By Danielle Battaglia for The Raleigh News & Observer and Sarah Nagem for the Border Belt Independent

Jarrod Lowery remembers the frustration in his grandmother’s voice as they waited in line to receive her updated enrollment card from the Lumbee tribe when he was a child.

The Lumbee people had been trying for more than a century to get full federal recognition from the government, a designation that would bring much-needed money for education, health care and other services to the tribe in southeastern North Carolina. Lumbee identification cards held sentimental value for many of the tribe’s 55,000 members, but they offered little in tangible benefits. 

“We get nothing out of this,” Lowery, now 36, recalled his grandmother saying. 

Lowery, a Republican who was elected to the state House in 2022, said his late grandmother’s words have stuck with him. But he and his older brother, Tribal Chairman John Lowery, are confident that full federal recognition is closer than ever for the Lumbee people who make up the largest Native American tribe east of the Mississippi River. 

Three days after he was sworn into office for a second term, President Donald Trump signed a memorandum directing the Department of the Interior to compile a report within 90 days outlining paths to recognition for the Lumbee. 

Trump’s focus on supporting the tribe comes as he works to reduce the rights of other minority groups and deport millions of immigrants. Shortly after taking office, he ordered an end to diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal government, an effort that was already underway in North Carolina. Some of his actions have targeted Native groups: He signed an executive order reverting the name of the highest peak in Alaska to Mount McKinley, which had been named Denali in 2015 in honor of local culture and heritage. And his sweeping cuts to federal programs are likely to impact Native American tribes’ schools and health care centers. 

But Trump has vowed for years to help the Lumbee tribe. He hosted a rally ahead of the 2020 election in Robeson County, home to the Lumbee headquarters and many voters who have shifted to supporting Republican candidates. He promised again last fall, during a campaign rally in Wilmington, to sign legislation granting full federal recognition. 

“I love the Lumbee tribe,” Trump said as he signed the memorandum in January. 

As this week’s deadline looms for U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to submit a report, many Lumbee people believe the federal government is on the cusp of righting a wrong Congress made 69 years ago. The Lumbee Act of 1956 granted the tribe only partial recognition, acknowledging it as a legitimate Native American group but denying it the benefits that fully recognized tribes receive.

“We’ve got a lot of elders who passed away” without seeing their tribe win its fight, Jarrod Lowery said in an interview this month.

But both he and his brother believe they’ve come a long way. Earlier this month, the chairman opened the desk drawer in his Robeson County office and beamed as he pulled out the Sharpie that Trump used to sign the memorandum.

“For it to be the third full day in office and him to put this memo out there saying it’s now the United States’ official policy to support full federal recognition for the Lumbee people, is huge,” John Lowery said. “We’ve never had that before.”

How the Lumbee Reached This Milestone

John and Jarrod Lowery are the great-great-great grandsons of Henry Berry Lowry, a legend among the tribe. (Their last name has had a variety of spellings over the years.) During the Civil War, Lowry grew angry at the Confederacy for forcing Native Americans to perform free labor. In protest, he organized a local gang to loot the homes of wealthy white residents of Robeson County and robbed the local sheriff’s office of $28,000, earning him a Robin Hood reputation. He also reportedly murdered at least two men. With a $12,000 bounty on his head and a bloodthirsty mob in pursuit, Lowry disappeared in 1872.

In many ways, it was the culmination of 200 years of frustration among Native Americans in Eastern North Carolina. Fleeing Europeans who slaughtered their families and stole their land, some members of the Cheraw, Saponi, Tuscarora and other tribes resettled on the swampy lands of Robeson County. There, they mingled with each other, free Black people and poor white residents. 

Racial politics would play a major role in the history of the “People of the Dark Water,” known over the decades as the Croatan, the Cherokee Indians of Robeson, the Siouan Indians of the Lumber River and the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. 

Democrats who ran the state in the late 19th century voted in 1885 to recognize the tribe, which largely supported the party’s candidates. It wasn’t until almost 40 years later, in 1924, that President Calvin Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act, which declared Native Americans U.S. citizens. By then, Lumbees had already unsuccessfully tried several times to get recognition from the federal government.

After World War II, as patriotism united many Americans, the government entered into the Termination Era of the 1950s and ’60s. Lawmakers ended recognition and support of dozens of tribes — mostly those deemed sufficiently assimilated into economic, political and cultural norms, according to David Wilkins, a Lumbee author and professor at the University of Richmond. They tried to culturally assimilate thousands of Natives through voluntary relocation from rural communities to urban centers.

The federal law that gave the Lumbee tribe partial recognition emerged during this era, when U.S. Rep. Frank Ertel Carlyle, a Lumberton Democrat, introduced the Lumbee Act of 1956. 

Lawmakers and bureaucrats in Washington saw the Lumbee people as adequately enmeshed in North Carolina’s culture. But they decided the tribe didn’t deserve or need government services “in part because of the mistaken notion that the Lumbees were somehow doing better than other tribes,” Wilkins said. 

“In fact,” he said, “the Lumbees were suffering enormously.” 

They faced discrimination during the Jim Crow era, when Robeson County had three sets of water fountains, for white, Black, and Native American residents. Although the tribe valued its schools, many people were illiterate. Poverty was widespread, as it still is today.

The Lowery brothers grew up hearing about the injustices their grandparents endured in Robeson County. But there was never a sense of pity. 

“They told you how bad they had it coming up, but they didn’t lean on that,” John Lowery said. “It was like, ‘Hey, we’re carpenters, we’re farmers, we just make it happen.’” 

Political shift in Robeson County

The Lowerys were mostly raised by their grandparents, die-hard Democrats who believed Republicans only cared about wealthy Americans. “My granddad said one time he wouldn’t vote for his dad if he was a Republican,” Jarrod Lowery said. 

Plenty of others felt the same way: Robeson County voters picked a Democratic candidate for every presidential election in the 20th century but one: Richard Nixonin 1972. 

Their support for Democrats continued through President Barack Obama’s two terms in office. But there were signs support was wavering in the rural community, where the loss of tobacco and manufacturing jobs dealt a major blow to the local economy. Democrats’ increased focus on social policies like abortion rights and support for the LGBTQ+ community didn’t sit well with many socially conservative Lumbee voters, either.

Trump’s freewheeling style and America-first messaging found an audience in Robeson County, as it did in many rural communities across the country. His promises to secure the southern border and slash government spending were met with glee, even as many residents in the economically distressed region benefit from social services like Medicaid and food assistance. 

Trump won nearly 51% of the vote in Robeson County in 2016. In 2020, when he held a rally in Lumberton, nearly 59% of the county backed him. Hoping to build on momentum, the Republican National Committee opened an office in Pembroke in 2022, and Trump won 63% of the county vote in 2024. 

“There was always this stigma about Republicans. You know, they’re rich, they’re bad,” Jarrod Lowery said. But Republicans started “showing up,” he said, and Lumbee voters who had felt ignored and forgotten by Democrats paid attention. 

The shift toward the GOP helped Jarrod Lowery win the seat in the N.C. House previously held by Democrat Charles Graham, a fellow Lumbee, in 2022.

During his 2020 visit, Trump left residents with a promise. “When I’m reelected, I will proudly sign the Lumbee Recognition Act, which should have been signed a long time ago,” Trump said. “And the people of North Carolina want that.” 

Full federal recognition for the Lumbee has bipartisan support. Obama was in favor of the measure, as was former President Joe Biden. Then-Vice President Kamala Harris said she would push for full federal recognition and also opened a field officein Robeson County last summer. 

But it was clear the tribe had grown wary of politicians’ pandering. In October, after Donald Trump Jr. and former Democratic President Bill Clinton visited Robeson County on the same day, the tribe said in a statement that “the Lumbee People can’t be seen as a pawn on the road to the White House.” 

Robeson County voters hardly flocked to the polls: the county saw a 60% turnout rate, compared to 74% statewide. But to some voters, Trump’s promise seemed to ring true in a way others’ did not. 

“I think that his team made a strategic move to say, ‘We have the Lumbee here, they’ve been fighting for this, they are sort of purple now, when they used to be hardcore blue,’” John Lowery said. “And I think they made a strategic decision to say that we are going to be for Lumbee recognition.” 

How could federal recognition for the Lumbee happen?

Tribes that want to become federally recognized typically have three options: They can apply through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Congress can pass a bill that would require the president’s signature, or a federal judge can rule in their favor.

None of those paths are easy. Tribes can spend decades and millions of dollars lobbying elected leaders and gathering documentation that proves their heritage. 

The Lumbee have long looked to Congress as the path to full federal recognition, with bills going before lawmakers more than 30 times. The Lumbee Act of 1956 barred the tribe from getting recognition through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, although there has been more recent debate about whether that could be a potential option after all.

Sen. Thom Tillis is now leading congressional efforts to pass the Lumbee Fairness Act, which would amend the 1956 law and make the group the 575th federally recognized tribe. Tillis says congressional action is the only way to ensure the tribe has full certainty that they’re entitled to benefits.

The U.S. House has passed similar legislation six times since 1988, but it has stalled in the Senate despite support from Tillis and Sen. Ted Budd, both Republicans. 

Tillis said the House used a mechanism that allows legislation to move quickly to a floor vote without amendments and with minimal debate. In the Senate, even a single senator’s objection can derail a bill.

The Lowerys have been frequent visitors on Capitol Hill, attending fundraisers in Washington and telling lawmakers why the Lumbee deserve full federal recognition.

“We were able to build relationships with folks who ended up being real close in the Trump world,” Jarrod Lowery said, “building relationships with folks who actually were close with JD Vance before he became the vice presidential nominee. Sometimes in politics, it’s all about timing, and we have people who make good friends with folks who are close or actually became close in Trumpworld, and that’s important.” 

Ches McDowell, one of four lobbyists for the tribe, is the brother of U.S. Rep. Addison McDowell, a freshman Republican from Davie County. Ches McDowell has a well-documented relationship with the Trump family that includes hunting with Donald Trump Jr. His connection helped lead to endorsements for several North Carolina lawmakers, including his brother, Budd and Rep. Brad Knott, a freshman Republican from Raleigh. Addison McDowell also serves on the House Committee on Natural Resources, which handles tribal bills.

Last July, Jarrod Lowery served as an alternate delegate at the Republican National Convention and was part of a panel on tribal priorities led by Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma who is Cherokee and a co-sponsor of Tillis’ bill. 

Pushback from the Cherokee 

In the 1950s, large tribes in the western United States worried the Lumbees’ efforts toward recognition would pull money and resources away from their own people. “They saw the Lumbee population as an economic threat to their share of the federal pie,” Wilkins said. 

That concern still exists today. In 2022, the Congressional Budget Office estimatedthat granting the Lumbee full federal recognition would have cost $363 million between 2023 and 2027, had it passed that year. That could have a ripple effect on other tribes if Congress doesn’t earmark additional money. Lawmakers provided about $28 billion in 2023 across 31 agencies to benefit tribes and Native Americans, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

“It’s clear that the United States government has not lived up to the promises that we made to Native Americans, and we continue to struggle to fund the things that are necessary to live up to those promises,” said U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, a Republican from Flat Rock whose district includes the tribal boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee. “And if another tribe were to be unjustly added to the list of recipients of the funds that are available, then it weakens the funds that are available for those folks that legitimately have been recognized.” 

Sen. Jon Tester, then a Democratic lawmaker from Montana, helped secure federal recognition for the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians in 2019, but blocked legislation recognizing the Lumbee in 2020.

The 14,000 members of the Eastern Band — the only North Carolina tribe with full federal recognition — have raised concerns about the Lumbee achieving the same status. Principal Chief Michell Hicks said the tribe is not against full recognition for the Lumbee, but wants them to go through a federal agency instead of Congress.

“It’s a complicated issue that needs proper evaluation,” Hicks said. “We say that respectfully.”

The Cherokee argue that evaluation should happen through the Office of Federal Acknowledgment, created in 1978 within the Bureau of Indian Affairs to provide a uniform process for tribes to become federally recognized. Neither the Eastern Band, which was recognized in 1868, nor the Lumbee have gone through that process.

But the Eastern Band’s objections go beyond the procedural. They and their supporters question the Lumbee people’s ability to document who qualifies for membership.

“The Eastern Band of Cherokee have a very specific historical continuity, and they are able to prove that the Lumbee do not,” Edwards said. 

Unlike the Cherokee, he said, the Lumbee cannot show “evidence of descendants from a tribe,” nor a history of being “a community of distinct culture over time” and maintaining “self-governance.” Lumbee leaders say such arguments are incorrect and foolish. 

When Hicks said late last year that Congress would “establish a dangerous precedent” by granting the Lumbee full recognition, John Lowery retorted: “The Lumbee will not allow our people to be pushed in the corner by those who suffer from a superiority complex.” 

What would full recognition mean for the Lumbee?

John Lowery sees immediate benefits awaiting for tribal members if full federal recognition happens. The biggest, fastest impact could be health care.

“Straight off the bat, I do think that funding through Indian Health Services is going to be a major booster for us,” he said. “We still have a lot of tribal members who are underinsured or uninsured.” 

Then there are casinos. 

Full federal recognition would allow the Lumbee to enter the gambling business, joining the Eastern Band, with its casinos in Western North Carolina, and the Catawba Tribe, with a temporary casino open and a permanent one under construction west of Charlotte.

The Eastern Band has been able to disburse up to $14,000 a year in casino revenue to each adult member, which NC Newsline reports has helped pull the community out of generational poverty. 

In 2023, Republican North Carolina lawmakers introduced a gambling expansion plan that called for four rural casinos, including one operated by the Lumbee tribe in the southeastern part of the state, but the proposal has stalled. 

John Lowery said he’s not focused on bringing a casino to Robeson County right now. Under the tribe’s constitution, members would have to vote in favor of it. 

His brother said a casino in Robeson would create needed jobs and economic opportunities. 

“The property tax value to the county would have been so large,” he said. “We could have built schools, jails, a new courthouse.”

The state of play in D.C.

There is more bipartisan support for Lumbee recognition in Congress now than in previous terms. The Lumbee hope Trump’s focus on the tribe will help sway some holdouts. 

“I think that we’re in a good point where the Democrats have generally been very supportive on tribal sovereignty issues, and now with President Trump on board, I think most Republicans are fine with the Lumbee moving forward,” Jarrod Lowery said.

Ten of North Carolina’s 14 U.S. representatives supported Lumbee recognition in the last congressional term. Only Edwards and Rep. Virginia Foxx, who also represents Western North Carolina, opposed it. Then-Reps. Patrick McHenry and Wiley Nickel did not vote. 

Among five new Republican members elected last fall, McDowell, Mark Harris and Tim Moore have signed on as co -sponsors of the Lumbee Fairness Act. Knott’s team said he’s still mulling the issue. Rep. Pat Harrigan did not respond to requests for comment. 

The Lowerys said they hope they can change Foxx’s mind on the issue, but they know there’s no moving Edwards.

“You can’t really blame him for supporting his constituents,” Jarrod Lowery said.

Tillis said he’s received reports over the past few weeks that the Eastern Band will support efforts to unseat him in the 2026 election if he continues to back the Lumbee tribe. He said Richard Burr, a Republican senator who retired in 2022, faced similar promises. 

Still, Tillis believes support for full federal recognition for the Lumbee people is growing. 

“We’ve made a huge amount of progress over the last Congress, and I think the table is set on the Senate side, and we’ll work with a couple of members in the House,” Tillis said. “But I’m optimistic. I think this is the Congress.” 

While Tillis wants the Lumbee tribe to become fully recognized by an act of Congress, Trump’s focus on the tribe raises the question: Could the president sign an executive order, bypassing traditional methods? 

John Lowery doesn’t love that idea. He wants Congress to act. 

“It’s clear, concise and unambiguous, and that’s what we need,” he said. “We need clear, concise and unambiguous action, which will leave no room for any type of lawsuits or potential threats of lawsuits or even for another president following him to come in and undo it.”

John Lowery said he recently came across a photo from 1924 of Lumbee people in Washington lobbying for full federal recognition. 

“Isn’t that crazy?” he said. “One hundred years ago, they’re standing on the steps of the Capitol taking pictures, trying to get this thing done.”

This time, it appears they’re closer than ever.

The preceding article originally appeared on April 23, 2023 at the Raleigh News & Observer’s website and is made available here for educational purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 106A-117 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Any views or opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Carolina Leadership Coalition. Photo above: Trinity Locklear, 15, of the Lumbee tribe, dances at the Bravenation Powwow and Gathering at Pembroke at UNC-Pembroke, Saturday, March 23, 2025. Photo by Scott Sharpe, Director of Multimedia and Photography for the Raleigh News & Observer.