THE INDIAN CARD : UNDERSTANDING A TRIBE'S ENROLLMENT PROCESS : LINEAGE OR HOW MUCH ANCESTRY? FIRST STEP IS TRIBAL CONSTITUTION

THE INDIAN CARD by CARRIE LOWRY SCHUETTPELZ

Excerpt: page 21: To understand a Tribe's enrollment process, the first place to look is at its constitution. Not every Tribe has a constitution, but for those that do, the section related to enrollment is generally right p front.  It's an important element of the systems that Tribes have put into place - the element of defining membership.

Together with my research assistants, I am able to locate 285 tribal constitutions.  That is, for all but 62 federally recognized Native American tribes in the continuous United States, we find some sort of official document - called a constitution and outlining its principles and procedures - that was passed by the Tribe's leadership.  Some constitutions are relatively recant: the Kowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma passed is most recent constitution in 2017. Some date back centuries : The Choctaw Nation first passed its constitution in 1826 although the Tribe currently operates under a constitution ratified in 1983.

Page 22 Excerpt about Tribes without a constitution. .... One notable exception is the Navajo Nation, whose enrolled population hovers around four hundred thousand members...

Page 22: Regardless of whether a Tribe has a formal constitution or has opted for alternative systems and processes, most have an enrollment office - sometimes a fully staffed organization, sometimes one person located inside the Tribes' government office; sometimes it's a person who doesn't earn a salary from the Tribe, but who serves in the role as a volunteer or an elected official..

TRIBAL MEMERSHIP BASED ON LINEAGE OR HOW MUCH ANCESTRY

Excerpts page 22-23 : ... Specifically; with regard to determining membership, Native American Tribes fall into one of two categories.  For about 120 Tribes for which I can find information, Tribal enrollment is based on lineage. That is, in order to enroll in the Tribe, an applicant must demonstrate that a direct relative (a parent, grandparent, great-grandparents, etc.) was a member of the Tribe. Tribes use a census or roll particular to their community as the basis for this determination.

Note: SOME TRIBES HAVE THEIR OWN CENSUS ROLLS, so the "CIVILIZED TRIBE" ROLLS ARE NOT THE ONLY ROLLS OF TRIBAL CENSUS AVAILABLE, but these others are held within the tribe...

Excerpts page 22-23 : The other main way that Native American Tribes determine memberships by using a calculation of how much ancestry a person has from that particular Tribe. This number is usually represented as a fraction, and usually called blood quantum.  For about 170 Tribes for which I find information, Tribal enrollment is based on blood quantum.  And for the vast majority of those, the blood quantum calculation is made from one Tribe alone...   

Sure, they can have a blood quantum from other Tribes, but it won't be factored into the calculation. No Tribes in the contiguous United States, that I can find, have a four-fourth blood quantum requirement; most, or about 69 percent of those that use blood quantum, use one-fourth as their cutoff; you must prove that you have at least one-fourth blood quantum from that Tribe alone.

The requisite blood quantum can be achieved a few different ways. For example if someone wanted to enroll in the Oneida Nation, whose requirement is one-quarter blood quantum, they would need to demonstrate that amount through one or several ancestors...

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