North Carolina

Native American Networks

The state also has the largest population of Native Americans in the east and the sixth highest in the country, about 1.2 percent, primarily from the eight federally recognized tribes within the state borders. The largest is the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, with about 13,400 enrolled tribal members. The Eastern Band does not have a reservation in legal terms, but members live on the Qualla Boundary (usually just called the Qualla) in western North Carolina. The Qualla is a land trust supervised by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, most of it lying on the original Cherokee homeland, with smaller noncontiguous segments in other North Carolina counties. The Eastern Band's tribal ancestors are the Cherokee who did not take the Trail of Tears march to the Oklahoma Territory and instead remained in their homeland, where they mounted a rebellion against the federal forces attempting to expel them. One of the warriors defying the federal army was Tsali, who—and historical accounts are murky and conflicting—seems to have purchased amnesty for his fellow Cherokee rebels in return for his execution. Today much of the Eastern Band's income comes from the operation of the Harrah's Cherokee Casino.

The Lumbee tribe also has a large, but unknown, number of members; although recognized by the state of North Carolina, the tribe has not yet received full federal recognition. The other federally recognized tribes include the Haliwa-Saponi tribe of eastern North Carolina, with about 3,800 enrolled tribal members; the Waccamaw Siouan tribe, with 2,000 enrolled tribal members in mid-Atlantic North Carolina; the Coharie tribe, with about 1,800 enrolled tribal members; the Sappony tribe, with about 850 enrolled members; the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, with about 800 enrolled tribal members; and the Meherrin, with about 600 enrolled members.

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