Lumbee and BIA Process Fact Sheet

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c042_020_011_001_tr.txt

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File Name (Dublin Core)

c042_020_011_001

Title (Dublin Core)

Lumbee and BIA Process Fact Sheet

Description (Dublin Core)

Fact sheet discussing the Lumbee Tribe and the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) process

Date (Dublin Core)

undated

Date Created (Dublin Core)

2003

Congress (Dublin Core)

108th (2003-2005)

Topics (Dublin Core)

See all items with this valueCheraw Indians

See all items with this valueFederally recognized Indian tribes

See all items with this valueLumbee Indians

Policy Area (Curation)

Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues

Creator (Dublin Core)

Dole, Elizabeth Hanford

Record Type (Dublin Core)

notes (documents)

Names (Dublin Core)

See all items with this valueMcPherson, O. M. (Orlando M.)

See all items with this valueSwanton, John Reed, 1873-1958

Location representation (Dublin Core)

See all items with this valueNorth Carolina

Rights (Dublin Core)

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

Language (Dublin Core)

eng

Collection Finding Aid (Dublin Core)

https://dolearchivecollections.ku.edu/index.php?p=collections/findingaid&id=343&q=

Physical Location (Dublin Core)

Collection 042, Box 20, Folder 11

Institution (Dublin Core)

Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

Archival Collection (Dublin Core)

Elizabeth Hanford Dole Senate Papers, 1995-2022

Full Text (Extract Text)

Lumbee and BIA Process
The Lumbee tribe has been denied the ability to go through the BIA process since it began. When the BIA process began in the 1970s, Lumbee were denied access to the process because of the 1956 statute. To delay recognition by another decade or longer would compound the injustice.

The whole purpose of the administrative process is to determine the legitimacy of a tribe. The BIA and Congress have already made that determination with respect to Lumbee in response to the many bills that have been introduced to recognize the Tribe since 1888.

Simply put, there is no need to spend the time, federal resources, and tribal resources to prove something that the Department has already proved -- that the Lumbees are an Indian community descended from the historic Cheraw Indians.

Consider:
a. In response to the 1913 bill, Congress directed the Department of the Interior to study Lumbee. The Department assigned Charles Pierce, supervisor of Indian schools, to do so. Pierce produced a report that documented the tribe's existence, but recommended against recognition because the federal government's policy was to require states having an Indian population to assume responsibility for them. Since NC had already assumed responsibility for Lumbees, federal gov't should do nothing.
b. Again in 1914, the Senate directed the Secretary of the Interior to study the Tribe's history. Special Indian Agent O.M. McPherson was assigned the task. In his letter of transmission of his report to Congress, he said he conducted extensive historical and on the ground research into the Tribe. He produced a report of 252 pages, comparable to some of the reports currently produced by the BIA on tribes. His report also confirmed the tribal characteristics of Lumbee.
c. In response to the 1933 bill, the Secretary of the Interior attached a report on Lumbee history done by John Swanton, a well-known and respected expert from the Smithsonian Institution on southeastern Indians. He concluded that the Lumbees are Indian, live in a separate community, and descend from the historic Cheraw Tribe -- the major factors in the current acknowledgment regulations.

In fact, Congress has never passed a special statute to send a tribe to the administrative process. Every single time that a tribe was ineligible for the process for whatever reason, the Congress has simply recognized or restored the tribe.

Lumbee and BIA Process
The Lumbee tribe has been denied the ability to go through the BIA process since it began. When the BIA process began in the 1970s, Lumbee were denied access to the process because of the 1956 statute. To delay recognition by another decade or longer would compound the injustice.

The whole purpose of the administrative process is to determine the legitimacy of a tribe. The BIA and Congress have already made that determination with respect to Lumbee in response to the many bills that have been introduced to recognize the Tribe since 1888.

Simply put, there is no need to spend the time, federal resources, and tribal resources to prove something that the Department has already proved -- that the Lumbees are an Indian community descended from the historic Cheraw Indians.

Consider:
a. In response to the 1913 bill, Congress directed the Department of the Interior to study Lumbee. The Department assigned Charles Pierce, supervisor of Indian schools, to do so. Pierce produced a report that documented the tribe's existence, but recommended against recognition because the federal government's policy was to require states having an Indian population to assume responsibility for them. Since NC had already assumed responsibility for Lumbees, federal gov't should do nothing.
b. Again in 1914, the Senate directed the Secretary of the Interior to study the Tribe's history. Special Indian Agent O.M. McPherson was assigned the task. In his letter of transmission of his report to Congress, he said he conducted extensive historical and on the ground research into the Tribe. He produced a report of 252 pages, comparable to some of the reports currently produced by the BIA on tribes. His report also confirmed the tribal characteristics of Lumbee.
c. In response to the 1933 bill, the Secretary of the Interior attached a report on Lumbee history done by John Swanton, a well-known and respected expert from the Smithsonian Institution on southeastern Indians. He concluded that the Lumbees are Indian, live in a separate community, and descend from the historic Cheraw Tribe -- the major factors in the current acknowledgment regulations.

In fact, Congress has never passed a special statute to send a tribe to the administrative process. Every single time that a tribe was ineligible for the process for whatever reason, the Congress has simply recognized or restored the tribe.

Lumbee and BIA Process
The Lumbee tribe has been denied the ability to go through the BIA process since it began. When the BIA process began in the 1970s, Lumbee were denied access to the process because of the 1956 statute. To delay recognition by another decade or longer would compound the injustice.

The whole purpose of the administrative process is to determine the legitimacy of a tribe. The BIA and Congress have already made that determination with respect to Lumbee in response to the many bills that have been introduced to recognize the Tribe since 1888.

Simply put, there is no need to spend the time, federal resources, and tribal resources to prove something that the Department has already proved -- that the Lumbees are an Indian community descended from the historic Cheraw Indians.

Consider:
a. In response to the 1913 bill, Congress directed the Department of the Interior to study Lumbee. The Department assigned Charles Pierce, supervisor of Indian schools, to do so. Pierce produced a report that documented the tribe's existence, but recommended against recognition because the federal government's policy was to require states having an Indian population to assume responsibility for them. Since NC had already assumed responsibility for Lumbees, federal gov't should do nothing.
b. Again in 1914, the Senate directed the Secretary of the Interior to study the Tribe's history. Special Indian Agent O.M. McPherson was assigned the task. In his letter of transmission of his report to Congress, he said he conducted extensive historical and on the ground research into the Tribe. He produced a report of 252 pages, comparable to some of the reports currently produced by the BIA on tribes. His report also confirmed the tribal characteristics of Lumbee.
c. In response to the 1933 bill, the Secretary of the Interior attached a report on Lumbee history done by John Swanton, a well-known and respected expert from the Smithsonian Institution on southeastern Indians. He concluded that the Lumbees are Indian, live in a separate community, and descend from the historic Cheraw Tribe -- the major factors in the current acknowledgment regulations.

In fact, Congress has never passed a special statute to send a tribe to the administrative process. Every single time that a tribe was ineligible for the process for whatever reason, the Congress has simply recognized or restored the tribe.