Executive Summary: Historical Political Activities of Lumbee

Historical research into the origins of the Lumbee shows that the individuals they now claim as forebears were never an Indian tribe, but rather free British subjects and later American citizens. Archival records from the mid-1700s through the 19th century demonstrate that these families purchased land legally, paid colonial and state taxes, served in militias, probated estates, and engaged in political processes as free people of color. At no point did they resist colonial or American law, nor did they assert membership in an autonomous Indian polity. Importantly, these forebears enjoyed the rights of citizenship as early as the 1700s—more than 150 years before Native Americans were granted U.S. citizenship in 1924. Claims of Indian ancestry were non-existent until the restrictions of the 1835 North Carolina constitution on the rights of nonwhites prompted efforts to seek government assistance as "Indians.” Full Report

Colonial and Early American Periods
From their earliest appearances in North Carolina and Virginia records, Lumbee forebears identified and acted as part of the colonial and early American civic structure. They petitioned legislatures, served in militias, and exercised rights of property owners. Their classification as “free people of color” was clear, and they never claimed an Indian identity.

Post-Civil War Shifts
Following the Civil War, mixed-ancestry families in Robeson County regained some rights and began organizing politically. Their petitions to the Freedmen’s Bureau and later to state and federal governments were not based on historical tribal identity, but rather on demands for separate schools and resources. In this context, for the first time, they began to describe themselves as “Indian,” not from evidence of tribal lineage, but as a political construct to secure services denied them to from white systems and refusal to use black systems.

Adopting Multiple Identities
From the 1880s onward, these families—encouraged by local politicians like Hamilton McMillan—cycled through various claimed tribal identities. They first adopted the name “Croatan Indians,” then “Cherokee Indians of Robeson County,” later “Siouan Indians,” and still later “Cheraw.” Each shift was driven not by historical or genealogical evidence, but by political expediency and the pursuit of federal and state funding, especially for schools. Federal investigators and the Bureau of Indian Affairs consistently rejected their petitions, noting the absence of treaties, tribal governance, separate language, or continuous cultural traditions.

Pattern Continuing to Present
This pattern persists today: the group known as the Lumbee continues to pursue federal recognition and access to billions in taxpayer funding, despite the absence of genealogical or historical substantiation of descent from any specific Indian tribe. Their claims have rested not on verifiable tribal continuity, but on a succession of invented or borrowed identities constructed for political gain.

Conclusion
The historical record makes clear that the Lumbee did not emerge as a tribe through continuous cultural and political existence. Rather, they were families of free people of color who only began to identify as “Indian” when it became politically advantageous in the late 19th century. The Lumbee identity was—and remains—a political construct, not a historical reality. The fact that their forebears were recognized as citizens long before Native Americans underscores the lack of historical or legal basis for Lumbee tribal claims.