Federally recognized tribes

See also: Federally recognized tribes by state

Federally recognized tribes are those Indian tribes recognized by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs for certain federal government purposes.

Description

In the United States, the Indian tribe is a fundamental unit, and the constitution grants to the U.S. Congress the right to interact with tribes. More specifically, the Supreme Court of the United States in United States v. Sandoval (231 US. 28 [1913]) warned, "it is not... that Congress may bring a community or body of people within range of this power by arbitrarily calling them an Indian tribe, but only that in respect of distinctly Indian communities the questions whether, to what extent, and for what time they shall be recognized and dealt with as dependent tribes" (at 46).[1] Federal tribal recognition grants to tribes the right to certain benefits, and is largely controlled by the United States federal agency, the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

During the 1970s a host of factors arose making government officials aware that consistent procedures needed to be established to determine which groups were eligible for federal recognition. Several groups that lacked federal recognition had brought land claims; groups in Washington were seeking treaty fishing rights; groups in other regions were demanding that the government acknowledge their identities as aboriginal peoples. In 1978 the B.I.A. published final rules with procedures that groups had to meet to secure federal tribal acknowledgment. There are seven criteria. Four have proven troublesome for most groups to prove: long-standing historical community, outside identificiation as Indians, political authority, and descent from an historical tribe. While Congress and the federal courts can confer federal recognition, these avenues have been increasingly difficult since 1978. Most tribes have to submit detailed petitions to the B.I.A.'s Office of Federal Acknowledgment (O.F.A.). On average it takes over ten years for a review of their petitions.

On October 1, 2010, with a supplemental listing on October 27, 2010, the U.S. government's Federal Register issued an official list of 565 tribes in the Federal Register as Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, which can be downloaded as a PDF document from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.[2][3] USA.gov, the federal government's official web portal, also maintains a list of tribal governments which is constantly updated. Ancillary information present in former versions of this list but no longer contained in the current listing have been included here in italics print.

Contents: Top · 0–9 · A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

See also

References

  1. ^ Sheffield (1998) p56
  2. ^ INDIAN ENTITIES RECOGNIZED AND ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE SERVICES FROM THE UNITED STATES BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS: Federal Register, Volume 75, Number 190 dated October 1, 2010 (75 FR 60810)
  3. ^ supplemental listing: Federal Register, Volume 75, Number 207 dated October 27, 2010 (75 FR 66124)

Miller, Mark Edwin. Forgotten Tribes: Unrecognized Indians and the Federal Acknowledgment Process. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004; Bison Books, 2006.

Federal Registers

Federal Registers containing the "Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs" to which "Federally recognized tribes" and "List of Alaska Native Tribal Entities" derive their listings. To view the Federal Register, please visit The Federal Register page of the GPO.

Current version

Former versions