PEMBROKE — Three Robeson County Tuscarora American Indian groups have united to press their case for state recognition by submitting a petition and responses to “findings and deficiencies” to the North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs.
Tamra Lowry has spearheaded the Tuscarora Confederacy’s claim to a seat at the table of the 21-member commission. With input from legal and anthropological resources, the petition makes a case for about 1,000 people in three Tuscarora strongholds in Maxton, Saddletree and Prospect communities.
“We want a voice in state Indian affairs and to participate in cultural affairs with the 11 state-recognized Indian tribes,” Lowry said. “This effort began 40 years ago in 1980.”
Long before that, some of Robeson County’s American Indians have claimed Tuscarora descent, including Henry Berry Lowrie, the Civil War-era Robeson County hero. Lumbees claim a different historical path.
The Tuscarora’s 40-plus pages of paperwork, which was at least two years in the making, will go the Recognition Committee of the Commission of Indian Affairs. A year ago, the initial petition was returned with additional questions.
A state Department of Administration spokesperson confirmed receipt of the final draft on Jan. 23, but could not provide further details. Attempts to contact Greg Richardson, Commission of Indian Affairs executive director, to get more information were unsuccessful.
Lowry said the original petition was submitted in 2012, and a second petition was returned with additional questions. It took another year to fill in the blanks.
“We were given 180 days to respond, but we asked for an additional 180 days,” Lowry said. “Over 300 years of historical information is documented, and the Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina followed not only the state recognition requirements, but additionally followed (federal guidelines for recognition).
“It took the Tuscarora people precisely 358 days to demonstrate kinship relationships with other recognized American Indian tribes. These relationships with other recognized American Indian tribes were based on the petitioner’s identification as an American Indian group or community and were evidenced by historic blood and marriage kinship ties and communal interaction of spiritual, educational and social institutions; or other cultural relationships between known (recognized) tribal communities and the petitioner’s community.”
Robeson County’s three Tuscarora groups are related and identify themselves through family clan groups in different parts of the county. They joined together, via an agreement, to apply for state recognition. Together they are the Confederation of Sovereign Tuscarora Bands of Robeson County, an alliance of the Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina, Tuscarora Tribe of North Carolina and the Tuscarora Indian Nation of North Carolina.
State recognition would qualify the Tuscaroras, who have each established nonprofit status, for some state and federal grants, but Lowry said there is much to gain that is less tangible.
“We want a voice on the Commission of Indian Affairs, because it shapes state policy about Indian affairs,” Lowry said.
There also are cultural and educational issues with participation in the state celebration of Native American Heritage Month, the annual Unity Conference and other events, she said.
Lowry and her team worked up to the deadline to produce answers to the commission’s questions. The federal government shutdown caused problems because it closed the Library of Congress, where some of the research is archived.
Lowry is pleased with the final product and believes it deserves fair consideration and eventually state recognition. But she is not optimistic.
“We are not hopeful that they will respond fairly,” Lowry said. “We expect to go to court, and we have prepared a legal case along with our case for recognition.”
The Lumbees are the largest tribe in North Carolina and have the most influence on the commission. The Lumbees, who were recognized by the state in 1885, have three seats on the commission, most of the 11 tribes and associations.
Lumbee Tribe Chairman Harvey Godwin Jr. said he is aware of the petition, but did not commit further.
“I prefer to reserve my comments until after the Commission of Indian Affairs renders its decision,” Godwin said.
Conflict has marked Lumbee and Tuscarora relationships over the years. Lowry is hopeful that past differences will not derail the effort on the state stage.
“The Tuscarora people have challenged the honorable Gov. (Roy) Cooper to employ a close watch to ensure the duration of the state recognition process is fair, unbiased and protected from tribal discrimination and political tactics of neighboring North Carolina recognized tribes,” she said.
In general, criteria for recognition requires a history of the tribe and its origins, kinship through time and evidence of tribal collaboration and self-government. Charts of Tuscarora ancestry are a major feature of the petition.
The Tuscarora history in North Carolina came to a critical moment in the early 18th century when the powerful Indian nation, headquartered in New York, was defeated in the Tuscarora War of 1711-13. Remnants of the tribe settled in Bertie County then migrated farther south to Bladen County, which encompassed Robeson County at that time, the petition asserts.
The petition cites the Tuscarora presence in Robeson County in the 1790 census and in tax records of Bladen County. It states that the Lumbees, through the Lumbee Regional Development Association, blocked state recognition efforts in the early 1980s.
Lowry, graduate of The University of North Carolina Pembroke who is in her final year of a master’s degree program in speech pathology, has devoted considerable time to making the case.
“We have always been the people of the swamp, who live down the long, long dirt roads,” she said. “The Tuscarora people have suffered tremendously due to political scrutinizing, tribal discrimination and paper genocide of our history.
“The time to end this tribal discrimination is now,” Lowry said.
