Sundays at Two will continue at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 3, at Lancaster Community Library, 16 Town Centre Drive, Kilmarnock.
Wayne Adkins, first assistant chief of the Chickahominy Indian Tribe, will present “How Six Virginia Indian tribes received federal recognition, and what that approval means.”
He will discuss how federal tribal recognition is defined, what is required to obtain it and why a tribe might want it, said committee member Jackie Ferriter.
Adkins has been active in the Chickahominy Tribe since he became eligible for enrollment as a full member when he was 16. He has been a member of the Chickahominy Tribal Council since 1996 and was elected to first assistant chief in June 2011, serving as second assistant chief prior to that. He also is grant project director.
Adkins worked for years along with members of Chickahominy-Eastern, Upper Mattaponi, Rappahannock, Monacan and Nansemond tribes in seeking federal recognition. On January 29, 2018, President Donald Trump signed the Thomasina E. Jordon Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2017.
The statute gives the tribes a greater ability to enforce their own laws and manage their own lands, makes each tribe and its members eligible for services provided by the federal government for Indians, and prohibits the tribes from conducting gaming activities.
There will be time for questions and coffee following the talk.