Trump’s push for Lumbee recognition energizes tribe. But could it make a difference?

By Ben Rappaport

benrappaport@borderbelt.org 

News of President Donald Trump’s move to grant full federal recognition to the Lumbee tribe was met with joy and caution. 

“It shows that this is more than a campaign promise,” John Cummings, a Robeson County commissioner who is Lumbee, told the Border Belt Independent. “Trump carries a lot of weight in politics and maybe this sways some senators who haven’t been on our side before.”

The largest Native American tribe east of the Mississippi River with about 60,000 members, the Lumbee were granted partial federal recognition from Congress in 1956. But the tribe, which has its headquarters in Robeson County, has long been denied the benefits that come with full federal recognition, including money for education, health care and other services. 

Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden also supported full federal recognition for the Lumbee. But Trump this week became the first president to issue a memorandum on the issue. While the document doesn’t guarantee full recognition, it directs the secretary of interior to submit a plan within 90 days that explores potential legal pathways for the tribe to obtain the designation.

Some wonder, however, whether the signing in the Oval Office on Thursday in front of television cameras may ring hollow.  

James Ennis Street, a Charlotte attorney who authored a 2022 paper in the Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law arguing in favor of full federal recognition for the Lumbee, questioned the value of the memorandum. “I don’t know that there’s a big difference between Obama and Biden voicing support orally versus Trump putting it in writing,” said Street, who is Tuscarora.

Trump has benefitted from many Lumbee voters’ shift toward conservative candidates over the years. Voters in Robeson County, where 42 percent of residents are Native American, picked Obama in 2008 and 2012. But Trump won the county in the next three elections, securing more than 63% of the vote in November. Many Lumbee voters say the Democratic Party no longer aligns with their beliefs on immigration, abortion and LGBTQ+ issues.

Ahead of last year’s election, Trump pledged support for full federal recognition for the Lumbee, as did Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. Following visits from Donald Trump Jr. and former President Bill Clinton, the tribe said it did not want to be subject to political pandering.

“It is nice that the candidates acknowledge the voting power of the largest American Indian Tribe on the East Coast,” the tribe said in a statement ahead of November’s election. “But the Lumbee People can’t be seen as a pawn on the road to the White House.”  

On Thursday, Trump called the memorandum a “huge step” for the Lumbee tribe and vowed to visit the tribe soon. “They were with me all the way,” he said of the Lumbee people.

Path to recognition

Native American tribes can gain government recognition in three ways: from Congress, federal courts or the U.S. Department of the Interior. 

Becoming federally recognized can be slow and challenging. Ten tribes are currently awaiting decisions from the Office of Federal Acknowledgement, according to its website. The Pamunkey Indian Tribe of Virginia was the last tribe to gain recognition through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in 2016. Congress most recently recognized a tribe in 2019: the Little Shell Tribe of the Chippewa in Montana. 

Full federal recognition for the Lumbee has bipartisan support. The U.S. House most recently voted in favor of the Lumbee Fairness Act in December. But the legislation stalled in the Senate, as it has in previous years. 

On its website, the tribe says it cannot seek full federal recognition through the Bureau of Indian Affairs within the Interior Department because it already has partial recognition.

Opponents of full federal recognition for the Lumbee expressed dismay at Trump’s memorandum, saying the tribe does not have a solid shared history.  

Mitchell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians — the only tribe in North Carolina with full federal recognition — said in a statement that “tribal history and the existence of Indian ancestry must be at the heart” of decisions. The Eastern Band has spent $1.7 million since 2020 lobbying Congress to oppose full federal recognition for the Lumbee, according to Open Secrets.

“The Lumbees have a history of shifting claims,” Hicks said. “Experts have repeatedly found that their claims cannot be verified through historical or genealogical evidence. Any process for evaluating Lumbee’s claims must be rooted in objective standards and a thorough, evidence-based review.”

The Lumbee people descend from multiple tribes, including the Algonquian, Iroquoian, Siouan and Hatteras, the Tuscarora, and the Cheraw. Their ancestors settled in the swamps of Robeson County in southeastern North Carolina in the 18th century to avoid European colonizers and mixed with white and Black people over the years.   

John Lowery, who began his second three-year term as chairman of the Lumbee tribe earlier this month, told the Border Belt Independent in 2022 that full federal recognition could bring up to $300 million each year to the tribe. The funds, he said, could be used to address the opioid epidemic and other issues within the tribe’s territory of Robeson, Scotland, Hoke and Cumberland counties.  

“This is a great step for the new administration and we encourage Congress to move forward with codifying this policy of President Trump toward full federal recognition of the Lumbee People,” Lowery said in a statement Thursday.

Congressional support

Street agreed that Trump’s memorandum could sway some members of Congress who have been skeptical of full federal recognition for the Lumbee. 

The Lumbee Fairness Act, which was introduced by Wilmington Republican David Rouzer, passed the House in December by a vote of 311-96. All but two of the representatives from North Carolina voted in favor of the bill: Republicans Virginia Foxx and Chuck Edwards. Both represent western North Carolina, home to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

Rouzer reintroduced the Lumbee Fairness Act this month. U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, both Republicans, also reintroduced a Senate version of the bill. 

“We will continue to work with the president, the Interior Department, and my congressional colleagues to get this bill passed and signed into law,” Budd said in a statement.

Cummings, who said he has been a Trump supporter since 2016, called the president “a man of his word” who stands for traditional conservative values.

“This is a strong step on the long road,” Cummings said. “We’ve been stuck in Munchkinland, but now we are on the yellow brick road.”

Street said the tribe will have to wait and see how Trump’s directive plays out. “It doesn’t mean anything,” he said, “until something actually happens.” 

A booth sold Donald Trump merchandise at Lumbee Homecoming in Pembroke on July 6, 2024. (Photo by Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer)