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The '''Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina''' is a [[state recognized tribe]] of approximately 55,000 enrolled members, most of them living in [[Robeson County, North Carolina|Robeson]] and the adjacent counties in southeastern [[North Carolina]]. The Lumbee Tribe is the largest tribe in North Carolina, the largest
The Lumbee Indians have been officially recognized by the state of North Carolina since 1885 and participate at the state level in many ways, including in the North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs. They also participate at the national level in many ways, including in the [[National Congress of American Indians]] and the [[National Indian Education Association]]. The Lumbee Indians were
The Lumbee are one of eight state-recognized Native American tribes in North Carolina.<ref>[http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/colls/themes/november.html "Native American Heritage."] ''State Library of North Carolina.'' (retrieved 8 Nov 2009)</ref> The Lumbee are heavily concentrated in [[Robeson County, North Carolina|Robeson County]] on the southern border of the state. Over the years, the Lumbee have migrated to other areas, primarily for employment. Thus there are sizeable settlements in Cumberland, Sampson, Hoke, Scotland, and Columbus Counties; in Greensboro, Charlotte, Detroit, Baltimore, Claxton, Georgia (between 1865 and the 1920's, to work [[turpentine]] and cotton), and a spurious group in Shasta County, north central California called the United Lumbee Nation which claims Lumbee origin.<ref name="linux.library.appstate.edu">http://linux.library.appstate.edu/lumbee/Miscellaneous/lumv.html</ref> They chose the Lumbee name in 1952, drawing inspiration from the original name of the primary waterway traversing Robeson County, also referred to as Drowning Creek, and now the [[Lumber River]] because of the extensive 19th-century timber trade in the region. Many of the Lumbee still refer to the river by its original name, the Lumbee River, [[Sioux language|Siouan]] for dark water.
The ancestors of the Lumbee were mainly Cheraw and related Siouan-speaking Indians who have lived in the area of what is now Robeson County prior to the 1700s.
The Lumbee of Robeson County were officially recognized as Indians in 1885 by the State of North Carolina. They were initially declared by
In 1956, the [[United States Congress]] passed H.R. 4656, known as the Lumbee Act, which federally
Congressional legislation extending federal recognition to the Lumbee is supported by many federally recognized tribes.<ref>Houghton, p. 750. Houghton was Counsel on Native American Affairs of the US House of Representatives from 1989 to 1994.</ref><ref>For a treatment of the argument that the Lumbee should not be recognized through congressional legislation, see the dissenting views in: "U.S. Congress, House Committee on Natural Resources," Report Together with Dissenting Views to Accompany H.R. 334, 103rd Cong., 1st sess., 14 October 1993, H. Rpt. 290."</ref> The [[Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians]] is a federally recognized tribe in North Carolina, and it has opposed Lumbee efforts to gain full federal recognition, mainly due to the fact that other recognized tribes fear that if another tribe is added to the mix, their share of federal money will decrease.. However, the [[Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma]] has at several times outwardly supported the Lumbee in their effort to gain full federal recognition. On four separate occasions, starting as early as 1910 through 1932, the Lumbee formerly known as the Croatans, brought at least four bills before Congress to be recognized, re-named and enrolled as Cherokee Indians and/or Cherokee Indians of Robeson County. On January 6, 2009, US Representative [[Mike McIntyre]] introduced legislation (H.R. 31) intended to grant the Lumbee Indians full federal recognition. On June 3, 2009, the [[US House]] voted 240 to 179 for full federal recognition for the Lumbee tribe, acknowledging that they are the descendants of the [[Cheraw people|Cheraw]] tribe. Later that year on October 22, 2009, the [[United States Senate]] [[Committee on Indian Affairs]] approved a bill for federal recognition of the Lumbee but the bill did not make it to the floor for a vote in the next session.<ref>Congressional Report No. 111-116</ref>
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One of the greatest controversies about the Lumbee centers around who lived where, and when. There is a widespread idea among some Indian and non-Indian people that Native Americans moved into what is now Robeson County and settled here along the [[Lumber River|Lumbee River]] sometime after Columbus. To a certain extent, that is true. Historical references indicate that some Indian people did move in from other locations. Such references point to movements of Cheraws who spoke a Siouan language, Hatterases who spoke an Algonkian language, and Tuscaroras who spoke an Iroquoian tongue. Their movements into the region happened between the time of John White’s “Lost Colony” in the 1580s and the Civil War in the 1860s, and apparently consisted of fairly small numbers of people. The problem arises if one stops thinking at that point. One shortcoming of the “Indians-moved-in-and-settled” theory is that it overlooks important evidence. The theory implies, and some people seem now to believe, that the land of the Lumbee was a vacuum, that no one was here until Indian people from elsewhere “moved in and settled.” Such conclusions are simply inconsistent with archaeological evidence that shows that this area was already occupied by Native Americans before the reported movements of the Cheraws, Hatterases, Tuscaroras, and possibly others. In addition to the presence of Indian people for millennia, clearly a late prehistoric occupation was here along the Lumbee River that is illustrated by the presence of at least thirty-one archaeological sites with late Woodland artifacts. Artifacts at these sites suggest Indian occupation of present-day Robeson County between AD 1200 and 1750. In short, Native Americans were along the land that surrounds the [[Lumber River|Lumbee River]] long before anybody else could have “moved in and settled.”<ref name="Stanley Knick 1988"/>
The first explorers of North Carolina were the Spanish,they made mention of a group of natives living around drowning creek ([[Lumber River|Lumbee River]]) in the 1500's. In 1754, North Carolina Governor Matthew Rowan proclaimed the county of Anson a "frontier to the Indians". Drowning Creek formed the border between Anson and Bladen counties and the settlement was located on the Anson side of the border. In 1771, a convicted felon by the name of Winsler Driggers was captured "near Drowning Creek, in the Charraw settlement
When the Scots and Irish came to what became Robeson County in the mid-eighteenth century, the Indians already had many European trade goods, including metal tools, and were getting on with the business of making a living for their families as farmers. They had been farmers of maize, beans, and squash long before the Europeans came, and they could farm a living right along if given the chance. Some elements of the old culture did not change much. One of the traditional elements of Lumbee culture that did not change is that sense of personal and community identity to which Lumbee people have so fiercely held. They have always known they were Indians. Whenever people from the outside world came to visit or to stay, it was always with the knowledge that these people were Indians in their hearts and in their outlook. The elders knew, and they taught the children this. Among the things children learned at the feet of their elders was medicine. A number of Lumbee people, especially elders, still have knowledge of herbal remedies passed down for generations. Arthur Barlowe in the late sixteenth century, and John Lawson in the early eighteenth century noted that [[sassafras]] was a common treatment among the Indians of the Carolinas. A study in the mid-1980s of health among a large sample of Lumbee people revealed that [[sassafras]] was still the most commonly used herbal remedy. There are and always have been specialists in traditional healing in the Lumbee community<ref name="Knick, Stanley 2008, pp. 80-89"/>
==Culture and traditions==
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