United Remnant Band of the Shawnee Nation
{{Infobox organization
| name = United Remnant Band of the Shawnee Nation
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| abbreviation = URB
| predecessor = Shawnee Nation United Remnant Band
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| successor = Zane Shawnee Caverns
| founding_location = Bellefontaine, Ohio
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| purpose = Christian (X20), Church; Cultural, Ethnic Awareness (A23)Quote from GuideStar: "Subject area: Christianity / Cultural awareness"
| headquarters = Bellefontaine, Ohio
| location = {{USA}} Ohio
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| language = English
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| leader_title = Executive officer
| leader_name = Lukas Peshewa Pope
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| revenue_year = 2022
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The United Remnant Band of the Shawnee Nation, also called the Shawnee Nation, United Remnant Band (URB), is an organization that self-identifies as a Native American tribe in Ohio. Its members identify as descendants of Shawnee people. In 2016, the organization incorporated as a church.{{cite web |title=Shawnee Nation United Remnant Band |url=https://www.guidestar.org/profile/31-0952858 |website=GuideStar |access-date=12 January 2024| quote=This organization is not required to file an annual return with the IRS because it is a church.}}
Three federally recognized tribes of Shawnee are based in Oklahoma.{{cite web|last1=Smith|first1=Pamela A.|title=Shawnee Tribe (Loyal Shawnee)|url=http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=SH019|website=The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture|publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society|access-date=8 February 2016}}
Status
Despite using the word nation in its name, the group is neither a federally recognized tribe{{cite web |title=Indian Entities Recognized by and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs |url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/01/29/2021-01606/indian-entities-recognized-by-and-eligible-to-receive-services-from-the-united-states-bureau-of |website=Indian Affairs Bureau |publisher=Federal Register |access-date=21 February 2022 |pages=7554–58 |date=11 November 2022}} nor a state-recognized tribe.Lazarus, David. [https://www.latimes.com/la-fi-tribe021107-column.html "Tribal question a matter of dollars"], Los Angeles Times, 2 November 2007, accessed 11 January 2014{{cite web |title=State Recognized Tribes |url=https://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/quad-caucus/list-of-federal-and-state-recognized-tribes.aspx#State |website=National Conference of State Legislatures |access-date=11 November 2022 |archive-date=25 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221025051136/https://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/quad-caucus/list-of-federal-and-state-recognized-tribes.aspx#State |url-status=dead }} Ohio has no office to manage Indian affairs{{cite web |title=State Committees and Commissions on Indian Affairs |url=https://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/quad-caucus/state-tribal-relations-committees-and-commissions.aspx |website=National Conference of State Legislatures |access-date=11 November 2022}} and no state-recognized tribes.
In 1979 and 1980, the Ohio state legislature held hearings about state recognition of the United Remnant Band. The band filed historical and genealogical documents with the state to support their claim of descent from the historical Shawnee.
The Ohio General Assembly held hearings and heard testimony from numerous groups.[http://worlddmc.ohiolink.edu/OMP/Subject?subject=american&pg=3 "American Indians in Ohio"], Ohio Memory: An Online Scrapbook of Ohio History. The Ohio Historical Society, retrieved October 10, 2006{{deadlink|date=November 2023}} In 1980, the 113th Ohio General Assembly passed a "Joint Resolution to recognize the Shawnee Nation United Remnant Band", as adopted by the Ohio Senate, 113th General Assembly, Regular Session, Am. Sub. H.J.R. No. 8, 1979-1980. This is a congratulatory resolution, and Ohio attorney general's office spokesperson Leo Jennings said: "The resolution has no force of law in the state Ohio.… It was basically a ceremonial resolution."
A former URB member Dark Rain Thom says she tried to help the United Remnant Band of Shawnee gain recognition in the 1970s and 1980s but has since joined another unrecognized organization, the East of the River Shawnee.{{cite news |last1=Filby |first1=Max |last2=King |first2=Danae |title=What does it mean to be a Native American tribe? In Ohio, the answer is complicated |url=https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/politics/2023/10/09/is-ohio-home-to-any-native-american-tribes-the-answer-is-complicatedwho-gets-to-decide-whos-native-a/70765014007/ |access-date=12 January 2024 |work=The Columbus Dispatch |date=9 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231127155032/https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/politics/2023/10/09/is-ohio-home-to-any-native-american-tribes-the-answer-is-complicatedwho-gets-to-decide-whos-native-a/70765014007/ |archive-date=27 November 2023 |quote=She now considers herself to be a tribal elder with the East of the River Shawnee, a non-federally recognized group that broke off from the United Remnant Band of Shawnee years ago.}}
At least 35 groups in Ohio claim to have Shawnee descent, such as the Vinyard Indian Settlement, but "Ohio has no state recognized tribes nor does it have a recognition process," wrote Mary Annette Pember (Red Cliff Ojibwe).{{cite news|last1=Pember|first1=Mary Annette|title=Black and Red and White Like Me: Natives Know Too Many Rachel Dolezals|url=http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/06/19/black-and-red-and-white-me-natives-know-too-many-rachel-dolezals-160790|access-date=8 February 2016|publisher=Indian Country Today Media Network|date=19 June 2015}}
Nonprofit organizations
In 1971, residents of Ohio organized the United Remnant Band of the Shawnee Nation as a 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization.{{cite web |title=Zane Shawnee Caverns |url=https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/shawnee-nation-united-remnant-band,310952858/ |website=CauseIQ |access-date=12 January 2024}} Until his death in 2015, Jerry L. "Hawk" Pope led the URB for more than 40 years.[http://www.eichholtzfuneralhome.com/memsol.cgi?user_id=1584104 Obituary for Jerry L. Pope, April 26, 1941 - May 13, 2015] (accessed 2015-10-02).
In 2016, the IRS accepted Shawnee Nation, United Remnant Band as a church in the state of Ohio. Jack "Eagle" Lewis" served on the organization's board of directors in 2008.
Currently, the nonprofit is named Zane Shawnee Caverns, a Christian 501(c)(3) organization. The Tides Foundation donated $150,000 to the organization in 2021.
The nonprofit's administration in 2022–23 was:
= Membership =
The Shawnee Nation, URB states that the organization requires people to trace their lineage and document at least one-eighth Shawnee ancestry (the equivalent of one great-grandparent), or one-16th if the person is a child "of a provable person."[http://www.culturalsurvival.org/ourpublications/csq/article/a-place-without-apology Boice, Judith. "A Place Without Apology"], Cultural Survival Quarterly, Issue 14.2, 30 April 1990, accessed 11 January 2014
Activities
= Properties =
{{main|Zane Shawnee Caverns}}
In 1989 the URB purchased 110 acres near Urbana, Ohio.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}} In 1989 the URB purchased 20 acres of land, three miles (6.4 km) south of Urbana, Ohio.Kevin Harter, [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19790720&id=QygxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iwIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5202,7163322&hl=en "Ohio Home At Last For The Shawnees"], Cox News Service in The Free Lance–Star, May 26, 1989.[http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/split-shawnee-tribe-gains-a-homeland/article_66bf254e-3a44-5526-9d9e-14a6ba61b96d.html "Split Shawnee Tribe Gains a 'Homeland'"], Associated Press in Tulsa World, May 18, 1989.
In 1995 the URB purchased the Zane Caverns and an associated museum, between Zanesfield and Bellefontaine, Ohio.[https://web.archive.org/web/20140610222345/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-22070939.html "Native Americans Buying Back Ohio Land"]; The Ojibwe News, October 16, 1998 In total they have bought 330 acres in four counties. They renamed {{convert|100|acre|km2|adj=on}} campground, museum, gift shop, caverns, and surrounding property as the Zane Shawnee Caverns and Southwind Park.
The museum in Bellefontaine was expanded and renamed as the George Drouillard Museum, for George Drouillard (Shawnee, 1773–1810), an interpreter and hunter who was a part of Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806).[http://www.aproundtable.org/library/articles/casino/indians_eye_ohio.html Jon Craig, "Indian Gaming Interests Eye Ohio; Secrecy, Big Money Surround Land Deals, Plans"], Columbus Dispatch, 1 June 2003, hosted at American Policy Roundtable, accessed 9 January 2014
= Coins =
The US Mint contracted with the United Remnant Band to sew pouches for the 2004 US Mint Lewis and Clark Coin but was informed by the Indian Arts and Crafts Board that "the Shawnee Nation United Remnant Band of Ohio does not meet the legal requirements to produce and market authentic 'Indian' products under the Indian Arts and Crafts Act." Under IACA, only members of federally or state-recognized tribes can sell their artwork as "Native American made" or "Indian made". The US mint refunded money that customers spent on the pouches.
Notable members
- Robert W. Russell, pen name Nas'Naga (1941–2021), poet and novelist from Ohio{{Cite web |last=Allen |first=Chadwick |date=2012 |title=Unsettling the Spirit of '76: American Indians Anticipate the U.S. Bicentennial |url=https://manifold.umn.edu/read/665b9b50-0b46-4e00-86ac-791284b6a3a4/section/9dcee7b5-4bec-437f-9e58-db8c0772d357#ren0228 |access-date=22 November 2024 |website=Trans-Indigenous: Methodologies for Global Native Literary Studies |publisher=University of Minnesota Press}}
References
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External links
- [http://www.shawneeurb.com/ Shawnee Nation, United Remnant Band], official website{{deadlink|date=November 2023}}
- [https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/310952858 Shawnee Nation United Remnant Band], ProPublica
- [https://www.zaneshawneecavernsandsouthwindpark.com/ Zane Shawnee Cavers & Southwind Park]
Category:1971 establishments in Ohio
Category:2016 establishments in Ohio
Category:Churches in Logan County, Ohio
Category:Non-profit organizations based in Ohio