Anonymous #1 11w

I guess the biggest one I would note is the massive tensions between what I would describe as organized tribes and assimilated natives. Under US-government policy, Native American tribes are considered separate nations with their own governmental autonomy and lawmaking capacity. This is a result of the old days when native tribes were separate nations negotiating on equal footing with the United States.

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Anonymous OP 11w

But in the last century, particularly in the southeast, fully assimilated people of partial Native American ancestry have begun organizing themselves into tribes and artificially creating tribal governments as they seek state and then federal recognition.

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Anonymous OP 11w

And this shit is SUPER chaotic. The federal Shawnee and Cherokee tribes despise the groups organizing under claimed ancestry to those tribes. In Virginia the tribes that organized during Jim crow essentially defined themselves by expelling anyone who was of obvious black descent so they could escape segregation. And now there’s groups like the lumbee becoming federal tribes not by proving native ancestry, but by lobbying congress.

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Anonymous OP 11w

Like Virginia used to have a Council on Indians made up of tribal leaders who were supposed to approve new tribal recognition. It was dissolved in 2010 after they rejected the Nottoway Tribe because they were too black. And for the record, the Nottoway have better genealogy documentation for their indianness than some of the tribes on that board.

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Anonymous OP 11w

The only tribe I know of that actively embraces the assimilated groups are the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma. There’s unrecognized Wyandot-descended communities in Kansas, Michigan, and Ontario, and the Wyandotte tribe is actively promoting outreach and shared cultural revival with them.

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Anonymous OP 11w

Really interesting stuff. Thank you!

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Anonymous #1 11w

Thanks for listening!

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Anonymous OP 11w

I wish there was an easy Wikipedia link about this topic that I could share. I guess the article “Pretendian” would be somewhere to look as that is what the Shawnee and Cherokee call these groups. But it’s not accurate in all circumstances. You could also read the “Lumbee” article and look at “List of organizations that self-identify as Native American tribes”

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