC Pembroke
Explore the Museum of the Southeast American Indian to connect with the rich history and culture of Indigenous communities. Learn about the artistry ...
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Museum of the Southeast American Indian (2025) - Tripadvisor
Rating 4.8 (4) The Museum of the Southeast American Indian offers a diverse collection of Lumbee and Southeast American Indian Tribes artifacts and art.
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Lumbee Voices: North Carolina's Lumbee Indians in Literature, Art ...
The Lumbee Indians, with a 1990-census population of 40,500, are the ninth largest tribe in the United States--behind such tribes as the Cherokee (308,000), the ...
[159]
Tribal Council members elected and voted for officers and ...
Lumbee Board of Elections · PRICE Grant · Lumbee Act · History and Culture ... Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. 6984 NC Hwy 711 West Pembroke, NC 28372 ...
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Government | lumbee-tribe-of-nc
The Lumbee Tribal Council is comprised of 21 members elected from 21 districts. Members of the Tribal Council shall serve three year terms.
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Tribal Enrollment | lumbee-tribe-of-nc
To qualify for membership with the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina (new or updating), applicants must have direct biological descent from one or more persons ...
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Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina - Facebook
Aug 22, 2018 · All adult new enrollments have to physically come into the office to apply. For minors, a parent, guardian or other sponsor, such as social ...
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Project Indigechoice | lumbee-tribe-of-nc
Project IndigeCHOICE is a five-year United States Department of Education grant, awarded to the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina to serve American Indian students ...Missing: segregated | Show results with:segregated
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Services | lumbee-tribe-of-nc
To qualify for membership with the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina (new or updating), applicants must have biological descent from one or more persons named ...Youth Services · Health & Human Services · Veteran Services
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Working to help improve health outcomes, address substance ...
Aug 20, 2024 · Researchers join Lumbee Tribe-led effort to address substance misuse and pain management through community-informed, culturally relevant ...
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G.S. 71A-3
Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and shall continue to enjoy all rights, privileges and immunities as an American Indian Tribe with a recognized tribal governing ...
[167]
S. Rept. 110-409 - PROVIDING FOR THE RECOGNITION OF THE ...
The purpose of HR 65 is to provide for the federal recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina (as designated as petitioner number 65 by the Office of ...
[168]
SL 2019-162 (SB 218) - North Carolina General Assembly
An act to amend the state recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, to make changes regarding the conveyance of the lumbee tribe cultural center.
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Tuscarora Nation works to advance its petition for state recognition ...
Apr 30, 2019 · ... splinter group” from the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, also centered in Robeson County. Unlike the Tuscarora, Lumbees do have state ...
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For the Tuscarora, tradition and politics clash in quest for state ...
May 28, 2025 · But the commission denied the request, saying the Tuscarora were a “splinter group” of the Lumbee tribe, which is also based in Robeson County ...
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[PDF] S. 2285, the “Lumbee Recognition Act - BIA.gov
Sep 7, 2016 · Federal acknowledgment enables Indian tribes to participate in Federal programs and establishes a government-to-government relationship between ...
[172]
H. Rept. 110-164 - LUMBEE RECOGNITION ACT - Congress.gov
The purpose of HR 65 is to provide for the recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, and for other purposes.
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[PDF] Federal Recognition of Native American Tribes in the United States ...
Jan 20, 2023 · The paper will then detail general arguments in favor of and against Lumbee recognition, including input from the international community, and ...<|separator|>
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Federal report due on Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina's path to ...
Apr 22, 2025 · In 2016, the Office of the Solicitor at the DOI reversed a decision barring the Lumbee Tribe from seeking federal recognition through the ...
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Lumbee tribe is closer than ever to full federal recognition
Apr 23, 2025 · The Lumbee tribe in NC has partial federal recognition. Full recognition would bring money for education, health care and more.
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Lumbee Recognition: Costs - Dole Archive Collections
In the past, though, this cost has been estimated at $75 million per annum for the Lumbee Tribe. 4. Immediate costs in Bureau of Indian Affair programs will be ...
[177]
S. Rept. 109-334 - LUMBEE RECOGNITION ACT - Congress.gov
Bureau of Indian Affairs BIA provides funding to federally recognized Indian tribes based on membership population or acreage of land held in trust by the ...Missing: continuity | Show results with:continuity