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Saved Yuchi Page

The Yuchi tribe has been trying to gain federal recognition status for over 20 years. While currently the Yuchi have not been federally recognized, there has been some advancement in that time toward their efforts to gain federal recognition. Federal recognition as an individual tribe would ensure that the Yuchi people would have the right to self governance, economic development, as well as protect tribal customs and the Yuchi's unique language.[1]

During the visit of Jim Anaya, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Yuchi speaker Tracie Revis gave a speech defining the importance of federal recognition and acknowledged a declaration by the United Nations on the Rights of Indigenous People that states "that we have the right of self-determination and by virtue of that right- we may freely determine our political status and freely pursue our economic, social and cultural development."[9]

The last time the Yuchi were considered an autonomous tribe was during the Dawes Commission enrollment of 1890-1895. At that time there were 1200 tribal members. The decision of the Dawes Commission to legally classify the Yuchi as part of the Creek nation was an effort to simplify the process of land allotment, a decision that devastated the future of the Yuchi tribe.[10]

As of 1997, the Yuchi tribe had a formal enrollment of 249 members as many are already listed as part of other tribes. Currently, most Yuchi are of multi-tribal descent. Many are citizens of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Some are citizens of other tribes, such as the Shawnee or Sauk and Fox Nation. According to current estimates there should be roughly 2000 members of the Yuchi tribe, being of mixed heritage based on a list of 1,100 names from the Indian Claims Commission of 1950 and increased estimates thereof.[11]

Nonetheless, they continue to assert a Yuchi cultural identity, continuing the practice of important ceremonies such as theGreen Corn Ceremony of mid-summer, and others, as well as continuously maintaining three ceremonial grounds in Oklahoma. Members belong to the Native American Church and a Methodist congregation.[1]

In the last decades of the 20th century,1992, the surviving Yuchi have reorganized and tried to gain federal recognition as a tribe. As most descendants are enrolled in other federally recognized tribes already, they have not been successful. The unrecognized Euchee (Yuchi) Tribe of Indians is headquartered in Sapulpa, Oklahoma and their tribal chairman is Andrew Skeeter.[12]

In 2008, the Yuchi tribe received a grant from the Administration for Native Americans Comprehensive Community Survey and Plan that was used to create the Tribal History Project that began in October 2010.[13]

The uniqueness of the Yuchi tribe brought the attention of the Human Genome Project who, despite the Yuchi's lack of federal recognition, acknowledged the importance of the Yuchi's distinct culture and language by approaching the Yuchi first in their efforts to map North American indigenous tribe's genetic information. This distinction from other Native Americans from the Southeast could provide crucial information in the study of human history. . The Yuchi tribe declined to participate in the Human Genome Project due to cultural conflict and uncertainty over government ownership of tribal DNA.[14]