WASHINGTON (WTVD) -- U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson and other North Carolina lawmakers introduced a bill Thursday to formally recognize the Lumbee Tribe.
Hudson joined fellow Republican representatives David Rouzer and Mark Harris, along with North Carolina's two US Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd in introducing the Lumbee Fairness Act.
The legislation would provide what they called long-overdue federal recognition and protections for the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.
"We must right this historic wrong done to the Lumbee Tribe and give them the full federal recognition they deserve," Rep. Hudson said.
GOP Reps. Tim Moore, Addison McDowell, and Greg Murphy also joined in introducing the legislation as did Democratic Reps. Valerie Foushee, Deborah Ross, and Don Davis.
This is a fight that has been going on for more than a century at the federal level.
North Carolina formally recognized the Lumbee Tribe in 1885, and the Tribe began to seek full federal recognition in 1888. The Lumbees have deep cultural roots in North Carolina.
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Since 1988, legislation to federally recognize the Lumbee has been introduced in Congress more than 30 separate times but has never passed through both houses of Congress.
Other North Carolina tribes have in the past pushed back on recognition for the Lumbees.
The Lumbee Recognition Act of 2020 passed a vote in the House of Representatives and went to the Senate. Representatives for the Cherokee and Choctaw tribes wrote a letter to Congress officially opposing the Lumbee Recognition Act, citing "doubt and uncertainty" about the Lumbees' lineage and genealogy.
The act never reached the desk of then-President Donald Trump, who signaled at the time that he voiced support for Lumbee recognition. With Trump set to return to office, Lumbee recognition could finally become a reality nearly 140 years after such efforts began.
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