VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – In January 2006, the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia began the process to obtain state recognition from the Commonwealth of Virginia. The first step in the process, though not legally necessary, is to obtain a formal recommendation through the Virginia Council on Indians. More than 30 months since the tribe first sought the endorsement from the VCI committee, no formal recommendation has been made.

According to the Tribal Recognition Criteria ratified by the VCI May 16, 2006 in accordance with the Code of Virginia, the recognition committee “will normally view the petition and make a recommendation to the VCI within 360 days from the time the committee convenes.”

The current recognition committee, which has changed numerous times since the Nottoway first began its quest for recognition, has not been able to agree on its recommendation to the VCI. The current committee consists of Mitchell Bush, Onondaga-Mohawk; tribal representative Arlene Milner, Upper Mattaponi; Assistant Chief Earl Bass, Nansemond; Chief Anne Richardson, Rappahannock and Helen Rountree, Virginia Indian historian.

Tribal members are claiming support from some committee members, but bias by others that will not “allow the recognition process to work.”

In a letter to former Pamunkey Chief William Miles, current chair of the VCI board, Nottoway tribal attorney Allard Allston has asked Rountree to resign for exhibiting bias currently and in her literary past.

In Rountree’s career as a historian to American Indian issues, she has made assertions that do not bode well with Nottoway members.

In an unpublished manuscript entitled, “The Termination and Dispersal of the Nottoway Indians of Virginia,” Rountree wrote:

“There was indeed a continuing decline of the Indian population in Virginia in the Eighteenth Century, not only because of disease and alcohol, but more often because of spin-off due to adoptions of Indian orphans by whites, skilled adults remaining among whites to practice their trades, and (perhaps that early) some disapproved marriages with free negroes to escape the inbreeding. The core of the Indian community that was left was conservative or unambitious or in the case of the Nottoway, both.

The Nottoway continued to claim a declining population and use it to get permission to sell land, but as we shall see, their population actually leveled off in succeeding years at around thirty core individuals. Considering their love of alcohol, attested by several witnesses over the years, the Nottoway probably played the role of the vanishing Indian in order to get the General Assembly’s cooperation and then use the sale money to buy liquor.”

Additionally, in a Southampton County Historical Society article, “The Nottoway Indians,” Rountree wrote that the Nottoway sold land for “clothes, guns, ammunition and liquor” and further claims the Nottaway’s loss of identity because of merging with African Americans:

“The last bit of land owned by a Nottoway descendant was lost in 1953. By then, the descendants of the last Nottoway’s had merged into the black community and lost their identity as Indians.”

The tribe expressed discomfort with Rountree as the fifth member of the VCI Recognition Committee. As a voting member, she is conceivably the odd and deciding vote in the case of any tie.

“I am not necessarily challenging her right as an individual to have her own opinion – but I do challenge the legality and fairness of seating such a person on a panel that determines state recognition – it is synonymous with having a juror with preconceived bias on a jury in any courtroom,” Allston said.

Past literary grievances are not all that trouble the Nottoway. The tribe is also concerned that any decisions made by the committee regarding recognition criteria may not be approved because of preconceived notions introduced by Rountree.

In a rough draft decision issued by the recognition committee, Rountree states the Nottoway does not meet many of the criteria necessitated by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Bush, a retired branch chief of Tribal Enrollment Services for the BIA, voted in opposition to Rountree, noting the Nottoway met all the criteria.

“Rountree criticized my objection, but she herself perhaps should not have participated in the Nottoway Tribe of Virginia’s petition evaluation given her earlier association with the Nottoway group, and her flat statement there exists no Nottoway group,” Bush said.

“In my opinion, Dr. Helen Rountree has shown bias from the onset of the evaluation of the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia’s state recognition petition,” said Paige Archer, Meherrin Tribe, a former VCI Recognition Committee chair.

Archer said though the Nottoway proved family lines existed outside those listed on an 1808 Census, “the original reservation was 40,000-plus acres. Dr. Rountree’s stance on this subject, in my opinion, has led to further misconceptions. I feel that her actions have served as an influential roadblock.”

Archer resigned from the committee in 2008. Gov. Tim Kaine re-appointed Archer but she didn’t accept.

“Most Virginian’s believe that recognition by the Commonwealth offers some special financial benefits. It does not. It is an acknowledgment of cultural identity and ancestry,” Allston said. “In regards to this committee, all we are asking is for them to be fair.”

The final decision will be issued in May.

Rountree could not be reached for comment.

The public has the opportunity to comment on tribe’s bid for state recognition to the VCI Recognition Committee – express all concerns to VCI@governor.virginia.gov.