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The
Tribes of Virginia:
American
Indians in the Commonwealth
American
Indians in the Old Dominion have been in the news
lately. In May the U.S. House of Representatives
approved a bill that would give six Virginia tribes
federal recognition. The Indian Tribes of Virginia
Recognition Act still needs to pass the U.S. Senate,
but once enacted would give the tribes’ 3,500
members the same rights as the 500-plus tribes in
the nation already recognized by the federal
government.
The
commonwealth’s history has been the stumbling
block for the six tribes – the Chickahominy,
Chickahominy–Eastern Division, Upper Mattaponi,
Rappahannock, Monacan and Nansemond – whose bill
for recognition has stalled in Congress for the past
eight years. American Indians in the Old Dominion
were among the first native peoples to sign treaties
with white settlers. However, these treaties were
signed with the kings of England, not the U.S.
government, which, of course, didn’t exist at the
time. The state recognized eight American Indian
tribes in 1983, but none are recognized by the
federal government at the moment.
A
second barrier has been that federal recognition
requires extensive documentation demonstrating a
tribe’s continuity of existence. For example,
members of the Nansemond
tribe have to present a birth certificate, pertinent
marriage and death certificates, and a high-quality
copy of a family tree or family Bible to prove their
ancestry. Unfortunately, a number of records that
verified Indian identity were destroyed under the
Virginia Racial Integrity Act of 1924 when
bureaucrats reclassified Virginia Indians as
“colored” and removed their Indian ancestry from
their birth, marriage and death certificates,
according to The
Virginian-Pilot.
Few
Virginians may realize that one of the oldest Indian
reservations in the country sits on the Mattaponi
River in Caroline County. The Mattaponi
tribe traces its ancestry to Powhatan. In 1658, the
Virginia General Assembly created the reservation
from land held by the tribe.
Today,
the reservation totals 150 acres, but there is an
effort to try to re-acquire an additional 2,020
acres of ancestral land. The tribe maintains a fish
hatchery and boasts that it returned six million
endangered shad to the river last year.
One
of the larger tribes in the state is the Monacan
Indian Nation, the most western of Virginia’s
tribes, which has 1,400 members who live around Bear
Mountain in Amherst County. The Monacans are the
only group of Eastern Sioux in the state. They once
numbered 10,000 and their territory covered half the
state. The Monacans were instrumental in challenging
the re-classification of their race and in 1943
challenged the local draft board and successfully
resolved their incorrect racial classification for
the World War II draft.
About
Chickahominy number live within a five-mile radius
of a tribal center in Charles County; several
hundred more live in other parts of the U.S. Their
sister tribe, the Chikahominy—Eastern Division,
total about 150 and live in New Kent County. The
Chickahominy were among the indigenous people who
encountered the Jamestown colonists in 1607. A 1614
treaty between the colonists and the tribe stated
that the Chikahominy would provide between 300 –
400 bowmen to fight the Spanish if needed. Today,
its enclave includes a Baptist church, a
former Indian school and a tribal center that hosts
a fall festival each year.
The
Rappahannocks
encountered John Smith in December 1607 at their
capital town of Topahanocke, now known as
Tappahannock on the Northern Neck. According to
Chief Anne Richardson, there would have been 15
villages stretching along the Northern Neck and up
towards what is now Fredricksburg.
Each
would have had about 100 bowman plus their extended
families ("Rappahannock
Tribe: A Proud, Sad History"). Today, there
are about 350 enrolled members and the tribe
maintains a cultural center at Indian Neck in King
and Queen County.
The
Nansemond
lived in several towns along both sides of the
Nansemond River, in what is now the City of Suffolk,
when John Smith encountered them in 1607. As
Europeans appropriated their rich lands, they were
moved several times and finally gave up their
reservation in 1791/1792. Today, the tribe numbers
about 300 and most live in the Chesapeake/Suffolk
area; they hold their monthly tribal meetings in the
Indiana Methodist Church in Bowers Hill, which was
founded as a mission school for Indians in
1850.
The
Pamunkey
Indian Reservation is located on the Pamunkey
River and adjacent King William County. It was
confirmed to the tribe as early as 1658. The
reservation totals 1,500 acres, and 35 families live
on the land with many other tribe members living in
Richmond, Newport News, other parts of Virginia and
the U.S. The Pamunkey are not among the six tribes
seeking federal recognition, but are recognized by
the state.
The
400th anniversary of Jamestown has focused new
attention on Virginia’s native peoples. Last week,
the Rappahannocks’ Chief Anne Richardson
participated in a week-long seminar for educators at
the University of Virginia, called “Beyond
Jamestown,” funded by the National Endowment for
the Humanities.
“Children
need to realize Indian people are still living in
Virginia," said one seminar attendee, who
teaches first grade in Bedford. "[Indians] are
living everyday lives just like they are."
("Lessons
of Virginia Indians," Richmond Times
Dispatch, June 22, 2007.)
How
Many Acres in Square Mile?
It
seems there was a slip of the keyboard in the last
“Nice & Curious Questions” column:
“Virginia’s Counties.” In describing Fairfax
as the most populous county in the state, its land
area shrunk to 395 acres, rather than square miles.
An acre actually equals only .0015625 of a square
mile – or as any elementary school kid learns,
there are 640 acres in 1 square mile. Apologies to
the good citizens of Fairfax.
--
July 2, 2007
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