Blood quantum laws - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Blood Quantum Laws or Indian Blood Laws is an umbrella term that describes legislation enacted in the United States to define membership in Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

tribes or nations. "Blood quantum" refers to describing the degree of ancestry for an individual of a specific racial or ethnic group, for instance, 1/4 Omaha tribe.

Its use started in 1705 when Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

adopted laws which limited colonial civil rights of Native Americans and persons of half or more Native American ancestry. The concept of blood quantum was not widely applied until the Indian Reorganization Act

Indian Reorganization Act

The Indian Reorganization Act of June 18, 1934 the Indian New Deal, was U.S. federal legislation that secured certain rights to Native Americans, including Alaska Natives...

of 1934. The government used it to establish which individuals could be recognized as Native American and be eligible for financial and other benefits under treaties that were made, or sales of land. Since that time, however, Native American nations have re-established their own rules for tribal membership, which vary among them. In the early 21st century these rules have been used to exclude people who had previously been considered members, such as in the case of the Cherokee Freedmen.

Origin of blood quantum law

The blood quantum law or "Indian Blood law" was passed by European Americans to regulate who would be classified as Native American and thus eligible to receive federal benefits. The first such law was passed in 1705 in Virginia, but at that time it was used to restrict the rights of people who were half or more Native American. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the US government believed definition of tribal members was required, as it made treaties with the nations and paid tribal members benefits or annuities for land cessions.

Many Native American tribes did not use blood quantum law until the government introduced the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Some tribes, such as the Navajo Nation

Navajo Nation

The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous Native American-governed territory covering , occupying all of northeastern Arizona, the southeastern portion of Utah, and northwestern New Mexico...

, did not adopt the type constitution suggested in that law until the 1950s. Critics contend that because the blood quantum laws required individuals to identify as belonging to only one tribe, despite their ancestry, some lost multiple tribal memberships, and overall numbers of registered members of many Native American tribes have been reduced.

"The U.S. census decennial enumerations indicate a Native American population growth for the United States that has been nearly continuous since 1900 (except for an influenza

Influenza

Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...

epidemic

Epidemic

In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...

in 1918 that caused serious losses), to 1.42 million by 1980 and to over 1.9 million by 1990." In the 2000 census, there were 2.5 million American Indians. Since 1960, people self-identify their ancestry on the US Census.

For decades, tribes have established their own requirements for membership. In some cases, they have excluded members who had long been part of the tribe. An example of a tribal membership requirement is one based on documented lineal descent from a Native American member listed on the Dawes Rolls

Dawes Rolls

The Dawes Rolls were created by the Dawes Commission. The Commission, authorized by United States Congress in 1893, was required to negotiate with the Five Civilized Tribes to convince them to agree to an allotment plan and dissolution of the reservation system...

, or an early 20th century census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

. Unlike the provisions of the Indian Reorganization Act, many tribes allow members to claim ancestry in more than one tribe.

Tribes have established their own criteria for membership. Given the new revenues which many tribes are realizing from gambling casinos and other economic development, or from settlement of 19th-century land claims

Land claims

Land claims are a legal declaration of desired control over areas of property including bodies of water. The phrase is usually only used with respect to disputed or unresolved land claims...

, some have established more restrictive rules to limit membership.

Such actions have led to charges of racial injustice and controversies such as that of the Cherokee Nation

Cherokee Nation

The Cherokee Nation is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It was established in the 20th century, and includes people descended from members of the old Cherokee Nation who relocated voluntarily from the Southeast to Indian Territory and Cherokees who...

's 2007 vote to exclude those Cherokee Freedmen with no ancestors on the Cherokee-by-blood Dawes rolls, although the Cherokee Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that they were legitimate members of the tribe in 2005. Similarly, in 2000, the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma

Seminole Nation of Oklahoma

The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma is a federally recognized Seminole tribe based in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the largest of the three federally recognized Seminole organizations, which include the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida...

's attempted to exclude two bands of Seminole Freedmen from membership to avoid including them in settlement of land claims in Florida, where Seminole Freedmen had also owned land taken by the US government.

Since 1942, the Seminole

Seminole

The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creeks from what is now Georgia and Alabama, who settled in Florida in...

have at times tried to exclude Black Seminoles

Black Seminoles

The Black Seminoles is a term used by modern historians for the descendants of free blacks and some runaway slaves , mostly Gullahs who escaped from coastal South Carolina and Georgia rice plantations into the Spanish Florida wilderness beginning as early as the late 17th century...

from the tribe. The freedmen were listed separately on the Dawes Rolls

Dawes Rolls

and suffered segregation

Racial segregation in the United States

Racial segregation in the United States, as a general term, included the racial segregation or hypersegregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines...

in Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

. More recently, the Seminole refused to share with them the revenues of 20th-century US government settlements of land claims. The Center for Constitutional Rights

Center for Constitutional Rights

Al Odah v. United States:Al Odah is the latest in a series of habeas corpus petitions on behalf of people imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. The case challenges the Military Commissions system’s suitability as a habeas corpus substitute and the legality, in general, of detention at...

has filed an amicus brief, taking up the legal case of the Black Seminoles and criticizing some officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs

Bureau of Indian Affairs

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...

for collaborating in this discrimination by supporting tribal autonomy in lawsuits. By treaty after the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, the Seminole were required to provide Black Seminoles with all the rights of full-blood Indian members.

"American Indian tribes located on reservations tend to have higher blood quantum requirements for membership than those located off reservation. ...[reference to table] [O]ver 85 percent of tribes requiring more than a one-quarter blood quantum for membership are reservation based, as compared with less than 64 percent of those having no minimum requirement. Tribes on reservations have seemingly been able to maintain exclusive membership by setting higher blood quanta, since the reservation location has generally served to isolate the tribe from non-Indians and intermarriage with them.

Issues related to blood quantum laws

Many Native Americans have become used to the idea of "blood quantum". The blood quantum laws have caused problems in Native American families whose members were inaccurately recorded as having differing full or partial descent from particular tribes. In some cases, family members or entire families have been excluded from being enrolled as members of their tribe even when they have no non-Native American ancestors.

At certain times, some state governments classified persons with African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

and Native American admixture solely as African American, largely because of racial discrimination related to slavery history. This was prevalent in the South after Reconstruction, when white-dominated legislatures imposed legal segregation

Racial segregation in the United States

, which classified the entire population only as white or colored (Native Americans, some of whom were of mixed race, were included in the latter designation). It related to the racial caste system of slavery before the American Civil War

American Civil War

. Until 1870 there was no separate classification on the census for Indian.

The Lumbee

Lumbee

The Lumbee belong to a state recognized Native American tribe in North Carolina. The Lumbee are concentrated in Robeson County and named for the primary waterway traversing the county...

, a group which appeared to organize from a variety of peoples on the North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

frontier in the 19th century, achieved state recognition as Croatan

Croatan

The Croatan were a small Native American group living in the coastal areas of what is now North Carolina. They may have been a branch of the larger Roanoke people or allied with them....

Indian after Reconstruction. This separate status allowed them to establish a school system for their children distinct from that for freedmen's children.

The question of identity is complex. Award-winning researcher Paul Heinegg and Dr. Virginia DeMarce

Virginia DeMarce

Virginia Easley DeMarce is a historian who specializes in early modern European history, as well as a prominent author in the 1632 series collaborative fiction project. She has done prominent genealogical work on the origins of the Melungeon peoples.-Biography:DeMarce received her Ph.D...

found that ancestors of 80 percent of free people of color (including individuals on the census later claimed as Lumbee ancestors) in the 1790 and 1810 censuses on the North Carolina frontier were descended from families of white women and African men, and were free in colonial Virginia because of the mother's status. Many mixed-race people in frontier areas identified as Indian, Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

or Arab

Arab

Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

to escape racial strictures.

In 1952 the Croatan Indians voted to adopt the name of Lumbee (they were settled near the Lumber River

Lumber River

The Lumber River is a river in south-central North Carolina in the flat Coastal Plain. European settlers first called the river Drowning Creek, which still is the name of its headwater. The waterway known as the Lumber River extends downstream from the Scotland County-Hoke County border to the...

, also called the Lumbee.) They achieved limited federal recognition in 1956 as an ethnic Indian nation by a special act of the US Congress, and accepted at the time that it was without benefits. Since then, they have tried to appeal to Congress for legislation to gain full federal recognition. Their effort has been opposed by several federally recognized tribes.

In other cases, because mixed-race children were often raised in the mother's Native American culture, United States society considered them to be Native American, despite European ancestry. (As the trappers, traders and soldiers on the frontiers were mostly men, most European-Native American unions were between European men and Native women.)

In 1924 Virginia passed the Racial Integrity Act, which required that every individual be classified as either white or black. (Some other states adopted similar laws.) In application, the law was enforced to the standard of the "one drop rule": individuals with any known African ancestry were classified as black. As a result, in the censuses of the 1930s and the 1940s, particularly in the South's segregated society, many people of African American and Native American descent who were either biracial or multiracial were largely classified as black. The result negatively affected many individuals with mixed African American and Native American descent. Because there are few reservations in the South, such individuals needed to provide evidence of ancestry to be enrolled in a tribe. The changes in historic records erased their self-identification as Indian. During the early years of slavery, some Native Americans and Africans intermarried because they were enslaved at the same time and shared a common experience of enslavement. Others made unions before slavery became institutionalized, as they worked together.

Today, the proposed regulations for children adopted into Native families are that they are unable to be federally recognized members unless they have a biological parent who is enrolled in a tribe. Such cases of adoption are probably less frequent than in the past. Historically, especially recorded during the colonial years and the 19th century in the American West, many tribes adopted young captives taken in war or raids to replace members who had died. Whether European or of another Native American tribe, the captives generally were fully assimilated into the tribal culture and were considered full members of the tribe. Generally they remained with the tribe, marrying other members and rearing their children within the cultural tradition.

In some cases, census rolls for tribes such as the Cherokee

Cherokee

The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...

were incomplete due to intermarriage, immigration, treaties, or because the members were not living within the boundaries of the nation, and thus would not be recorded on the census. As noted above, however, many people self-identified on the US Census but are not eligible for tribal enrollment.

Some critics argue that blood quantum laws helped create racism among tribal members. The historian Tony Seybert contends that was why some members of the so-called Five Civilized tribes

Five Civilized Tribes

The Five Civilized Tribes were the five Native American nations—the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole—that were considered civilized by Anglo-European settlers during the colonial and early federal period because they adopted many of the colonists' customs and had generally good...

were slaveholders. The majority of slave owners were of mixed-European ancestry. Some believed they were of higher status than full blood Indians and people of African ancestry. Other historians contend that Cherokee and other tribes held slaves because it was in their economic interest and part of the general southeastern culture. Cherokee and other tribes had also traditionally taken captives in warfare to use as slaves, although their institution differed from that which grew up in the southern colonies.

Issues with DNA ancestry testing

No federally recognized tribe enrolls members solely based on DNA testing. Many researchers have published articles that caution that genetic ancestry DNA testing has limitations and should not be depended on by individuals to answer all their questions about heritage.

Popular culture has come to believe that many African Americans have Native American ancestry and some historians argue that most African Americans have Native American ancestry. But, in the PBS

Public Broadcasting Service

The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

series led by historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, Jr., is an American literary critic, educator, scholar, writer, editor, and public intellectual. He was the first African American to receive the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship. He has received numerous honorary degrees and awards for his teaching, research, and...

, called African American Lives
African American Lives
African American Lives is a PBS television miniseries hosted by historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr., focusing on African American genealogical research...

, a few geneticists argued that African-Native American admixture is relatively rare. In his associated book, Gates summarized the information:

Only 5 percent of African Americans have at least one-eighth Native American ancestry (equivalent to one great-grandparent). On the other hand, nearly 78 percent of African Americans have at least one-eighth European ancestry (the equivalent to a great-grandparent), and nearly 20 percent have at least one-quarter European ancestry (the equivalent to a grandparent.)

However, Y-chromosome and mtDNA

Mitochondrial DNA

Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA located in organelles called mitochondria, structures within eukaryotic cells that convert the chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, adenosine triphosphate...

(mitochondrial DNA) testing looks only at "direct" line male and female ancestors and thus can fail to pick up many ancestors' heritage. Some critics thought the PBS series did not sufficiently explain the limitations of DNA testing for assessment of heritage. More significantly, current DNA testing cannot distinguish among separate Native American tribes.
Furthermore, newer DNA tests can survey all the DNA that can be inherited from either parent of an individual, but at a cost of precision. DNA tests that survey the full DNA strand focus on "single nucleotide polymorphisms" or SNPs but SNP might be found in Africans, Asians, and people from every other part of the world. Full survey of DNA testing can not accurately determine an individual's full ancestry.

Implementation

Many Native American tribes continue to employ blood quantum in current tribal laws to determine who is eligible for membership or citizenship in the tribe or Native American nation. These often require a minimum degree of blood relationship and often an ancestor listed in a specific tribal census

Census

from the late 19th century or early 20th century. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians , is a federally recognized Native American tribe in the United States of America, who are descended from Cherokee who remained in the Eastern United States while others moved, or were forced to relocate, to the west in the 19th century. The history of the...

of North Carolina

North Carolina

, for example, require an ancestor listed in the 1924 Baker census and a minimum of 1/16 Cherokee blood inherited from their ancestor(s) on that roll. Meanwhile the Western Cherokee require applicants to descend from an ancestor in the 1906 Dawes roll

Dawes Rolls

(direct lineal ancestry), but the Cherokee Nation

Cherokee Nation

imposes no minimum blood quantum requirement. The United Keetoowah Band requires a minimum 1/4 blood quantum.

The Ute

Ute Tribe

The Ute are an American Indian people now living primarily in Utah and Colorado. There are three Ute tribal reservations: Uintah-Ouray in northeastern Utah ; Southern Ute in Colorado ; and Ute Mountain which primarily lies in Colorado, but extends to Utah and New Mexico . The name of the state of...

require a 5/8 blood quantum, the highest requirement of any U.S. tribe. The Miccosukee

Miccosukee

The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida are a federally recognized Native American tribe in the U.S. state of Florida. They were part of the Seminole nation until the mid-20th century, when they organized as an independent tribe, receiving federal recognition in 1962...

of Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, the Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

Choctaw

The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...

and the St. Croix Chippewa of Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

all require one-half "tribal blood quantum", also a high percentage.

At the other end of the scale, the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma

Oklahoma

requires only 1/16 documented heritage. The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon

Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon

The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon consists of twenty-seven Native American tribes with long historical ties to present-day Western Oregon between the western boundary of the Oregon Coast and the eastern boundary of the Cascade Range, and the northern boundary of...

require a combined minimum of 1/16 from any of a list of several Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

indigenous peoples.

Some tribes, such as Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town

Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town

The Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town is both a federally recognized Native American tribe and a traditional township of Muskogean-speaking Alabama and Coushatta peoples. Their traditional languages include Alabama, Koasati, and Mvskoke...

and the Wyandotte Nation, require an unspecified amount of Indian ancestry (known as "lineal descendancy") documented by descent from a recognized member. Others require a specified degree of Indian ancestry but an unspecified share of ancestry from the ancestral tribe or tribes from which the modern tribal entity is derived, such as the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians

Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians

The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians is a federally recognized Native American tribe in Michigan. Derek Bailey is the current chairman of the Tribal Council, whose offices are in Peshawbestown, Michigan...

and the Poarch Band of Creek Indians

Poarch Band of Creek Indians

The Poarch Band of Creek Indians is the only federally recognized tribe of Native Americans residing in the southern part of the state of Alabama. Historically speaking the Muskogean language, they were formerly known as the Creek Nation East of the Mississippi. They are located mostly in Escambia...

. Many modern tribes are confederations of original tribal peoples joined into a single political entity.

Other tribes require a minimum blood degree only for tribal members born "off" (i.e. outside) the nominal reservation

Indian reservation

An American Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs...

. This is a concept comparable to the legal principles of Jus soli
Jus soli
Jus soli , also known as birthright citizenship, is a right by which nationality or citizenship can be recognized to any individual born in the territory of the related state...

and Jus sanguinis
Jus sanguinis
Ius sanguinis is a social policy by which citizenship is not determined by place of birth, but by having a parent who are citizens of the nation...

in the nationality law

Nationality law

Nationality law is the branch of law concerned with the questions of nationality and citizenship, and how these statuses are acquired, transmitted, or lost. By custom, a state has the right to determine who its nationals and citizens are. Such determinations are usually made by custom, statutory...

s of modern sovereign states.

Tribes requiring 1/2 degree blood quantum for membership

(equivalent to one parent)

Kialegee Tribal Town
Kialegee Tribal Town
The Kialegee Tribal Town is a federally recognized Native American tribe in Oklahoma, as well as a traditional township within the Muscogee Creek Confederacy...
Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Mississippi
St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin
St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin
The St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin are a Federally recognized Indian Tribe, located in northwestern Wisconsin, along the St. Croix River valley and watershed.-History:...
White Mountain Apache Tribe, Arizona
Yomba Shoshone Tribe, Utah

Tribes requiring 1/4 degree blood quantum for membership

(equivalent to one grandparent)

Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians
Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes
Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes
The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes are a united, federally recognized tribe of Southern Arapaho and Southern Cheyenne people in western Oklahoma.-History:...
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington
Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma
Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma
The Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma is one of three federally recognized Kickapoo tribes in the United States. There are also Kickapoo tribes in Kansas, Texas, and Mexico. The Kickapoo are a Woodland tribe, who speak an Algonquian language.-Early history:...
Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma
Navajo Nation
Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous Native American-governed territory covering , occupying all of northeastern Arizona, the southeastern portion of Utah, and northwestern New Mexico...

, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico
Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation
Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation
The Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, formerly the Fort McDowell Mohave-Apache Community of the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation), is a federally recognized tribe and Indian reservation in Maricopa County, Arizona about northeast of Phoenix, currently encompassing only out of the much larger area...

, Arizona
Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes
Fort Peck Indian Reservation
The Fort Peck Indian Reservation is near Fort Peck, Montana. It is the homeland of the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes of Native Americans. It is the ninth-largest Indian reservation in the United States and comprises parts of four counties. In descending order of land area they are Roosevelt, Valley,...

, Montana
Navajo Nation
Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous Native American-governed territory covering , occupying all of northeastern Arizona, the southeastern portion of Utah, and northwestern New Mexico...
Oneida Tribe of Indians, Wisconsin
Pascua Yaqui Tribe
Pascua Yaqui Tribe
The Pascua Yaqui Tribe is a tribe of Native Americans, acknowledged by the United States government on September 18, 1978.Most U.S. members of the tribe live in southern Arizona. Descended from the ancient Uto-Azteca people of Mexico, the ancestors of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe first settled in the...

, Arizona
Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, Kansas
Shoshone Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, North and South Dakota
United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians
United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians
The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma is a federally recognized tribe of Cherokee Indians headquartered in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The United Keetoowah are also referred to as the UKB...

, Oklahoma
Utu Utu Gwaitu Paiute Tribe, California
Yavapai-Prescott Tribe
Yavapai-Prescott Tribe
The Yavapai-Prescott Tribe is located on a reservation of 1,413.46 acres in central Yavapai County in west-central Arizona. There are less than 200 tribal members. The tribe has a shopping center, two casinos and a hotel where the reservation abuts State Highway 69 at Prescott, Arizona. There...

, Arizona

Tribes requiring 1/8 degree blood quantum for membership

(equivalent to one great-grandparent)

Apache Tribe of Oklahoma
Comanche Nation, Oklahoma
Delaware Nation
Delaware Nation
The Delaware Nation, sometimes called the Absentee or Western Delaware, is one of two federally recognized tribe of Delaware Indians, along with the Delaware Indians based in Bartlesville, Oklahoma...

, Oklahoma
Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation, Oregon
Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma
Karuk Tribe of California
Muckleshoot Indian Tribe of the Muckleshoot Reservation, Washington
Northwestern Band of Shoshoni Nation of Utah (Washakie)
Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians
Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians
The Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians is a single, federally recognized tribe, located in Oklahoma. The tribe is made up of Otoe and Missouria Indians. Traditionally they spoke the Chiwere language, part of the Souian language family.-Government:...

, Oklahoma
Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma
Ponca Nation, Oklahoma
Sac and Fox Nation
Sac and Fox Nation
The Sac and Fox Nation is the largest of three federally recognized tribes of Sac and Meskwaki Native Americans. They are located in Oklahoma and are predominantly Sac....

, Oklahoma
Sac & Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska
Squaxin Island Tribe of the Squaxin Island Reservation, Washington
Suquamish Indian Tribe of the Port Madison Reservation, Washington
Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation
Upper Skagit Indian Tribe of Washington
Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco and Tawakonie)

Tribes requiring 1/16 degree blood quantum for membership

(equivalent to one great-great-grandparent)

Caddo Nation
Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon
Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon
The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon consists of twenty-seven Native American tribes with long historical ties to present-day Western Oregon between the western boundary of the Oregon Coast and the eastern boundary of the Cascade Range, and the northern boundary of...
Fort Sill Apache Tribe
Fort Sill Apache Tribe
The Fort Sill Apache Tribe is the federally recognized Native American tribe of Chiricahua Warm Springs Apache in Oklahoma.-History:The Fort Sill Apache Tribe is composed of Chiricahua Apache. The Apache are southern Athabaskan-speaking peoples who migrated many centuries ago from the subarctic to...
Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma
Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma
The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma is one of two federally recognized Iowa tribes. The other is the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. Traditionally Iowas spoke the Chiwere language, part of the Souian language family...
Sac and Fox Nation
Sac and Fox Nation
The Sac and Fox Nation is the largest of three federally recognized tribes of Sac and Meskwaki Native Americans. They are located in Oklahoma and are predominantly Sac....

, Oklahoma
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians , is a federally recognized Native American tribe in the United States of America, who are descended from Cherokee who remained in the Eastern United States while others moved, or were forced to relocate, to the west in the 19th century. The history of the...

, North Carolina
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians

Tribes determining membership by lineal descent

These tribes do not have a minimum blood quantum requirement; however, this does not mean anyone with any amount of Indian blood can enroll. Members must be direct descendants of original enrollees.

Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town
Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town
The Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town is both a federally recognized Native American tribe and a traditional township of Muskogean-speaking Alabama and Coushatta peoples. Their traditional languages include Alabama, Koasati, and Mvskoke...
Cherokee Nation
Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Nation is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It was established in the 20th century, and includes people descended from members of the old Cherokee Nation who relocated voluntarily from the Southeast to Indian Territory and Cherokees who...
Chickasaw Nation
Chickasaw Nation
The Chickasaw Nation is a federally recognized Native American nation, located in Oklahoma. They are one of the members of the Five Civilized Tribes. The Five Civilized Tribes were differentiated from other Indian reservations in that they had semi-autonomous constitutional governments and...
Choctaw Nation
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is a semi-autonomous Native American homeland comprising twelve tribal districts. The Choctaw Nation maintains a special relationship with both the United States and Oklahoma governments...
Citizen Potawatomi Nation
Citizen Potawatomi Nation
Citizen Potawatomi Nation are a federally recognized tribe of Potawatomi people located in Oklahoma. The Potawatomi are traditionally an Algonquian-speaking Eastern Woodlands tribe.-History:...
Delaware Tribe of Indians
Delaware Tribe of Indians
The Delaware Tribe of Indians, sometimes called the Eastern Delaware, based in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, is one of two federally recognized tribe of Lenape Indians, along with the Delaware Nation based in Anadarko, Oklahoma.-History:...
Eastern Shawnee Tribe
Kaw Nation
Mashantucket Pequot Tribe of Connecticut
Miami Tribe of Oklahoma
Miami Tribe of Oklahoma
The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma is a federally recognized Native American tribe of Miami Indians.-History:The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma is Eastern Woodland tribe, who traditionally spoke the Miami-Illinois language, a language of the Algonquin family, but few tribal members speak the language today...
Modoc Tribe
Muscogee Creek Nation
Osage Nation
Osage Nation
The Osage Nation is a Native American Siouan-language tribe in the United States that originated in the Ohio River valley in present-day Kentucky. After years of war with invading Iroquois, the Osage migrated west of the Mississippi River to their historic lands in present-day Arkansas, Missouri,...
Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma
Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma
The Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma is one of four federally recognized Native American tribes of Ottawa Indians. The other three tribes, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians and the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, are located in...
Peoria Tribe of Indians
Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma
Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Michigan
Seminole Nation
Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma
Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma
The Seneca–Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma is a federally recognized tribe of Seneca and Cayuga people, based in Oklahoma, United States. They have a tribal jurisdictional area in the northeast corner of Oklahoma are headquartered in Grove, Oklahoma.- History :...
Shawnee Tribe
Shawnee Tribe
The Shawnee Tribe is a federally recognized Native American tribe in Oklahoma.-History:Sometimes known as the "Loyal Shawnee," the Shawnee Tribe is one of three federally recognized Shawnee tribes. They are an Eastern Woodland tribe. They originally came from Ohio and were the last of the Shawnee...
Thlopthlocco Tribal Town
Thlopthlocco Tribal Town
Thlopthlocco Tribal Town is both a federally recognized Native American tribe and a traditional township of Muscogee Creek Indians, based in Oklahoma. The tribe's native language is Mvskoke, also called Creek.-History:...
Tonkawa Tribe
Wyandotte Nation

Future

Native American populations increased considerably during the 20th century. Increasing urbanization and intermarriage may affect their futures as distinct peoples tied to geographic areas. Nations with high blood quantum requirements may have to change their rules for tribal membership or see their numbers decrease. Each tribe will deal with the issue in its own way, and with reference to whether it has a large reservation, urbanized population, cultural revival, etc.

External links

A Legal History of Blood Quantum in Federal Indian Law to 1935
The Origins, Current Status, and Future Prospects of Blood Quantum as the Definition of Membership in the Navajo Nation
Indian by identity: a look inside tribal enrollment, by Alyssa Kelly
Blood Quantum: A Relic Of Racism And Termination, by Jack Forbes
Blood Quantum — Why It Matters, and Why It Shouldn't, by Christina Berry

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Origin of blood quantum law

Issues related to blood quantum laws

Issues with DNA ancestry testing

Implementation

Tribes requiring 1/2 degree blood quantum for membership

Tribes requiring 1/4 degree blood quantum for membership

Tribes requiring 1/8 degree blood quantum for membership

Tribes requiring 1/16 degree blood quantum for membership

Tribes determining membership by lineal descent

Future

See also

External links