We want to take time to recognize February 2nd as a Lumbee Holiday, as established by the Lumbee Tribal Council.

We want to take time to recognize February 2nd as a Lumbee Holiday, as established by the Lumbee Tribal Council. Nearly a quarter of a millennium ago, the Cheraw ancestors of our present-day people settled on the banks of the Lumbee River, seeking refuge to escape colonial encroachment. Over those years our people were forced to assimilate into colonial ways of economics, education, worship, and so much more. During this time period, our people, like many of the other Tribes of North Carolina, have been inappropriately named and renamed by state authorities. This constant renaming by the State of N.C. ended on February 2, 1952 when our people asserted our sovereign rights with 2,169 tribal citizens voting to adopt the traditional ancestral name of the Lumbee River as the official name of our Tribe. We honor and say thank you to our ancestors for showing resiliency and exercising the sovereignty of our people during a time of great oppression. The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina stands as a beacon of Native prosperity and progress as we demonstrate careers and leadership as doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses, police, ministers, executives, engineers, social workers, elected officials, military leaders, CEOs, financers, and other essential leaders. In words of the late Lumbee musician Willie French Lowery, “I'm proud to be a Lumbee Indian, Yes I am.”