Respected Separation: The Living Distinctions Between the Tuscarora, Lumbee, Coharie, and Waccamaw Siouan Peoples
In North Carolina, it is no secret whispered only in archives or family kitchens that the Tuscarora, Lumbee, Coharie, and Waccamaw Siouan peoples are bound by blood, kinship, and shared history. Our families intermarried. Our ancestors traded, fought, survived, and endured together. We are related, this much is undeniable.
What is less understood, however, is why we are distinct today.
The difference is not one of worth, legitimacy, or humanity.
It is a difference of cultural orientation, continuity, and choice.
At its simplest, the distinction can be described as Traditionalist versus Pan-Indian / Pow-Wow culturalist but that simplicity sits atop centuries of history, pressure, survival strategies, and colonial interference.
Traditional Continuity vs. Pan-Indian Adaptation
The Tuscarora who properly call themselves Skarù·ręʔ have, across their various North Carolina communities, largely retained a traditional Iroquoian / Eastern Woodland lifeway. This includes social organization, ceremonial orientation, movement patterns in dance, foodways, agriculture, language structure, and worldview rooted in the Great Law of Peace, shaped further by Tuscarora-specific values developed long before European arrival and are connector our Northern cousins through bloodline lineage, heritage, culture and spirituality. In North Carolina we see Urentę and Northern cousins, Orenda, Unkwe as the universal life Force of creator in all of us and we respect that integral part of our genetic and cosmological make up in each other.
By contrast, the Lumbee, Coharie, and Waccamaw Siouan nations—particularly through the mid-20th century adopted what is commonly known as the Pan-Indian movement. This cultural shift emerged during a time when Indigenous people were being actively terminated, relocated, renamed, and erased. For many communities, Pan-Indian identity became a means of survival, visibility, and political defense.
This movement drew heavily from the cultures of Plains Nations, borrowing regalia styles, drum structures, dance forms, and public Pow-Wow formats that were never historically native to Eastern Woodland or Iroquoian peoples. While meaningful to many today, these expressions are often viewed by traditionalists not only among the Tuscarora, but among Plains Nations themselves as misplaced, ahistorical, and at times disrespectful, particularly when they overwrite older, localized traditions.
Names, Time, and Colonial Invention
It is important to speak plainly about timelines.
The Tuscarora Confederacy existed long before European contact, later becoming the 6th Nation of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy itself. Split families migrated south generations before Europeans ever set foot on these lands, establishing long-standing communities in what is now North Carolina.
By contrast:
The Lumbee identity, as a tribe, was established in 1958
The Coharie identity was formally recognized in 1971
The Waccamaw Siouan received North Carolina state recognition in 1971, each tribe holds membership with the North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs.
These dates do not negate ancestry but they do matter when discussing historical continuity.
Many among the Coharie openly acknowledge Tuscarora ancestry, either directly or through the Coree / Nusiok peoples, who were historically part of the Tuscarora Confederacy. Even the name Coharie itself is Tuscarora in origin named after Chief Coharie (Cohary), who was executed alongside Chief Hancock at the end of the First Tuscarora War.
The Lumbee, who are direct relatives of the Coharie and Waccamaw Siouan, largely acknowledge Tuscarora blood as well but confusion was deliberately cultivated by state and federal authorities who repeatedly renamed them as part of termination policies designed to dissolve Indigenous land rights altogether.
A small but influential group largely composed of non-Native historians has persuaded segments of Lumbee leadership to pursue identity under the name Cheraw, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. While there are minor traces of Cheraw ancestry through families such as the Grooms, these traces are insufficient to justify claiming Cheraw as a primary or exclusive identity.
Notably, the Catawba Nation, into whom the historical Cheraw were absorbed, rejects these claims outright.
Living Tuscarora Ways
The Tuscarora in North Carolina are currently organized across multiple communities and do not yet operate under a single centralized council though as of late 2025, this reunification feels closer to reality than ever before.
Despite this decentralization, Tuscarora communities continue to live by:
The Great Law of Peace
Tuscarora-specific interpretations of governance
Living oral traditions
Ceremonial continuity
Language revitalization efforts ongoing for over a decade
While some Tuscarora communities host Pow-Wows, these are not the same as those held by the Lumbee, Coharie, or Waccamaw Siouan. Tuscarora gatherings more closely resemble community socials intimate, kin-centered gatherings that feel like extended family reunions.
There are no competitions for monetary gain, No storefronts and No commercialization.
Food is cooked on site or brought by families to be shared freely. Stories are told. History is discussed. Songs are sung. Political and cultural matters are debated openly. These gatherings are not performances they are continuations.
Movement, Sound, and Direction
One of the most visible distinctions lies in movement.
Tuscarora dancers move counter-clockwise around the singers or fire keeping the heart toward the center. This is not symbolic flair; it is law, cosmology, and embodied knowledge.
By contrast, Waccamaw Siouan, Lumbee, and Coharie Pow-Wows, like most Pan-Indian gatherings, move clockwise. For this reason, many Tuscarora traditionalists refuse to participate. There is one ceremonial exception in which Tuscarora move clockwise but it is not discussed publicly.
The drums, rattles, and songs themselves are distinct as well rooted in Eastern Woodland/Iroquoian sound structures rather than Plains-style compositions.
Food, Seeds, and Memory
Foodways tell truths that paperwork cannot.
The Tuscarora historically controlled critical salt and spice trade routes, and many traditional food sources remain known and used today. While food and preparation methods are shared across related peoples, the Tuscarora have retained a clearer understanding of origin.
Into the early 2000s, Tuscarora families were still growing ancestral crops. Today, a revitalization movement led by Tuscarora and Seneca people are working to restore these crops and protect them from extinction.
Most notable among them is the long white Tuscarora corn, a crop originating in North Carolina among the Tuscarora, later adopted by the Haudenosaunee, and still grown today.
Agriculture was not supplementary to Tuscarora life it was foundational.
Dress, Psychology, and Recognition
Traditional Tuscarora dress reflects conservative Iroquoian aesthetics, blended with southeastern influences unique to our geography. In contrast, Lumbee, Coharie, and Waccamaw Siouan regalia largely reflects Pan-Indian Plains styles. They're all beautiful however we remain distinct as we still live according to the ways of our ancestors. In the face of colonial interruption, we are rebuilding, realigning and reclaiming what western government tried to erase.
Over time, these differences shape not only appearance, but psychology, speech patterns, and worldview. Often, one can recognize where a person comes from simply by talking with them.
This is not a value judgment.
It is an observation.
Respecting Difference Without Erasure
None of this is to say that modern Lumbee, Coharie, or Waccamaw Siouan culture is inferior or illegitimate. It is simply different from ancestral Tuscarora lifeways.
Many Lumbee, Coharie, and Waccamaw Siouan people do profound work for their communities whether through traditional knowledge, Pan-Indian practice, or adaptive cultural expression.
My position is simple:
These nations should be acknowledged as distinct peoples
Their right to self-identify should be respected
Ancestral truth should never be weaponized to erase others
Where correction is required is where identity is used to disenfranchise such as policies that label all Native people in Robeson and surrounding counties as Lumbee regardless of lineage, or when Tuscarora first-contact treaty peoples who never relinquished sovereignty are dismissed or misclassified.
These errors will be corrected—not by governments, but by the people.
If someone chooses to identify as Lumbee, Coharie, Waccamaw Siouan, or Tuscarora, that choice deserves respect. Likewise, if someone seeks to reconnect with a more traditional community, that decision should also be honored.
The living descendants of Tuscarora war crimes are still here.
They deserve acknowledgment.
Anything less mirrors the logic of boarding schools, killing the Indian to save the man.
That statement is offered not as accusation, but as invitation to reflection.
Respect is reciprocal.
Give it and it returns.
Closing
Through respected separation, we find unity.
Not by collapsing identities—but by honoring them.
Regardless of tribe.
Regardless of status.
We are still here.
Nyá•weh
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