Executive Summary Analysis of Lumbee Claims of Tribal Affiliation

Introduction

​This report examines the historical claims of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina regarding its tribal affiliation. Since the late 19th century, the Lumbee have sought federal recognition as a Native American tribe. However, historical and genealogical research reveals that no verifiable evidence links the Lumbee to any specific historical tribe. The research underscores the importance of the Office of Federal Acknowledgment (OFA) process in evaluating such claims before federal recognition is considered. Full Report

​

Early Theories of Tribal Progenitors

Theories regarding the origins of the Lumbee have existed since the 1880s but lack any

reliable genealogical or historical substantiation.

• The "Lost Colony" Theory: In 1885, historian Hamilton McMillan proposed that the Lumbee descended from the Roanoke Island colonists and the Croatoan Indians. His claim was based on an assertion that Lumbee surnames matched those of Roanoke colonists. However, genealogical research shows no evidence of such descent, and the only potentially shared surnames—Brooks and Berry—are common English names with no documented connection between Lumbee families and Roanoke settlers (McMillan, Sir Walter Raleigh’s Lost Colony, 1888).

• Stephen Weeks’ Hypothesis (1891): Historian Stephen Weeks expanded on McMillan’s theory, suggesting a migration pattern from Roanoke Island to Robeson County. However, Weeks provided no documentation of this migration or any evidence linking the Croatoan people to the Lumbee (Weeks, History of the Indian Tribes of North America, 1891).

​

Appropriation of Cherokee Identity (1911-1932)

In the early 20th century, the Lumbee sought recognition under various names:

• 1911-1912: Due to the use of “Croatan” as a racial slur, the group successfully petitioned the North Carolina  legislature to change their designation to "Indians of Robeson County" (North Carolina General Assembly, Session Laws, 1911).

• 1913: The North Carolina legislature passed another bill that rebranded the Lumbee as the "Cherokee Indians of Robeson County" and sought federal recognition under this name despite lacking any genealogical, cultural, or linguistic ties to the Cherokee Nation. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians strongly opposed this move (U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, 1914 Hearings).

• 1932: The group formed the "Cherokee Business Committee" to lobby for recognition, but the Commissioner of Indian Affairs rejected their claim due to the absence of evidence supporting a Cherokee connection (Bureau of Indian Affairs, Memorandum on the Cherokee Indians of Robeson County, 1932).

The "Siouan" Identity and the Swanton Report (1933-1953)

• John Swanton’s Report (1933): Anthropologist John Swanton attempted to identify Lumbee ancestors based on geographical locations rather than historical tribal 2 records. He speculated that the Lumbee descended from the Cheraw and Keyauwee tribes, though no genealogical or cultural ties were established (Swanton, Early History of the Southeastern United States, 1933).

• Political Splits (1933-1953): A division emerged within the Lumbee community between those who preferred the designation "Cherokee" and those who embraced Swanton’s claim of Cheraw ancestry. This conflict continued until 1953, when the group formally adopted the name “Lumbee,” derived from the Lumber River, previously called Drowning Creek (Lumbee Tribe, Official Tribal History, 1953).

The Cheraw Connection and Historical Evidence

• The 1987 Lumbee petition for federal recognition claimed a “core Cheraw identity” but relied on documents that do not substantiate this claim. The key historical references used—such as a 1739 land dispute involving Welsh settlers and a 1771 news article mentioning a “Charraw settlement”—do not provide evidence that the Cheraw merged with Lumbee ancestors (U.S. Office of Federal Acknowledgment, Petition for Federal Acknowledgment of the Lumbee, 1987).

• Research by historian Robert K. Thomas found no connection between Lumbee progenitors and the Cheraw tribe. He concluded that the so-called “mix’d crew” of Drowning Creek in 1754 were likely Scots-Irish settlers rather than an Indian community (Thomas, A Report on Research of Lumbee Origins, 1976).

A complete copy of the report can be downloaded here.

​

Lumbee Historical Assertions (2017-2025)

• In her book The Lumbee Indians: An American Struggle (2018), historian Malinda Maynor Lowery listed sixteen tribes as potential Lumbee ancestors but provided no documentation linking these groups to Lumbee progenitor families. The Lumbee Tribe’s official website has frequently revised its origin claims, reflecting an ongoing lack of consistent evidence (Lowery, The Lumbee Indians: An American Struggle, 2018).

• The Lumbee website previously claimed descent from Algonquian, Iroquoian, and Siouan-speaking tribes, including the Tuscarora and Cheraw, yet offered no historical or genealogical evidence to support this assertion (Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina – Origins and Migrations, 2017-2025, Archived Webpages).

Federal Recognition Standards and Conclusion

• The OFA’s federal recognition criteria require that a tribe demonstrate descent from a previous historic Indian tribe or tribes. The Lumbee have not met this standard (U.S. Department of the Interior, Federal Acknowledgment Regulations, 2015).

• The Lumbee have functioned within colonial and American legal systems as private citizens rather than as a self- governing tribe. They have paid taxes, purchased land, participated in court proceedings, and solemnized marriages under state law, rather than operating as an autonomous Native nation (North Carolina Archives, Legal and Census Records of Free People of Color, 1750-1900).

• Without clear documentation linking the Lumbee to a previous historical tribe, Congressional recognition would bypass the established OFA verification process, setting a precedent for groups without historical legitimacy or clear tribal antecedents to attain federal status.

​

Recommendations

1. Congress should defer recognition efforts to the OFA for a full review.

2. Further independent genealogical research is necessary to establish Lumbee ancestry.

3. Tribal recognition should remain a fact-based process to prevent groups without verified tribal lineage from obtaining federal recognition.