Blood Quantum Laws is an umbrella term that describes legislation enacted to define membership in Native American groups. "Blood quantum" refers to attempts to calculate the degree of racial inheritance for a given individual. This article is the current U.S. Collaboration of the Week. ...

The Dawes Act, also known as the General Allotment Act, was part of a federal initiative to "civilize" the Indians by forcing them into Western cultural and legal practices. The strategy of this Act was to take lands held in common by tribes as reservations and break them up into individually-owned parcels. Parcels of land were given to individuals who could prove that they were members of the tribe who owned the land, and the remainder was often opened for white settlement. Tribes set their own membership requirements, and many used blood quantum as part of the necessary qualification. The Indian General Allotment Act (Dawes Act of 1887, ch. ...

Many Indian tribes continue to employ blood quantum in their own current tribal laws to determine who is eligible for membership in the tribe. These often require a minimum degree of blood relationship and often an ancestor listed in a specific tribal census from the late 1800s or early 1900s. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina, for example, require an ancestor listed in the 1924 Baker census and a minimum of 1/32 Cherokee blood inherited from their ancestor(s) on that roll. Meanwhile the Western Cherokee require applicants to descend from an ancestor in the 1906 Dawes roll (direct lineal ancestry), but impose no minimum blood quantum requirement. The Ute require a 5/8 blood quantum, the highest requirement of any U.S. tribe, while the Miccosukee of Florida, the Mississippi Choctaw and the St. Croix Chippewa of Wisconsin all require 1/2 "tribal blood quantum". At the other end of the scale, the Mashantucket Pequot of Connecticut and the Sac and Fox of Oklahoma both require 1/16, whereas the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon require a combined minimum of 1/16 from any of a list of several Oregon indigenous peoples. A 1/4 blood requirement is by far the most common, along with requirements of "Lineal descendency" which do not specify any minimum tribal ancestry. 1870 US Census for New York City A census is the process of obtaining information about every member of a population (not necessarily a human population). ... The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians are a federally recognized Native American tribe in the United States of America. ... Official language(s) English Capital Raleigh Largest city Charlotte Area  Ranked 28th  - Total 53,865 sq mi (139,509 km²)  - Width 500 miles (805 km)  - Length 150 miles (240 km)  - % water 9. ... The Utes (yoots) are an ethnically related group of American Indians now living primarily in Utah and Colorado. ... --Magicmonster 18:19, 14 August 2005 (UTC) Categories: Possible copyright violations ... Official language(s) English Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Area  Ranked 22nd  - Total 65,794 sq mi (170,451 km²)  - Width 162 miles (260 km)  - Length 497 miles (800 km)  - % water 17. ... Official language(s) English Capital Jackson Largest city Jackson Area  Ranked 32nd  - Total 48,434 sq. ... The Choctaws, or Chatas, are a Native American people originally from the southeast United States (Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana) of the Muskoghean linguistic group. ... Tribes Location St. ... For other uses of Chippewa, see Chippewa (disambiguation). ... Official language(s) None Capital Madison Largest city Milwaukee Area  Ranked 23rd  - Total 65,498 sq. ... The Mashantucket Pequots are a small Native American tribe in Connecticut which operates the successful Foxwoods Resort Casino. ... The Pequot were a tribe or nation of Native Americans who, in the 17th century, inhabited much of what is now Connecticut. ... Official language(s) English Capital Hartford Largest city Bridgeport Area  Ranked 48th  - Total 5,549 sq. ... The Sac and Fox Nation is the modern political entity encompassing the historical Sac and Fox nations of Native Americans. ... Official language(s) None Capital Oklahoma City Largest city Oklahoma City Area  Ranked 20th  - Total 69,960 sq mi (181,196 km²)  - Width 230 miles (370 km)  - Length 298 miles (480 km)  - % water 1. ... The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon consists of five tribes with long historical ties to present-day western Oregon between the Coast Range and the Cascade Range: Chasta (present-day Oregon bands of the Shasta) Kalapuya Molalla Rogue River (a tribe whose bands were split between... Official language(s) None Capital Largest city Salem Portland Area  Ranked 9th  - Total 98,466 sq. ...

Critics of the laws say they have been used to discriminate against Blacks and Native Americans and deny them their civil rights as well as pre-empt the right of tribes to determine themselves who is and who is not a member. Contemporary defenders point out that U.S. tribes set their own rules to determine tribal membership, and that they can decide on their own whether or not to employ blood quantum. Groups such as the Cherokee Freedman and others claim they are denied tribal rights based on the blood quantum laws. The base rolls recorded blacks simply as blacks despite the fact that they had been made members of the tribe and even when they may have had some degree of Indian blood. Civil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. ...

Federal blood quantum laws continue to affect benefits that some individuals of Indian descent receive from the Federal government, independent of tribal law. For example, in 1985, the US Congress passed the Quarter Blood Amendment Act to determine which Indian students were eligible for Indian education programs and tuition-free attendance at the Bureau of Indian Affairs or contract schools. This must be verified by obtaining a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood which is sometimes also used for tribal determinations. This article is about the year. ... The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States of America. ... The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is an agency of the United States Federal Government within the Department of the Interior charged with the responsibility is the administration and management of 55. ... A Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood or Certificate of Degree of Alaska Native Blood (both abbreviated CDIB) is an official U.S. document that certifies an individual possesses a specific degree of Indian blood of a federally recognized Indian tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, or community. ...

External links

• Blood Quantum: A Relic Of Racism And Termination