H.R. 5327

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5327 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5327

To extend Federal recognition to the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia, 
and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

September 11, 2025

Ms. McClellan introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To extend Federal recognition to the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia, 
and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Nottoway Indian 
Tribe of Virginia Federal Recognition Act''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents of this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
Sec. 4. Federal recognition.
Sec. 5. Membership; governing documents.
Sec. 6. Governing body.
Sec. 7. Reservation of the Tribe.
Sec. 8. Gaming.
Sec. 9. Hunting, fishing, trapping, gathering, and water rights.
Sec. 10. Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:
(1) 1586: Ralph Lane, leader of the Colony at Roanoke 
(Virginia), documented his engagement with Iroquois nations of 
Nottoways, Meherrin, and Tuscarora Indians--collectively 
referred to by the Algonquian term Mangoaks, (also known as 
Mangoags)--reporting that they possessed a ``. . . great 
quantity of copper.''.
(2) 1609: In search of information concerning the ``Lost 
Colony'' of Virginia, Nathaniel Powell and Anas Todkill were 
led to the Mangoaks for information.
(3) 1612: Oxford University press published the first 
detailed map of the Chesapeake Bay and what is now Virginia, 
Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and the District of 
Columbia--``A Map of Virginia. With a Description of the 
Countrey, the Commodities, People, Government and Religion''--
was charted by explorer Captain John Smith and documenting 200 
Indian names and locations, including Mannahoack.
(4) 1646: The Treaty of 1646 was signed by Gov. William 
Berkeley and Necotowance recognized as the regional ``King of 
the Indians'' and ended Third Anglo-Powhatan War (1644-46). As 
a result of the treaty, regional tribes were considered 
tributaries to the English government and cede much of their 
territory to the English. The treaty also constructed strict 
terms of segregation and engagement between Indians and 
colonists.
(5) 1650: Nottoways provided Iroquois interpreters and 
diplomatic envoys to the Tuscarora tribe on behalf of explorers 
English merchants Abraham Wood and Edward Bland as they 
traveled south from Fort Henry to the Roanoke River, hoping to 
establish trade with the Indians and to discover potentially 
marketable commodities. On their journey they visited the two 
Nottoway Towns, Chounteroute near present day Rowantee Creek 
and Cohannehahanka further south toward the Nottoway River.
(6) 1677: In response to the aggressions and plundering of 
Bacon's Rebellion, the Chief of the Nottoways joined in signing 
the ``Articles of Peace,'' also known as the Treaty of Middle 
Plantation between the Crown of England and Virginia Tribes. 
Through the articles in the agreement, the Nottoway nation 
became ``tributary'' to the English king--a quasi-alliance--
that forced the Nottoway and other tribes to accept the 
dominion of the Crown but confirmed Indian governments and 
territories as dependent sovereigns and outlined mutual rights 
and responsibilities, including military cooperation and 
territorial boundaries.
(7) 1680-1690: Due to the increased colonial expansion 
throughout the latter half of the 17th century, the Nottoways 
migrated south along the Nottoway River toward Assamoosick 
Swamp (modern day Southampton County, Virginia).
(8) 1705: Pursuant to the Articles of Peace, in 1705, an 
act of the Virginia House of Burgesses ordered ``the Bounds for 
the Nottoway Lands be Laid out for Them . . . a Circle Three 
Miles Round . . . and another parcel of Land on the South Side 
Nottoway River Six Miles Square.'' Accordingly, two tracts of 
land comprised of approximately 40,000 acres were designated as 
Nottoway land: a twenty-eight square mile polygon north of the 
Nottoway River along the Assamoosick Swamp, known as the 
``Circle Tract,'' and thirty-six square miles south of the 
Nottoway River, known as the ``Square Tract.'' Legal oversight 
of the reservations was entrusted to a small circle of related 
and politically aligned non-Indian men who remained in control 
of the Nottoway Trusteeship for over one hundred years. Their 
management of Nottoway resources undermined traditional 
Nottoway leadership roles, restricted Nottoway economic 
maneuverability and self-determination, and eventually was 
determined by a Virginia court to have violated fiduciary 
responsibilities, resulting in the gradual diminishing of once 
plentiful resources.
(9) 1711-1713: The Nottoway governance structure relied 
upon kin-based governing bodies that prioritized building 
community consensus and consisted of a tribal leader and a 
council referred to as ``great men.''.
(10) 1711-1760: In an effort to resolve ongoing conflicts 
at the North Carolina border, Alexander Spotswood, Lieutenant 
Governor of the Colony of Virginia negotiated with Tribal 
chiefs, including the Nottoways, ultimately demanding that the 
Nottoway send two of their sons as ``hostages'' to be educated 
and religiously indoctrinated at the Brafferton School at 
Williamsburg (Virginia) at what is now William & Mary College, 
in exchange for the ceasing of hostilities and the Colonial 
government granting waivers of the tribes' annual tribute 
payments. At one point, Nottoway tribal leadership were put in 
irons until they complied with the Treaty. Subsequently, 
Nottoway children attended and appeared on the rolls at the 
Brafferton (Indian) School (briefly relocated at Fort 
Christianna) until about 1760.
(11) 1713-14: The Nottoway and Meherrin tribes partnered to 
act as regional intermediaries, buffering colonial settlements 
from the ongoing hostility of tribes along the North Carolina 
frontier.
(12) 1728: The William Byrd Expedition stayed with the 
Nottoway while journeying to survey the dividing line between 
Virginia and North Carolina William Byrd recounts his visit to 
the Nottoway Great Town on the Assomoosick Swamp. He describes 
them as the ``Mehogony Skins'' or the ``Copper Colourd Ones of 
Nottoway Towne'' and also states that the Nottoway are ``the 
only Indians of consequence now remaining within the limits of 
Virginia.''.
(13) 1735: The Virginia legislature passed their first Act 
authorizing the Nottoway to sell a portion of their 40,000 acre 
reservation land in the Circular Tract (in Isle of Wight 
County, Virginia, north of the Nottoway River) under the 
supervision of appointed Trustees.
(14) 1750's: During the French and Indian War of the mid-
1750's, the Nottoway joined with the Cherokee and Catawba 
fought in several engagements against the French and Shawnee, 
under the command of the young Lt. Colonel George Washington. 
Lt. Colonel Washington believed their service was invaluable in 
the woodland warfare of the frontier and recommended that 
Governor Dinwiddie recognize the distinguished service of 
Thomas Step, saying ``Captain Tom, the Chief of the Nottoways: 
He has received less, and deserves more than any of them; as he 
used great pains to bring the Tuskaroras, and has met with no 
reward for it, although he was promised one.'' Subsequently, 
the Virginia House of Burgesses noted, ``Tom Step, Billy John, 
School Robin Robert Scholar, and Aleck Scholar, Nottoway 
Indians . . . were in the Service of this Colony, and did 
behave themselves with great Bravery during the last Campaign, 
particularly . . . Tom Step, who distinguished himself very 
remarkably in the Action before Fort Du Quesne, under the 
Command of Major Grant.''.
(15) 1752: The Virginia House of Burgesses passed an act, 
empowering colonial Trustees to manage transactions pertaining 
to the Nottoway land and resources: ``Many evil disposed 
persons under pretence of the said Indians being indebted to 
them do frequently disposses them of their guns, blankets, and 
other apparel, to their great impoverishment . . . persons so 
offending, shall forfeit and pay to the Indian or Indians so 
injured, the sum of twenty shillings current money, for every 
such offence . . . and shall be paid to the trustees aforesaid, 
and by them laid out in common necessaries of life, for the 
Indian to whose use the same shall be recovered.'' 
Additionally, an extinction clause in the act directed that, 
should the Nottoway tribe go extinct, all proceeds from the 
reservation lands were to be deposited in the public treasury. 
Trustee mismanagement of Nottoway funds ensued, to the 
advantage of the Trustees and to the inequity of the Nottoway 
people (Woodard 2013:152).
(16) 1776: From the beginning of the American Revolution, 
Nottoway soldiers fought alongside whites, African Americans, 
and other Indians in the service of the Commonwealth, 
integrated within revolutionary Virginia's Regiments of Foot. 
Out of the Nottoway families represented in the 1770s documents 
from the Nottoway Indian Town, half sent young men into the 
service of the American Revolution, and at least three of the 
Nottoway families lost family members during the conflict.
(17) 1800's: At the beginning of the nineteenth century, 
the Nottoway were the only Iroquoian community in the region to 
maintain continuous control over a portion of their indigenous 
territory--4,235 acres in Southampton County, Virginia. 
Traditionally, tribal custom had determined Nottoway descent 
only through matrilineal lines instead of genetic connection. 
Within Nottoway governance, this customary distinction impacted 
access to tribal leadership and hereditary roles. Within the 
Commonwealth's legal structure, however matrilineal descent 
determined legal access to tribal resources derived from the 
reservation lands. The Commonwealth's matrilineal distinction 
resulted in limited documentation of children born of Nottoway 
men by non-Nottoway mothers. Many of those genetic Nottoway 
were documented ``Free Negro,'' ``Indian,'' ``Mulatto,'' or 
``White.'' Any decrease in Nottoway inheritors through removal 
or exogamy or removal from documentation as Nottoway allowed 
larger amounts of money to remain in the trust because there 
were fewer eligible recipients. This manipulation of 
documentation provided the trustees more control over 
matrilineal Nottoway lands because there were fewer potential 
Nottoway leaders to counter the trustees' recommendations.
(18) 1809: A legal opinion submitted to the Governor of 
Virginia by Attorney General Phillip Norborne Nicholas 
summarized legislative acts regarding Nottoway Indian land held 
``the Nottoway Indians' claim under title paramount to every 
other--the aboriginal right to their soil before the rights of 
either the King or colony . . . or of the Commonwealth.''
(19) 1820: John Wood, a professor from William and Mary 
College interviewed Nottoway speakers including Chief Edy 
Turner (b.1754-d.1838), and established a vocabulary list of 
over 250 Nottoway words and phrases. Former President Thomas 
Jefferson and linguist Peter S. DuPonceau determined Nottoway 
language to be an Iroquoian dialect and the vocabulary was 
published in 1836 by Albert Gallatin, who had been Secretary of 
the Treasury during the Jefferson Administration.
(20) 1821-1852: The Nottoway community was politically 
active, petitioning the Virginia legislature, governors, and 
county courts to intercede on matters related to the 
mismanagement of Nottoway funds, accusing the Trustees of 
conflicts of interest, embezzlement, and mismanagement/
misappropriation of Indian funds distribution of property, 
illegal seizure, and violation of treaty obligations. In 
response, the General Assembly conducted audits and twice 
removed appointed trustees, although the displaced trustees 
selected their own successors.
(21) 1821: Nottoway citizens acquired legal representation 
and petitioned the Virginia General Assembly for the Nottoway 
to be freed from the exploitive oversight of the Trustees, to 
restrict further sales of Nottoway lands, to have full control 
over the principal amounts derived, and to internally manage 
the distribution of those resources. The petition was signed by 
Chief Edy Turner and three other Nottoway citizens, using their 
Iroquoian titles or personal names: Wane' Roonseraw or Edith 
Turner, Kare' hout or Polly Woodson, William Woodson, and Te-
res-ke' or Solomon Rogers. This petition is the only extant 
documentation of nineteenth-century Tidewater Virginia where 
Indian people used their indigenous language in political 
discourse.
(22) 1824: Although the 1821 petition was denied, in 1824, 
matrilineal Nottoway William G. Bozeman, also known as William 
Woodson, applied for permission ``to hold in fee simple so much 
land as he may be considered entitled to free from the control 
of the Trustees. The subsequent act concerning William G. 
Bozeman held that `any descendant of a female of the Nottoway' 
gained the right to possess land allotments and monies from the 
tribal trust and the same power to sell convey or exchange the 
same, as free white persons of this Commonwealth possess and 
enjoy.'' In this way, the Virginia legislature codified 
Nottoway inheritance and access to materials and assets derived 
from reservation lands as being determined solely by descent.
(23) 1830-1880: Trustees divided the reservations among 
matrilineal Nottoways. ``Allotment'' farms of extended Indian 
families were developed as private property homesteads. 
Nottoway Millie Woodson-Turner was one of the few residents of 
Nottoway Indian Town whose parents were both of matrilineal 
Nottoway descent. Her homestead (the Millie Woodson-Turner Home 
Site) was established circa 1850 on Nottoway Indian allotment 
land and was continuously occupied by the family and 
descendants until circa 1950. The Millie Woodson-Turner Home 
Site has been designated a state and Federal historical 
landmark, in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
(24) 1838: In litigation involving the status of 
matrilineal Nottoway Parsons Turner and the quagmire of 
Virginia's legal classification of races, the Attorney General 
of Virginia determined that ``In their character of members of 
a dependent tribe of Indians the individuals of the Nottoway 
tribe have all the privileges of Indians. The fact that some of 
them may also be mulattoes should not deprive them of this 
privilege.''.
(25) 1849: Trustees for the Nottoway and Nansemond Tribes 
of Indians brought a lawsuit against former Trustee Jeremiah 
Cobb, a prominent local slave owner and the judge who presided 
over the 1831 trial of Nat Turner. The lawsuit was a success 
and Cobb had to pay monetary damages. This case is one of only 
several documented instances in which a Virginia tribe 
successfully brought a lawsuit under treaty/reservation rights 
during the nineteenth century.
(26) 1878: The children of Edwin Turner, who was heir to 
the property of Edy Turner, made the last recorded application 
for 575 acres of Nottoway reservation Land.
(27) 1889: James Mooney of the Smithsonian Institution 
receives responses to questionnaires stating Nottoway living in 
the area near Courtland, Virginia.
(28) 1890: Throughout the first half of the 20th Century, 
Nottoway citizens continued to reside on Nottoway allotments. 
Nottoway collaborating with each other for labor and survived 
by pooling resources between the urban and rural Nottoway, 
creating a type of socioeconomic continuum of kinship between 
``city life'' and ``in the country.'' The ``Virginia News'' 
section of the July 28, 1890, edition of the Alexandria Gazette 
stated ``John Williams, the eldest of the remaining Nottoway 
tribe of Indians, was at court at Boykins last week. He is 
seventy-four years old, hale and hearty and works on his farm 
every day.''.
(29) 1918: As late as 1918, Nottoway were still being 
buried in Old Indian Graveyard in Capron District, Virginia.
(30) 1924-1930: The Indian Citizenship Act granted 
citizenship to indigenous people born within the territorial 
United States who were not already considered citizens. The 
Virginia General Assembly passed a series of ``Racial Integrity 
Laws'' with the intention of limiting miscegenation: The 1924 
law defined a person as ``white'' as one with no known trace of 
any other race except caucasion, with the exception of \1/16\ 
or less of American Indian (often referred to as the Pocahontas 
exception). The 1926 law required public spaces to be racially 
segregated public spaces. The 1930 law defined a person with 
any trace of African American ancestry as ``negro'' (often 
referred to as the ``one drop rule.''), resulted in many 
indigenous people in Virginia, who previously had been 
classified as Indian, to be reclassified as ``negro.''.
(31) 1948: The annual Smithsonian Institute Report by Dr. 
William H. Gilbert restated, ``West of the Nansemond in 
Southampton County between Sebrell and Courtland, there are 
asserted to be still remaining remnants of the Nottoway 
Tribe.''.
(32) 1965-69: Archeological excavations were made at Hand 
Site in Southampton County, Virginia, on the western bank of 
the Nottoway River through the inner coastal plains in Southern 
Virginia. The site revealed remains dating to the late 
sixteenth and early seventeenth century of Iroquoian houses and 
a cemetery containing 132 graves surrounded by a stockade with 
remains which were removed and are presently stored at the 
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in the District 
of Columbia.
(33) 1980: An article in the Tidewater News described that 
as late as the 1920's Nottoway Indians had gathered on the 
Kello farm, a portion of the old Nottoway Reservation, for 
ceremonial and cultural gatherings.
(34) 2004: Citizen members of the Nottoway Indian Tribe of 
Virginia participated in the opening celebration of the 
National Museum of the American Indian.
(35) 2006: Family groups of Nottoway from throughout the 
Tidewater region gathered for Tribal reorganization. The 
Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia Incorporated was established 
and structured according to historic Iroquoian democratic 
principles of governance principles, including a preeminent 
Tribal Council and ceremonial Chiefs. Chief Lynette Lewis 
Allston was chosen as chief and has consistently led the Tribe 
to develop community outreach through cultural engagements, 
educational collaborations, and environmental projects, 
respecting historically Nottoway lands in Virginia.
(36) 2006 October: The Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia 
submitted a detailed petition to the Virginia Council on 
Indians (VCI), a statutorily established advisory body on 
Native American affairs. The petition requested tribal 
recognition of the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia by the 
Commonwealth of Virginia and included ten Nottoway family 
descendant lines/genealogies, examined and corroborated by 
public records. The VCI Recognition Committee examined the 
records and determined that each family line was comprised of 
Nottoway descendants. Subsequently, the VCI Recognition 
Committee deemed the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia, 
Incorporated to be a historic Virginia tribe.
(37) 2007: The Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia has 
consistently led community outreach through cultural 
engagements, educational collaborations, and environmental 
projects, respecting historically Nottoway lands in Virginia. 
At the invitation of the Surry County Board of Supervisors, the 
Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia, established the tradition of 
holding an annual powwow in Surry County, Virginia. The powwows 
include intertribal drums and dancing, storytelling, 
educational displays, arts and crafts, Native American cooking, 
as well as historical and public service information.
(38) June 3, 2008: The Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia 
established the Virginia Nottoway Indian Circle and Square 
Foundation, Incorporated, a IRS 501(c)(3) non-profit entity 
with a mission to preserve and perpetuate the ideas, culture, 
and traditions of the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia.
(39) 2008: Nottoway Asphy Sidney Turner was appointed to 
the Virginia Council on Indians Advisory Committee.
(40) 2009: The National Park Service, in conjunction with 
Historic Jamestowne, commissioned historical artist Keith Rocco 
to create an oil painting, ``Jamestown in the 1690's--Changing 
Times,'' depicting the Nottoway Tribe making its annual tribute 
to the Royal Governor of Virginia in 1691.
(41) 2010: The Virginia General Assembly granted state 
recognition to the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia 
Incorporated, including the representation of the Nottoway 
Indian Tribe on the Virginia Council of Indians.
(42) 2012: Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia established 
and opened the Nottoway Community House and Interpretive Center 
in Capron, Virginia, which offers a dedicated space for tribal 
governance, as well as community engagement and educational 
programming such as demonstrations of traditional crafts and 
classes on beading, flute making, and quilting.
(43) 2020: The Iroquoian site of the Millie Woodson Turner 
Home Site was designated a historic landmark and included in 
the Virginia Landmarks Register based upon its historical 
significance and connection to the continuous presence of the 
Nottoways in Virginia. Descendants of Mille Woodson Turner are 
members of the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia.
(44) 2021: The Millie Woodson Turner Home Site was approved 
by the National Park Service for designation as a national 
historic landmark, to be included in the National Register of 
Historic Places.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:
(1) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
of the Interior.
(2) Tribal member.--The term ``Tribal member'' means--
(A) an individual who is an enrolled member of the 
Tribe as of the date of the enactment of this Act; and
(B) an individual who has been placed on the 
membership rolls of the Tribe in accordance with this 
Act.
(3) Tribe.--The term ``Tribe'' means the Nottoway Indian 
Tribe of Virginia, Incorporated.

SEC. 4. FEDERAL RECOGNITION.

(a) Federal Recognition.--
(1) In general.--Federal recognition is extended to the 
Tribe.
(2) Applicability of laws.--All laws (including 
regulations) of the United States of general applicability to 
Indians or nations, Indian Tribes, or bands of Indians 
(including the Act of June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 5101)), that are 
not inconsistent with this Act shall be applicable to the Tribe 
and Tribal members.
(b) Federal Services and Benefits.--
(1) In general.--On and after the date of the enactment of 
this Act, the Tribe and Tribal members shall be eligible for 
all services and benefits provided by the Federal Government to 
federally recognized Indian Tribes without regard to the 
existence of a reservation for the Tribe.
(2) Service area.--For the purpose of the delivery of 
Federal services to Tribal members, the service area of the 
Tribe shall be considered to be the area comprised of the 
counties of Nottoway, Southampton, Sussex, Surry, Isle of 
Wight, Franklin, and Dinwiddie in Virginia.

SEC. 5. MEMBERSHIP; GOVERNING DOCUMENTS.

The membership roll and governing documents of the Tribe shall be 
the most recent membership roll and governing documents, respectively, 
submitted by the Tribe to the Secretary before the date of the 
enactment of this Act.

SEC. 6. GOVERNING BODY.

The governing body of the Tribe shall be--
(1) the governing body of the Tribe in place as of the date 
of the enactment of this Act; or
(2) any subsequent governing body elected in accordance 
with the election procedures specified in the governing 
documents of the Tribe.

SEC. 7. RESERVATION OF THE TRIBE.

(a) In General.--Upon the request of the Tribe, the Secretary of 
the Interior--
(1) shall take into trust for the benefit of the Tribe any 
land held in fee by the Tribe that was acquired by the Tribe on 
or before January 1, 2022, if such lands are located within the 
boundaries of the counties of Southampton, Sussex, Surry, Isle 
of Wight, Nottoway, and Dinwiddie in Virginia; and
(2) may take into trust for the benefit of the Tribe any 
land held in fee by the Tribe, if such lands are located within 
the boundaries of the counties of Southampton, Sussex, Surry, 
Isle of Wight, Nottoway, and Dinwiddie in Virginia.
(b) Reservation Status.--Any land taken into trust for the benefit 
of the Tribe pursuant to subsection (a)(1) shall, upon request of the 
Tribe, be considered part of the reservation of the Tribe.
(c) Deadline for Determination.--The Secretary shall make a final 
written determination not later than 3 years after the date on which 
the Tribe submits a request for land to be taken into trust under 
subsection (a)(2) and shall immediately make that determination 
available to the Tribe.

SEC. 8. GAMING.

The Tribe may not conduct gaming activities as a matter of claimed 
inherent authority or under the authority of any Federal law, including 
the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.) or under any 
regulations thereunder promulgated by the Secretary or the National 
Indian Gaming Commission.

SEC. 9. HUNTING, FISHING, TRAPPING, GATHERING, AND WATER RIGHTS.

Nothing in this Act expands, reduces, or affects in any manner any 
hunting, fishing, trapping, gathering, or water rights of the Tribe and 
members of the Tribe.

SEC. 10. INDIAN CHILD WELFARE ACT OF 1978.

Nothing in this Act affects the application of section 109 of the 
Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 1919).
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