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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 [www.gpo.gov]
[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.
                
                
                    (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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