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5 Tribal Membership Requirements and the Demography of
Pages 103-112

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From page 103...
... 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 epidemic in 1918 that caused serious losses)
From page 104...
... The population recovery has also resulted from adaptation through intermarriage with non-native peoples and changing fertility patterns during the twentieth century, whereby American Indian birth rates have remained higher than those of the average North American population. In 1980, for example, married American Indian women aged 35 to 44 had a mean number of children ever born of 3.61, in comparison with 2.77 for the total U.S.
From page 105...
... Today, 317 American Indian tribes in the United States are legally recognized by the federal government and receive services from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (U.S.
From page 106...
... A variety of court cases have tested tribal membership requirements. From the disputes, American Indian tribal governments have won the right to determine their own membership: "The courts have consistently recognized that in the absence of express legislation by Congress to the contrary, an Indian tribe has complete authority to determine all questions of its own membership" (Cohen, 1942:133~.6 Individuals enrolled in federally recognized tribes also receive a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood (referred to as a CDIB)
From page 107...
... TABLE 5-1 Blood Quantum Requirements of American Indian Tribes by Reservation Basis and Size Blood Quantum Requirement More than 1/4 No Minimum 1/4 or Less Requirement Number of tribes 21 183 98 Reservation based 85.7% 83.1% 63.9% Median size 1022 1096 1185 NOTE: Information not available on 15 tribes. SOURCES: Thornton (1987b)
From page 108...
... The largest of these is the Navajo Reservation, home to 143,405 Native Americans and 5,046 non-Indians in 1990 (Thornton, 1994a) .7 American Indian tribes located on reservations tend to have higher blood quantum requirements for membership than those located off reservation.
From page 109...
... During subsequent decades, however, more rapid increases in urbanization occurred; the 1980 census indicated that for the first time in history over one-half of all Native Americans lived in urban areas. The above-described trend toward requiring low percentages of Indian blood for tribal membership and dealing with the federal government to certify it may be seen in part as a result of "a demographic legacy of 1492." As the numbers of Native Americans have declined and Native Americans have come into increased contact with whites, blacks, and others, Native American peoples have increasingly married non-Indians.
From page 110...
... If these trends continue, both the genetic and tribal distinctiveness of the total Native American population will be greatly lessened. A Native American population comprising primarily "old" Native Americans strongly attached to their tribes will change to a population dominated by "new" Native American individuals who may or may not have tribal attachments or even tribal identities.
From page 111...
... government, decreasing blood quanta of the total Native American population may be perceived as meaning that the numbers of Native Americans to whom it is obligated have declined. CONCLUSIONS Native American peoples in the United States (and Canada)
From page 112...
... 1987b Tribal history, tribal population, and tribal membership requirements: The cases of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma. Towards a Quantative Approach to American Indian History, Occasional Papers Series No.


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