SEC. 501. Findings.
Congress finds that—
in 1677, the Monacan Tribe signed the Treaty of Middle Plantation between Charles II of England and 12 Indian “Kings and Chief Men”;
in 1722, in the Treaty of Albany, Governor Spotswood negotiated to save the Virginia Indians from extinction at the hands of the Iroquois;
specifically mentioned in the negotiations were the Monacan tribes of the Totero (Tutelo), Saponi, Ocheneeches (Occaneechi), Stengenocks, and Meipontskys;
in 1790, the first national census recorded Benjamin Evans and Robert Johns, both ancestors of the present Monacan community, listed as “white” with mulatto children;
in 1782, tax records also began for those families;
in 1850, the United States census recorded 29 families, mostly large, with Monacan surnames, the members of which are genealogically related to the present community;
in 1870, a log structure was built at the Bear Mountain Indian Mission;
in 1908, the structure became an Episcopal Mission and, as of the date of enactment of this Act, the structure is listed as a landmark on the National Register of Historic Places;
in 1920, 304 Amherst Indians were identified in the United States census;
from 1930 through 1931, numerous letters from Monacans to the Bureau of the Census resulted from the decision of Dr. Walter Plecker, former head of the Bureau of Vital Statistics of the Commonwealth of Virginia, not to allow Indians to register as Indians for the 1930 census;
the Monacans eventually succeeded in being allowed to claim their race, albeit with an asterisk attached to a note from Dr. Plecker stating that there were no Indians in Virginia;
in 1947, D’Arcy McNickle, a Salish Indian, saw some of the children at the Amherst Mission and requested that the Cherokee Agency visit them because they appeared to be Indian;
that letter was forwarded to the Department of the Interior, Office of Indian Affairs, Chicago, Illinois;
Chief Jarrett Blythe of the Eastern Band of Cherokee did visit the Mission and wrote that he “would be willing to accept these children in the Cherokee school”;
in 1979, a Federal Coalition of Eastern Native Americans established the entity known as “Monacan Co-operative Pottery” at the Amherst Mission;
some important pieces were produced at Monacan Co-operative Pottery, including a piece that was sold to the Smithsonian Institution;
the Mattaponi-Pamunkey-Monacan Consortium, established in 1981, has since been organized as a nonprofit corporation that serves as a vehicle to obtain funds for those Indian tribes from the Department of Labor under Native American programs;
in 1989, the Monacan Tribe was recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia, which enabled the Tribe to apply for grants and participate in other programs; and
in 1993, the Monacan Tribe received tax-exempt status as a nonprofit corporation from the Internal Revenue Service.