Lumbee members, who number some 55,000, have been pressing for federal recognition since 1888. Although Congress enacted legislation recognizing the Lumbee in 1956, the Act also inexplicably denied tribal members the privileges and immunities, financial benefits and services that are afforded to other federally-recognized tribes due to their status as Indians.
On April 26, two North Carolina representatives introduced legislation which would recognize the Lumbee Indians of North Carolina as an Indian tribe, making its members eligible to receive funding from various federal programs, including programs operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian Health Service (H.R. 1803). (Because the Lumbee have been recognized as a tribe by the State of North Carolina since 1885, members are currently eligible to receive services for certain programs administered by the Departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, and Agriculture.)
Lumbee members, who number some 55,000, have been pressing for federal recognition since 1888. Although Congress enacted legislation recognizing the Lumbee in 1956, the Act also inexplicably denied tribal members the privileges and immunities, financial benefits and services that are afforded to other federally-recognized tribes due to their status as Indians. When the Lumbee submitted a petition in 1989 to the BIA, seeking full federal recognition, the Department’s Solicitor General issued an opinion which stated that, because of language in the Lumbee Act of 1956, the Tribe could only be recognized through an act of Congress, not by going through the BIA’s administrative process.
Lumbee recognition bills have been introduced in every Congress for decades now, and the House passed legislation similar to H.R. 1803 in both 2007 and 2009. The Lumbee Recognition Act would also authorize the Secretary of the Interior to take land into trust for the Tribe, and would prohibit the Tribe from conducting gaming activities.
Federal recognition legislation has also been introduced in the 113th Congress for the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa of Montana (S. 161) and the Muscogee Nation of Florida (H.R. 323).
In addition to legislative recognition of tribal status, the BIA has an administrative process to recognize or acknowledge Indian tribes.
Watching Congress on Native American Issues
Selected bills from the 115th Congress of interest in Indian Country
