Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina

The Lumbee Regional Development Association (LRDA), a nonprofit organization, was initially responsible for maintaining Lumbee tribal membership rolls and providing social services to the members. After an attempt by the LRDA to gain full federal recognition for the Lumbee people as a Native American tribe in 1991 failed, some Lumbees began to criticize the LRDA as an inadequate representative for the group. The LRDA had a board of self-appointed directors and no constitution, which critics felt made it ill-equipped to genuinely represent the interest of Lumbees. They also felt that its limited jurisdiction meant it could not satisfy the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs's recognition criterion for groups with a "continuous political authority".[4] To address these concerns, in 1993 a group of Lumbee community leaders formed a constitutional assembly, the Lumbee Tribe of Cheraw Indians (LTCI), and gathered delegates from historically-Indian church congregations in the area to draft a constitution for a tribal government.[5]

Through dozens of meetings held throughout the year, the LTCI produced a draft constitution with separate branches of government which it wished to submit to the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a governing document if the Lumbee people earned recognition.[6] The constitution provided for a government which could provide social services to Lumbees and represent their interests to other governments.[7] To ascertain whether the document had the support of the Lumbee community, the LTCI hosted a referendum on it during the 1994 Lumbee Homecoming, with all tribal members over 18 years of age eligible to vote. The document was approved 8,010—223, a vote total including more than 20 percent of tribal members. Voters also elected Dalton Brooks to serve as the tribal chairman under the constitutional framework.[8]

Following the referendum, a dispute over governance of the Lumbee tribe developed between the LRDA and LTCI. The LTCI sought to secure recognition from the state of North Carolina that it was the elected government of tribe and was thus the only suitable organization to petition the federal government for recognition, a role played by the LRDA since 1984.[7] The LTCI sued the LRDA for this privileged status in Robeson County Superior Court in 1995.[7][9] The court ultimately found that neither organization had full claim to serving as the Lumbee people's legitimate governing body, since the LRDA had a long-established record of providing social services to the tribe and the LTCI's referendum had garnered significant popular support.[7] It ruled that the LRDA could continue to represent the tribe in petitions for federal recognition until "such time as the Lumbee Tribe selects, by the vote of the Lumbee People, a tribal council or other form of government [...] through its own self-determination."[10]

In 1998, the court created the Lumbee Self-Determination Commission, composed of equal numbers of LRDA and LTCI delegates plus a group of Lumbees not associated with either organization. The commission surveyed tribal members' preferences for the structure of their governing organization. By November 2000, the commission had decided upon a 23-person tribal council representing 17 districts where Lumbees resided, with more councilors allotted to more-populated areas, and one additional at-large district. While most of the districts represented areas in southeast North Carolina in and around Robeson County, four of the districts respectively encompassed Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, and Baltimore, Maryland, which had significant Lumbee populations. Elections were held for the council and its chairman, which were then inaugurated in January 2001 in Lumberton.[11] Pembroke mayor Milton Hunt became chairman and selected a former LRDA board member as tribal administrator. Within a year, the council had decided to use the name "Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina" and finalized a constitution for its organization, largely based on the 1994 LTCI document.[12] The constitution was ratified by a vote of tribal members in November 2001, 2,237 to 412, with turnout representing less than 10 percent of the tribe's eligible voters.[13]

The preamble of the constitution of the Lumbee Tribe reads: "In accordance with the inherent power of self-governance of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, the Tribe adopts this Constitution for the purposes of establishing a tribal government structure, preserving for all time the Lumbee way of life and community, promoting the educational, cultural, social, and economic well-being of Lumbee people, and securing freedom and justice for Lumbee people."[14]

Article 1 of the constitution delineates the territorial jurisdiction of the Lumbee Tribe. This was initially declared to be the entire state of North Carolina, but fears of conflict with other recognized tribes' territories in the state (in the event of further petitions for recognition) and the logistical challenges of delivering services over great distances led this article to be modified by 2003 to only encompass Robeson, Hoke, Cumberland, and Scotland counties. At the same time, the four districts and council seats representing areas outside this region were abolished.[15]

Article 2 defines the criteria for tribal membership. Similar to the LRDA's original enrollment requirements, a person must demonstrate their direct descent from a person who was identified as Indian on several documents dating from around 1900, including censuses, tax lists, the petitioners for federal recognition in 1888, an Indian school enrollment list, and church records. The article further requires that members must "historically or presently maintain contact with the tribe."[16]

The North Carolina Assembly formally recognized the Lumbees in 1885. They amended their recognition, using the name Tribe of Indians of Robeson County in 1911 and Cherokee Indians of Robeson County in 1913. Responding to pressure from the tribe, the state recognized the name Lumbee in 1953. Governor Mike Easley affirmed in 2004 that the state had continuously recognized the Lumbee Tribe since 1885.[17]

The North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs which oversees state-recognized tribes and works with the federally recognized tribe in North Carolina was established in 1971.[18]

Pembroke, North Carolina, is the headquarters of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, and members mainly live in Robeson County, as well as Hoke, Cumberland, and Scotland counties in south-central North Carolina.[1] The tribal headquarters, known as the Turtle, was built in Pembroke in 2009.[19] Individual tribal members live across the United States.

The tribe runs a housing program for its members, including rental homes and mortgage assistance.[20]

In 2011, the Lumbee Tribe created Lumbee Tribal Holdings Inc., a domestic business,[21] and Lumbee Tribe Enterprises, a limited liability company.[22]

According to its constitution, adopted in 2000, the Lumbee tribal government is organized into three branches: the tribal chairperson (executive), the 21-member Tribal Council (legislative), and Supreme Court (judicial). The tribal chairperson and the Tribal Council are elected to three-year terms.

Executive branch

Harvey Godwin, chairman of the Lumbee Tribe in 2017

The current administration includes:[1]

• Chairman: John Lowery
• Administrator: Tammy Maynor
• Administration Assistant to Chairman: Camera Brewer
• Enrollment Director: Reena Locklear.

• List of Lumbees
• University of North Carolina at Pembroke

• Lowery, Malinda Maynor (2018). The Lumbee Indians: An American Struggle. Chapel Hill: UNC Press Books. ISBN 978-1-4696-4638-1.