page_title: Narragansett people
section_title: 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: Narragansett people / History / 20th century
caption_attribution_description: English: My pic of the Narragansett Indian Church in Charlestown, Rhode Island.
context_page_description: The Narragansett people are an Algonquian American Indian tribe from Rhode Island. The tribe was nearly landless for most of the 20th century, but it worked to gain federal recognition and attained it in 1983. It is officially the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island and is made up of descendants of tribal members who were identified in an 1880 treaty with the state.
  The tribe acquired land in 1991 in their lawsuit Carcieri v. Salazar, and they petitioned the Department of the Interior to take the land into trust on their behalf. This would have made the newly acquired land to be officially recognized as part of the Narragansett Indian reservation, taking it out from under Rhode Island's legal authority. In 2009, the United States Supreme Court ruled against the request, declaring that tribes which had achieved federal recognition since the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act did not have standing to have newly acquired lands taken into federal trust and removed from state control.
context_section_description: The Naragansetts lost control of much of their tribal lands during the state's late 19th century detribalization, but they kept a group identity.  The tribe incorporated in 1900 and built their longhouse in 1940 as a traditional place for gatherings and ceremonies.
  In the late 20th century, they took action to have more control over their future. They regained 1,800 acres (7.3 km²) of their land in 1978, and gained federal recognition as a tribe in 1983. According to tribal rolls, there are approximately 2,400 members of the Narragansett Tribe today.  Like most Americans, they have mixed ancestry, with descent from the Narragansetts and other tribes of the New England area, as well as Europeans and Africans.
caption: The Narragansett Indian Church in Charlestown was founded in the 1740s. This building was constructed in 1859 to replace the one that had burned down.[24]
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