John Lowery, chairman of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, presented U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis with a gift: a Native-themed blanket made by “the Lumbee Grandmas.”
Tillis, who held the garment tight around his shoulders, was already donning a Lumbee bolo tie on stage Saturday at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke.
The tribe hosted a daylong event at the school’s campus to celebrate federal recognition, which Congress and President Donald Trump granted in December after 137 years. During a formal ceremony over the weekend, tribal leaders honored generations of their ancestors who fought tirelessly for the designation that will bring millions of dollars a year to the tribe for health care, education, public safety, and other services.
They also thanked North Carolina lawmakers who pushed for recognition over the decades. U.S. Sen. Ted Budd, another North Carolina Republican, and Republican Reps. David Rouzer and Mark Harris also attended the event.
“So many people along the way worked so hard to get us here,” Lowery said.
But Tillis was the recipient of much of the praise, earning a standing ovation from the crowd. The North Carolina Republican, who announced in June he would not seek a third term amid clashes with Trump, pushed hard for Lumbee recognition. The measure had passed the House several times over the years but continually stalled in the Senate.
“We knew that we had to have a senator who would lay it all on the line,” Lowery said. “We knew we had to have a senator who was willing to say, ‘If this bill doesn’t get passed, nothing gets passed.’”
Tillis told the crowd that he and fellow Sen. Ted Budd, another North Carolina Republican, agreed to play “good cop/bad cop” with their congressional colleagues who opposed Lumbee recognition.
“‘And since you’re so good at being the bad cop,” Tillis recalled Budd saying, “‘I’ll be the good cop.’”
Tillis threatened in 2024 to block legislation to recognize the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site in South Dakota, where some members of the Sioux tribe opposed Lumbee recognition. The following year, he also tried to block federal judicial nominees in Mississippi because he wanted Sen. Roger Wicker to vote in favor of the Lumbee.
Last fall, Tillis urged the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate cannabis operations run by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, North Carolina’s only other federally recognized tribe. The Eastern Band spent millions of dollars over the years lobbying Congress to oppose the Lumbee, who they said should have gone through the Bureau of Indian Affairs for recognition instead of asking Congress.
Tillis didn’t say on Saturday which senators he had to work hardest to convince. But he said much credit belongs to Rouzer and Harris for ensuring the Lumbee Fairness Act was tucked into the larger National Defense Authorization Act. Lawmakers sometimes add bills to omnibus legislation in hopes of getting them passed.
Tillis also presented a gift to the tribe: a large photo collage that includes the vote tally, and two photos of Lumbee representatives who traveled to Washington, D.C.
“Kids, hold your ears,” Tillis said, pointing to one of the group photos. “That was right before we were about to open a can of whoop-ass on people that were trying to slow us down.”
While some tribes opposed Lumbee recognition, others supported it, including the Catawba Nation in South Carolina and the Shinnecock Indian Nation in New York.
“Those of us who supported the Lumbee and Lumbee recognition–we took a beating out there,” said Lance Gumbs, vice chairman of the Shinnecock and a leader with the National Congress of American Indians. “We took a lot of harassment. We caught a lot of insults, because we were standing for something that was right.
Gumbs said East Coast tribes like the Lumbee and the Shinnecock, which became federally recognized in 2010, have a unique history since they were among the first to encounter newly arriving Europeans hundreds of years ago. Often, he said, these tribes are forced to prove who they are.
Lumbees descend from multiple Native American tribes whose members settled along the Lumber River in Robeson County to flee violence and diseases brought by colonizers.
“We know how important it is to support one another,” Gumbs said. “And we made a conscious decision at Shinnecock, once we were recognized, to not pull that ladder up behind us like some tribes have done.”
UNC Pembroke Chancellor Dr. Robin Gary Cummings said Tillis’ papers related to Lumbee recognition will be housed at the university’s Mary Livermore Library. It’s a fitting location, Cummings said, since the school was founded in the late 1800s to educate Native American students.
“Generations will come and study and review this historic achievement,” he said.
But on Saturday, members of the Lumbee tribe seemed content to revel in recognition, which they say was long overdue. Next month, they will vote on a proposed tribal constitutional amendment that would grant the chairman authority to make decisions about gaming.
Now that it has full federal recognition, the Lumbees can enter the casino business.
Tillis said he had a simple message for Lowery after the Senate vote in December: “Make me proud.”
He had the same message for tribal members, encouraging them to care for those in need, cast aside differences, and support other tribes.
“Make me proud,” Tillis said, “by creating a story here that’s unlike any one that’s ever followed recognition–one that provides economic opportunities unlike anything children born in this Lumbee nation have ever been able to experience before.”