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With the stroke of a pen, the U.S. welcomes more than 50,000 new federally recognized tribal citizens. After numerous failed attempts, the Lumbee Nation is the 575th federally recognized tribe — the fourth-largest overall in terms of population and the largest tribe east of the Mississippi River. The recognition brings a host of potential changes, including new political power, economic development opportunities, and a sense of pride for Lumbee citizens who have worked for nearly 140 years to be counted among the country’s established sovereign nations.
GUESTS
David E. Wilkins (Lumbee), professor at the University of Richmond
Malinda Maynor Lowery (Lumbee), professor at Emory University, historian, and filmmaker
Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz (Lumbee), professor at the University of Iowa and director of the Native Policy Lab
Break 1 Music: Maple Leaf Rag (song) Lakota John (artist) Winds of Time (album)
Break 2 Music: Coventry Carol (song) PIQSIQ (artist) Coventry Carol (album)
Hi, my name is Mary Chavis. I’ve been trying to get my card for almost a year now. I’m 53 years old. I don’t wanna wait another 53 years to get my card. Any information with greatly help.
It’s a lot of work. I’ve been working towards mine since 1998.
This has the potential to be great for The Lumbee Tribe. #575
I just want to be an actual enrolled member. I have a direct descendant card and am actually half Lumbee. I didn’t know where my grandmother went to school or other information that they asked due to the fact I never new my dad personally until I was in my 30’s. The person I had the most contact with passed away. I live in Oklahoma and wouldn’t have been able to use any of the benefits our tribes provided I just wanted to claim the heritage I was born with. Will this ever be something our tribe looks at for enrollment? The Nine Civilized Federally recognized tribes in my area do not do this.
Your one-sided program on Lumbee recognition neglects to mention several historical facts.
There are two tracks to becoming recognized as a Native-American tribes: (1) by an act of Congress or (2) through the Bureau of Indian Affairs that assigns historians, genealogists, anthropologists to assess these claims.
The 2025 Lumbee Fairness Act was passed not by a direct vote by Congress, but by bypassing the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs that held hearing on it, rather by an amendment to the must-be-passed National Defense Authorization Act.
Senator Tillis of North Carolina previous tried to force the Senate to approve the Lumbee Recognition Act first by blocking funding for the Wounded Knee Historical Site and then by blocking Trump appointees to the federal bend in Mississippi.
Not just the Eastern Band of the Cherokee, a number of other tribes, including the Shawnee and the Delaware in Oklahoma, wanted the Lumbee claim to be referred to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, because of concerns that the Lumbee could not establish other than by oral tradition that they descend from one or more historical Native-American tribes,
In addition, there is extensive genealogical evidence that the Lumbees descend from free Blacks who migrated as landowners from Virginia to North Carolina during the colonial period. It wasn’t until the Civil War that some of their ancestors claimed Indian ancestry to avoid be sent to build fortresses on the Carolina Coast.
After Reconstruction, these ancestors switched from the Republic Party to the Democratic Party in exchange for state recognition that allowed them to establish their own segregated “Indian” schools, train stations, and theaters that excluded African-Americans. The 1956 Lumbee Act, passed during the period of federal termination, was merely an acknowledgment of a name change according to the Congressman who sponsored it.
As Chief Ben Barnes of the Shawnee Tribe in Oklahoma and chair of the United Indian Nations of Oklahoma stated in his written testimony before Congress, “If identity becomes a matter of assertion rather than continuity, then this body will not be recognizing tribes—it will be manufacturing them.”