U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner announced six Virginia tribes will receive federal recognition under the recently passed Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2017. The tribes are the Chickahominy, Eastern Chickahominy, Upper Mattaponi, Rappahannock, Monacan and Nansemond. Several of the tribes, which are officially recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia, include descendants of Pocahontas’ Virginia Powhatan tribe. When the bill is signed into law, the number of federally recognized tribes will increase from 567 to 573.
Federal recognition will grant the tribes legal standing in direct relationships with the U.S. government and institutions including museums. It also will allow the tribes to: Compete for exclusive educational programs and other grants; respectfully repatriate the remains of ancestors; and provide affordable health care services for elder tribal members.
This version of the act, which originated in the House of Representatives and was introduced by Virginia Congressman Rob Wittman, unanimously passed in the House in May. It nearly passed in the Senate several times since the 1990s and was first introduced there in 2002 by Senators George Allen and John Warner. Kaine and Warner, both former governors of Virginia, introduced the bill in the Senate in the 113th and 114th Congresses.
Prior to the bill’s passage, Kaine said on the Senate floor, “This is about Virginia tribes that were here and encountered the English when they arrived in Jamestown in 1607, the tribes of Pocahontas and other wonderful Virginians. They are living tribes, never recognized by the federal government for a series of reasons. It’s a fundamental issue of respect, and fairly acknowledging a historical record and a wonderful story of tribes that are living, thriving and surviving and are a rich part of our heritage. This is a happy day to stand up on their behalf.”
Warner added, “We and some of the folks who are in the gallery today were not sure this day would ever come, but even here in the United States Congress and the United States Senate, occasionally we get things right. And boy, oh, boy, this is a day where we get things right on a civil rights basis, on a moral basis, on a fairness basis, and to our friends who are representatives of some of the six tribes who are finally going to be granted federal recognition, we want to say thank you for their patience, their perseverance, their willingness to work with us and others.”
Wittman stated, “Today we have taken a critical step forward in correcting the federal government’s failure to recognize the ‘first contact’ tribes of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Decades in the making, federal recognition will acknowledge and protect historical and cultural identities of these tribes for the benefit of all Americans. It will also affirm the government-to-government relationship between the United States and the Virginia tribes, and help create opportunities to enhance and protect the well-being of tribal members.”
Chickahominy Indians Assistant Chief Wayne Adkins, present for the vote, said, when the chairman announced the bill had passed, “It was surreal after 18 years of working. It definitely was not a letdown, but when you put it so much work after so many years, it was strange to be such a brief moment.”
