Where Are the Natives in Virginia Today?

As a result of the demographic changes since the Europeans arrived (and the Racial Integrity Law of 1924), the Totero's and many other tribal groups have disappeared as organized groups - but Native American tribes and individual Native Americans are still part of Virginia today. As one member of the Chickahominy tribe mentioned to a member of a tribe now in Oklahoma during a Native American event, "We never left."1

There are 11 tribal groups recognized in Virginia today:

The Mattaponi reservation is located on the Mattaponi River, while the Pamunkey reservation is about 8 miles southwest on the Pamunkey River. The Monacans recently obtained title to ancestral lands on Bear Mountain, adjacent to the Episcopalian Mission School established in 1908 for their education. The other tribal groups operate without officially-recognized reservations.

Note that these reservations were made with the colony/state of Virginia. The Mattaponi and Pamunkey reservations were established by 1677 Treaty of Middle Plantation. These reservations were established before the start of the United States; there are no Federal treaties with Virginia's tribal groups (yet...). Fisheries management in the Pacific Northwest is dominated by legal disputes over treaty commitments made by the Federal government in the 1800's. However, there are no Native American treaties with the Federal government that affect harvest in the Chesapeake Bay region.

Virginia courts have ruled against a Mattaponi claim that the 1677 treaty should block consideration of a dam and reservoir proposed by Newport News on Cohoke Creek. The Attorney General of Virginia has declared that the state of Virginia owns the lands on which those Pamunkey and Mattoponi reservations are located. The tribes have exclusive use, but can not sell the land without state approval. The Attorney General also ruled that the King William County sheriff’s office "may exercise same law-enforcement authority on Pamunkey and Mattaponi Indian reservations as elsewhere in county — may serve legal process, arrest warrants, and subpoenas, and investigate misdemeanors and felonies."2

What happened to the 50,000 Native Americans in Virginia in 1607, including the 15,000 Algonquians living under Powhatan's control on the Coastal Plain? Many died from disease and direct conflicts with the English (mostly small-scale murder and skirmishes, but also open warfare in 1622 and 1644). Others migrated as individuals or family groups to the north, west, or south, away from the encroaching English. They joined the Iroquois, Shawnee, and Cherokee, losing their distinct identity as members in Virginia tribes.

Population Density - Percent of Persons Who Are American Indian and Alaska Native Alone: 2000
Population Density - Percent of Persons Who Are American Indian and Alaska Native Alone: 2000

Note that the map is different when you count population totals rather than population density:

Population Totals - Percent of Persons Who Are American Indian and Alaska Native Alone: 2000
Population Totals - Percent of Persons Who Are American Indian and Alaska Native Alone: 2000

The concentration of Native Americans in the densely-populated regions of the state reflects the migration of non-Virginians into those fast-growing communities, rather than remnant populations that survived from colonial times.

Re-creation of Monacan Town

Links

References

References

1. "Out of Jamestown's Shadows," Washington Post, April 29, 2007, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/28/AR2007042801083_pf.html (last checked September 22, 2008)
2. "Opinion #00-076 for The Honorable J.S. Walton, Sheriff for King William County," by Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, September 28, 2001 www.oag.state.va.us/media%20center/Opinions/2001opns/00-076.htm (last checked June 11, 2004)
"Indians" of Virginia
Virginia Places