I am an Native American and I was wondering how I go about becoming a certified Native American Indian ?

Answer 1

Basically you need to have the last names of those in your family who were/are Native to begin. Then call your tribe and ask if those names are listed on the rolls. If not then you can submit an article to the tribal newspaper asking if someone is related to such names. More detailed information is listed below.


Information on how to become enrolled is listed below:

To become enrolled in one's tribe is often a difficult process. Once one is enrolled one will have certain rights as a Native person. It is true that no one needs to prove their ethnic identity but to have full access to rights for Native people one must be enrolled.

To become enrolled one must first should call one's tribe and find out the enrollment requirements. They are different per tribe.
For most tribes you have to prove descendency and have a certain blood quantum. To prove descendency one needs to have some record of her belonging to a member of the tribe that was recognized by the tribe at some point, hopefully an individual that was enrolled at some point. The average blood quantum standard is 1/4. Unless you are Cherokee, their blood quantum standards are much less.

If you don't have contact with your tribal member then you can ask the tribe to look for his last name. They can look this up and see if his family line is registered. If so then your in luck. If they don't immediately find it then you can use the tribal newspaper and submit an article asking if anyone has lineage to your tribal member .

Many Native people can never become enrolled because standards of enrollment are high and were set up by the White government to oppress Native people and Native people have yet to change them.

To become more involved in one'sculture one might want to look up local Native organizations or local tribes. Try going to Pow-wow's (because they are easy to find) and talk to community members there. Many colleges/universities have a Native student union where one can get involved or get more information.

Please remember ancestry is very difficult for many Native people.

By the way, I am Native, so I have some knowledge pertaining to this.

Answer 2

Call the tribe you are descended from and ask questions...I don't think you can be "certified" in general.

I think you mean become enrolled and get your pedigree papers (the CDIB card)...

Answer 3

I want to know, too!! Is it expensive?