Digital Scholarship and Initiatives

Copiously documented and admirably researched, the Petition is organized to address each requirement of the Code of Federal Regulations for “establishing that an American Indian group exists as an Indian tribe.” The preparation of the Petition took seven years.  Volume One is an extensive historical narrative, from European contact through the contemporary Lumbee community.  There are separate sections on topics such as kinship, churches, schools, Lumbee Homecoming, the Carolina Indian Voice, values, LRDA, tribal recognition, and the Lumbee political process.  There are tables, genealogical charts, maps, and photographs.  Volume Two is primarily bibliographical, including many annotated references for early Robeson County newspaper articles.  Some of these papers were short-lived, and only clippings exist.  Volume Three summarizes arguments that the Lumbees descend primarily from the Cheraws.  Most of the correspondence with government agencies and the archival materials cited are not listed in this bibliography; many of the unpublished legal documents, and many of the newspaper articles, arelikewise not included.  Few researchers would fail to benefit from the Petition.

Note: A memo from Associate Solicitor of Indian Affairs William G. Lavell, on October 23, 1989, ruled that the "nothing in this act" portion of the 1956 Lumbee Act terminates the Lumbee and forbids the federal relationship. The BIA cannot, therefore, process the Lumbee Petition and make a decision on whether or not to grant the Lumbee federal acknowledgment unless Congress amends the 1956 Lumbee Act to remove the termination language.