Lumbee Tribe

The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is a state-recognized tribe representing the Lumbee people, with an estimated 55,000 members, the largest tribe in the United States east of the Mississippi River. The tribe does not hold federal recognition as a Native American tribe. In 1993, a group of Lumbee community leaders formed the Lumbee Tribe of Cheraw Indians (LTCI) to draft a constitution and establish a tribal government, which was approved by a referendum in 1994. However, a dispute over governance developed between the LTCI and the Lumbee Regional Development Association (LRDA), leading to a court decision in 1995 that neither organization had full claim to serving as the tribe's governing body, and the creation of the Lumbee Self-Determination Commission in 1998 to survey tribal members' preferences for the tribe's governing structure.learn more on wikipedia