United Remnant Band of the Shawnee Nation

The United Remnant Band of the Shawnee Nation (also called the Shawnee Nation, URB) is an unrecognized tribe located in Ohio who claims descent from the historic Shawnee before that Native American people's removal to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma).

United Remnant Band of the Shawnee Nation
AbbreviationURB
Legal statusnonprofit organization
HeadquartersBellefontaine, Ohio
Location
Websiteshawneeurb.com

Three federally recognized tribes of Shawnee are based in Oklahoma.[1]

Despite using the word nation in its name, the group is neither a federally recognized tribe[2] nor a state-recognized tribe.[3][4] Ohio has no office to manage Indian affairs[5] and no state-recognized tribes.[4]

The Ohio state legislature passed a 1979 joint resolution of the United Remnant Band, but the legal status of that resolution has been disputed. Thirty-five groups in Ohio claim to have Shawnee descent, such as the Vinyard Indian Settlement, but "Ohio has no state recognized tribes nor does it have a recognition process," wrote Mary Annette Pember (Red Cliff Ojibwe).[6]

History

Prior to 1831, the Shawnee were relocated, band by band, to Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and other parts of the American Plains west of the Mississippi River as a number of Shawnee chiefs surrendered independently to the United States. Chief Black Hoof (Catahecassa, d. 1831) signed the 1817 Treaty of Fort Meigs and 1818 Treaty of St. Mary's, which ceded lands and created small reservations for the Shawnee. The Wapakoneta Shawnee, who followed Black Hoof, were removed to Kansas after his death in 1831.[7] They signed the 1831 Treaty of Wapakoneta.

In 1971, at a time of Indian activism across the United States, Shawnee people in Ohio organized the United Remnant Band of the Shawnee Nation as a 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization. In the latter part of the decade, the band filed historic and genealogical documents with the state to support their claim of descent from the historical Shawnee. The Ohio General Assembly held hearings and heard testimony from numerous groups.[8] This legislature passed a joint resolution in 1979-1980 recognizing the United Remnant Band as an Indian tribe descended from the historic Shawnee and as Ohio's only state recognized tribe.[9] The URB acknowledges that it is not a federally recognized tribe but points to this resolution as evidence of current state recognition.

In 1989 the URB purchased 20 acres of land, three miles (6.4 km) south of Urbana, Ohio. According to the late Chief Hawk Pope, this was the only "tribally held piece of land" in Ohio since 1830.[10] In 1995 the URB purchased the Zane Caverns between Zanesfield and Bellefontaine, Ohio and an associated museum.[11] In total they have bought 330 acres in four counties, both to aid their economic development and to create communal holdings for future generations.[11]

The 100-acre (0.40 km2) campground, museum, gift shop, caverns, and surrounding property were renamed as the Zane Shawnee Caverns and Southwind Park. They have enlarged the museum in Bellefontaine, renaming it as the George Drouillard Museum. It is devoted to the Shawnee-French man who was interpreter and hunter for the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806).[12]

Government

The Shawnee Nation, URB has an elected form of government, with council members and a chief.[3] Until his death in 2015, the chief was Jerry L. "Hawk" Pope, who led for more than 40 years.[11][13] Geah (Nightwind) has the position of Mother of the Nation. Both men and women may be elected to the inner council.

Membership

The Shawnee Nation, URB says the organization requires people to trace their lineage and document at least one-eighth Shawnee ancestry (the equivalent of one great-grandparent), or one-16th if the person is a child "of a provable person."[14]

Indian gaming

In 2003 the Ohio legislature debated authorizing video slots at racetracks in the state, a move that would establish Class III gaming. With the state having established that level of gaming, under federal law, federally recognized Native American tribes would be able to negotiate with the state to establish gaming casinos as well, although no federally recognized tribe held sovereign land in the state to use as a base for such a casino. Lacking federal recognition, the Shawnee United Remnant Band cannot participate in such development and wants no part in it.

Economic development

In 1989 the organization purchased 110 acres near Urbana, Ohio. To generate revenue for welfare and development, they purchased the Zane Shawnee Caverns in 1996 and a museum. The latter is now named for and devoted to George Drouillard, a Shawnee interpreter and hunter who was a member of Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery.[3]

The US Mint contracted with the United Remnant Band to sew pouches for the 2004 US Mint Lewis and Clark Coin but was informed by the Indian Arts and Crafts Board that "the Shawnee Nation United Remnant Band of Ohio does not meet the legal requirements to produce and market authentic 'Indian' products under the Indian Arts and Crafts Act." The US mint refunded money spent on the pouches.[3]

References
  1. Smith, Pamela A. "Shawnee Tribe (Loyal Shawnee)". The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  2. "Indian Entities Recognized by and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs". Indian Affairs Bureau. Federal Register. 11 November 2022. pp. 7554–58. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  3. DAVID LAZARUS, "Tribal question a matter of dollars", Los Angeles Times, 2 November 2007, accessed 11 January 2014
  4. "State Recognized Tribes". National Conference of State Legislatures. Archived from the original on 25 October 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  5. "State Committees and Commissions on Indian Affairs". National Conference of State Legislatures. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  6. Pember, Mary Annette (19 June 2015). "Black and Red and White Like Me: Natives Know Too Many Rachel Dolezals". Indian Country Today Media Network. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  7. Shriver, Cameron. "Black Hoof (d. 1831)" in Imperialism and Expansionism in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection, Chris J. Magoc and David Bernstein, eds. (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2015): 368–369. ISBN 978-1-61069-429-2.
  8. "American Indians in Ohio", Ohio Memory: An Online Scrapbook of Ohio History. The Ohio Historical Society, retrieved October 10, 2006
  9. "Joint Resolution to recognize the Shawnee Nation United Remnant Band" / as adopted by the [Ohio] Senate, 113th General Assembly, Regular Session, Am. Sub. H.J.R. No. 8, 1979-1980
  10. Kevin Harter, "Ohio Home At Last For The Shawnees", Cox News Service in The Free Lance–Star, May 26, 1989, also available as "Split Shawnee Tribe Gains a 'Homeland'", Associated Press in Tulsa World, May 18, 1989.
  11. "Native Americans Buying Back Ohio Land"; The Ojibwe News, October 16, 1998
  12. Jon Craig, "Indian Gaming Interests Eye Ohio; Secrecy, Big Money Surround Land Deals, Plans", Columbus Dispatch, 1 June 2003, hosted at American Policy Roundtable, accessed 9 January 2014
  13. Obituary for Jerry L. Pope, April 26, 1941 - May 13, 2015 (accessed 2015-10-02).
  14. Boice, Judith. "A Place Without Apology", Cultural Survival Quarterly, Issue 14.2, 30 April 1990, accessed 11 January 2014
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