With the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act by the Senate on Wednesday, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is all but assured to become a federally recognized tribal nation.
The state-recognized tribe, whose historic and genealogical claims have been a subject of controversy, has been seeking federal recognition for generations. Congress has considered the issue for more than 30 years, but the effort gained momentum after President Donald Trump endorsed the tribe on the campaign trail last year.
“It’s going to be a very, very emotional time for us. It’s going to be a time to rejoice and a time to be happy,” said Lumbee Tribe member Charles Graham, a retired special education teacher and former state legislator. “We’ll be able to stand on our principles in terms of who we are, where we’ve been, our sovereignty, and we can speak to that with a lot of pride.”
With federal recognition comes a bevy of federal resources, including access to new streams of federal dollars and grants, resources like the Indian Health Service, and the ability to put land into trust.
The journey to recognition
In the 1980s, the Lumbee Tribe sought recognition through the Office of Federal Acknowledgement within the Interior Department, which evaluates the historical and genealogical claims of tribal applicants. The office declined to accept the application, citing a 1956 act of Congress that acknowledged the Lumbee Tribe but withheld the benefits of federal recognition.
That decision was reversed in 2016, allowing the Lumbee to pursue recognition through the federal administrative process. The tribe instead continued to seek recognition through an act of Congress.
There are 574 federally recognized tribal nations. Since the Office of Federal Acknowledgement was established in 1978, 18 have been approved by the agency, while about two dozen have gained recognition through congressional legislation. Nineteen applications are now pending before the agency, with at least one under consideration by Congress.
Once federally recognized, the Lumbee Tribe would become one of the largest tribal nations in the country, with about 60,000 members. Congressional Budget Office estimates have found that providing the tribe with the necessary federal resources would cost hundreds of millions of dollars in the first few years alone.
“Hopefully, Congress will expand the pie in appropriations so that the other tribes, many of which are poor, don’t suffer because there’s suddenly such a larger number of Native Americans in that region,” said Kevin Washburn, former assistant secretary of Indian affairs at the Interior Department and a professor at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.
Over 200 Lumbee members gathered in a gymnasium in Pembroke, North Carolina, to watch the final Senate vote on television. They celebrated with shouts, raised hands and applause as the unofficial tally indicated the bill would receive final congressional approval.
A drum circle played afterward and chanted for the jubilant crowd that got up after waiting patiently for the vote in folding chairs and gym bleachers.
Disputes over merit and heritage
Not everyone in Indian country is celebrating. The move has drawn opposition from some tribal leaders, historians and genealogists who argue that the Lumbee’s claims are unverifiable and that Congress should require the tribe to complete the formal recognition process.
“Federal recognition does not create us — it acknowledges us,” Shawnee Tribe Chief Ben Barnes, an opponent of Lumbee recognition, testified before the Senate last month. He warned against replacing historical documentation with political considerations.
Critics have noted that the Lumbee have a history of shifting claims and previously used different names, including Cherokee Indians of Robeson County, and say the tribe lacks a documented historical language.
“If identity becomes a matter of assertion rather than continuity, then this body will not be recognizing tribes, it will be manufacturing them,” Barnes told lawmakers.
The Lumbee Tribe counters that it descends from a mixture of ancestors “from the Algonquian, Iroquoian and Siouan language families,” according to its website, and notes it has been recognized by North Carolina since 1885.
Politics influence tribal recognition
While the Lumbee Tribe has received bipartisan support over the years, federal recognition became a campaign promise for both Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris during the most recent presidential race.
“President Trump traveled to Robeson County and pledged to get federal recognition done. He kept that promise and showed extraordinary leadership,” said Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who introduced a bill to recognize the Lumbee Tribe.
Robeson County, where most Lumbee members live, has shifted politically in recent years. Once dominated by Democrats, the socially conservative area has trended Republican. The Lumbee Tribe’s about 60,000 members in North Carolina are an important voting block in the swing state, which Trump won by more than three points.
In January, Trump issued an executive order directing the Interior Department to develop a plan for Lumbee recognition. That plan was submitted to the White House in April, and a department spokesperson said the tribe was advised to pursue recognition through Congress.
Since then, Lumbee Tribal Chairman John Lowery has worked closely with members of Congress, particularly North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, and appealed directly to Trump. In September, Lowery wrote to Trump announcing ancestral ties between the Lumbee Tribe and the president’s daughter Tiffany Trump, according to Bloomberg, which first reported on the letter.
“We are confident that with your continued support and advocacy, we will successfully achieve full federal recognition of our nation,” Lowery wrote.
____
Associated Press writers Gary Robertson in Raleigh, NC and Allen Breed in Pembroke, NC contributed.
