Descendants of the Original 22 are protesting
the inclusion of historical information about the Original 22 in Lumbee
documentation for federal recognition and in testimony at hearings
on the current federal recognition bills. [Explanatory note: The Original
22 were certified by the Department of Interior’s Office of Indian
Affairs in 1938 as 1/2 or more Indian blood (and thus eligible for
benefits under the Indian Reorganization Act). See The Lumbee Indians:
an annotated bibliography, item 610. In 1938, 209 of Robeson County’s
Indians who had earlier organized and adopted the name Siouan applied
for benefits under the Wheeler-Howard Indian Reorganization Act. All
209 were tested by Smithsonian anthropologist Carl Seltzer to determine
their degree of Indian blood. The Siouans had adopted their tribal
name in early 1934, when a bill was introduced in Congress to recognize
the Indians of Robeson County under the name Siouan Indians of the
Lumber River. This bill did not pass.]
Descendants of the twenty-two Siouans
want the testimony about their relatives stricken from the records
of the House and Senate committee hearings on Lumbee federal recognition.
They consider Lumbee use of the 1938 certification of their relatives
“identity theft,” and they believe the Tuacarora Nation
of North Carolina, whose headquarters are in Maxton and whose chief
is Leon Locklear, should be recognized before the Lumbee are. Descendants
of the twenty-two Siouans are members of the Tuscarora Nation. The
Lumbee, they feel, are unfairly using the history of the Tuscarora
people and revising the history of Robeson County. Three of the descendants—Katherine
Magnotta, Leon Locklear, and Elisha Locklear—have taken action
such as submitting letters of opposition to the Lumbee bill to the
House Resources Committee for inclusion in the records of the committee
hearing, and meeting with a staff member from Sen. Elizabeth Dole’s
office.
Jimmy Goins, chairman of the Lumbee
Tribal Council, states, “The Tuscarora people are no different
than the Lumbee people. . . . We share the same ancestry, live in
the same communities, attend the same churches and schools, and are
for all intents and purposes the same people. The tribe views the
political differences between the various Tuscarora groups and Lumbee
as an internal tribal matter. Passage of the Lumbee bill will go a
long way toward resolving these differences” (para. 18).
The article notes that the Senate bill
currently under consideration specifies that Lumbee federal recognition
would not prohibit other tribes in Robeson County from seeking federal
recognition through the BIA’s petition process (see item 108-213).
Representative Mike McIntyre, who introduced
the House bill for Lumbee federal recognition, has had staff from
his office meet with representatives from Robeson County Tuscarora
groups. He said in a news release, “According to published reports,
there are four different groups of Tuscaroras in Robeson County all
claiming to be the certified nation for the Tuscaroras. I have encouraged
them to consider uniting as one entity and to also secure North Carolina
state recognition. . . . Doing these two important things would put
them in a better position to pursue federal recognition options. In
addition, I have just received some new documents regarding the Tuscaroras”
(para. 35).
