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PEMBROKE, N.C. — The melody from a drum filled the Boys and Girls Club in Pembroke. Among those playing an honor song in tribute to the Lumbees who stood up to the Ku Klux Klan in 1958 was Tribal Chairman John Lowery.
Recently he witnessed some new history for the tribe. He was in the Oval Office when President Donald Trump signed the legislation that gave the tribe the federal recognition it’s sought for decades. The president gave Lowery a special medal.
“And to know that in 2025, I was standing in the Oval Office. You know, it’s a tremendous step for our people that we’ve not been allowed in certain buildings to standing in the Oval Office,” Lowery said.
Newspaper clippings from 1958 told the story of the confrontation with the Klan that Lumbees remember as “The Battle of Hayes Pond.” It happened on January 18.
Jack Lowery, who’s now a prominent attorney, was a college student back then. He’s not related to the tribal chairman. He remembered what happened.
“There was a boy. I think his name was Marvin Lowery, took a shotgun and shot out the flood light that was lighting the platform for the Ku Klux Klan. When he did that, all hell broke loose,” Jack Lowery said.
The confrontation with the KKK is remembered annually by Lumbees. And now after achieving federal recognition, there is a new anniversary to celebrate with equal fervor. That’s December 18, 2025. That’s the day federal recognition finally happened.
“It took 137 years,” John Lowery said. “And to be honest with you, you’re right. It’s worth a year-long celebration.”
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David Ivey
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