Today's seven criteria and the year 1900 (25 CFR 83.11, current)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1900 · Places: Carolinas
SUMMARY18. Today's seven criteria and the year 1900 (25 CFR 83.11, current) [Connections: Who decided who's Indian, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORD(a) "identified as an American Indian entity on a substantially continuous basis since 1900"; (b) "comprises a distinct community and demonstrates that it existed as a community from 1900 until the present"; (c) political influence "from 1900 until the present"; (d) governing document; (e) "membership consists of individuals who descend from a historical Indian tribe"; (f) members mostly not in a recognized tribe; (g) not subject to legislation that "expressly terminated or forbidden the Federal relationship." Evidence for (a) includes identification "by Federal authorities," "Relationships with State governments," dealings with county governments, scholars, and "newspapers and books." For (e), a federal roll counts "unless significant countervailing evidence establishes that the tribal roll is substantively inaccurate."
PATTERNThe start date 1900 falls in the Jim Crow era, when Southern state and county records sorted people as white or colored. The evidence lists are mostly government and press records: the same hostile witnesses. Criterion (g) shuts out any group Congress terminated (see Lumbee, card 26)
LENS (WW9)The proof required is paper from the very offices that did the renaming
OPENThe 2015 rule change (from "historical times" to 1900) and the debate over it; fetch the 2015 final rule (80 FR 37862) before quoting