The North Carolina Flyover
President Trump’s push to federally recognize North Carolina’s Lumbee Tribe has sparked controversy among Native American communities like the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, who argue the Lumbees lack sufficient historical and genealogical evidence to qualify for federal recognition.
Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 23, advancing the tribe’s 140-year quest for acknowledgment and benefits. The Interior Department has been tasked with exploring pathways beyond the traditional recognition process established in 1978, which Cherokee leaders warn could set a harmful precedent.
The Lumbee trace their roots back to 1725 and count about 55,000 members across North Carolina. It claims to be “the amalgamation of various Siouan, Algonquian, and Iroquoian speaking tribes.”
The Lumbee Act of 1956 declared that the tribe be “known and designated as Lumbee Indians of North Carolina,” but it denied them the federal rights and benefits granted to other tribes.