Presidential Document2025-02124
Federal Recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina
Primary source
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Published
January 31, 2025
Signed
January 23, 2025
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 20 (Friday, January 31, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 20 (Friday, January 31, 2025)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 8653-8654]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-02124]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 90 , No. 20 / Friday, January 31, 2025 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 8653]]
Memorandum of January 23, 2025
Federal Recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of North
Carolina
Memorandum for the Secretary of the Interior
Section 1. Purpose and Policy. The Lumbee Tribe of
North Carolina, known as the People of the Dark Water,
have a long and storied history. The tribe's members
were descendants of several tribal nations from the
Algonquian, Iroquoian, and Siouan language families,
including the Hatteras, the Tuscarora, and the Cheraw.
The waters of the Lumbee River and lands that surround
it have protected and provided for the Lumbee people
for centuries despite war, disease, and many other
perils.
In 1885, the State of North Carolina recognized the
Lumbee people as an Indian tribe. 1885 N.C. Sess. Laws
92. In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the
Lumbee Act (Public Law 84-570, 70 Stat. 254), which
recognized the Lumbee as the Lumbee Indians of North
Carolina but denied Lumbee Indians Federal benefits
associated with such recognition. Today, according to
the State of North Carolina, the Lumbee Tribe consists
of more than 55,000 members, making it the largest
tribe east of the Mississippi River and the ninth-
largest tribe in the Nation.
In 2024, the United States House of Representatives
passed, by a vote of 311-96, the Lumbee Fairness Act
(H.R. 1101), which would grant the Lumbee Tribe full
Federal recognition, but this legislation was not
considered by the United States Senate before the end
of the 118th Congress. Similar legislation has passed
the House of Representatives several times.
Considering the Lumbee Tribe's historical and modern
significance, it is the policy of the United States to
support the full Federal recognition, including the
authority to receive full Federal benefits, of the
Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.
Sec. 2. Directive for Recognition Plan. (a) Within 90
days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary of
the Interior shall review all applicable authorities
regarding the recognition or acknowledgement of Indian
tribes and, in consultation with the leadership of the
Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, shall submit to the
President a plan to assist the Lumbee Tribe in
obtaining full Federal recognition through legislation
or other available mechanisms, including the right to
receive full Federal benefits.
(b) The plan shall include consideration and
analysis of each potential legal pathway to effectuate
full Federal recognition of the Lumbee Tribe, including
through an act of the Congress, judicial action, or the
Procedures for Federal Acknowledgement of Indian Tribes
set forth in 25 CFR part 83.
[[Page 8654]]
(c) The Secretary of the Interior is authorized and
directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal
Register.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
Washington, January 23, 2025
[FR Doc. 2025-02124
Filed 1-30-25; 8:45 am]
Billing code 4310-10-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on January 31, 2025.
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