As many Virginians know, we are fast approaching the 400th anniversary of the first permanent European settlement in North America at Jamestown. This anniversary will be a great moment in the national spotlight for the Commonwealth. But any celebrating should not occur without first recognizing the Native American tribes who played such a vital role in our state's history.
Federal recognition for the six Indian tribes in Virginia: the Chickahominy Tribe, Chickahominy Indian Tribe Eastern Division, the Upper Mattaponi, the Rappahannock Tribe, the Monacan Tribe, and the Nansemond Tribe is painfully long overdue. Together, the men and women of these tribes represent a long neglected part of our nation's history. Unlike most tribes that resisted encroachment and obtained federal recognition when they signed peace treaties with the federal government, Virginia's six tribes were not recognized and remain on the outside looking in.
During our country's early history, the Virginia tribes were subdued, pushed off their land, and up through much of the 20th Century, denied full rights as U.S. citizens. Despite their devastating loss of land and population, the Virginia Indians successfully overcame years of racial discrimination that denied them equal opportunities to pursue their education and preserve their cultural identity. That story of survival doesn't encompass decades, it spans centuries of racial hostility and coercive state and state-sanctioned actions.
In more recent times, racial hostility culminated with the enactment and brutal enforcement of Virginia's Racial Integrity Act of 1924. This act empowered zealots, like Walter Plecker, a state official, to destroy records and reclassify in Orwellian fashion all non-whites as "colored." To call yourself a "Native American" in Virginia was to risk a jail sentence of up to one year. Married couples were denied marriage certificates and were even unable to obtain the release of their newborn child from a hospital until they changed their ethnicity on the state record. For much of the 20th Century admission to public schools education was denied. These and other indignities are part of a shameful legacy experienced in our lifetime.
In an effort to address these past wrongs by giving the Virginia tribes the recognition they deserve, I have introduced the "Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act." This bill would fully restore the six Virginia Indian tribes heritage, and provide the legal protections and financial obligations that the current 562 federally recognized tribes receive.
As we approach the 400th Anniversary of Jamestown's founding, Congress needs to stop delaying this bill so that we can have a celebration in which all Virginians truly participate.