Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia Federal Recognition Act

Bill: 119-hr-5327
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. McClellan, Jennifer L. [D-VA-4]
Introduced: 2025-09-11
Policy area: Native Americans
Latest action: action_date: 2025-09-11
text: Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.

Summaries:

tv_txt: I 119th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 5327 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.

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 ).