We are just out to preserve a piece of our history in a attempt to keep it from dying away and to inform those around us about our ancestors.
We have not nor currently have any plans to seek State or Federal Recognition.
We have found them things change a tribe....and in alot of cases not for the better. We feel state and federal recognition gives our tribe to people not descended from our ancestors. In order to have state or Federal recognition we have to go by their rules, they would tell us how we can or can not run our own tribe. This is for us and by us not anyone else.
We are out to allow ALL descendants of our ancestor's tribes to be included None of the descendants will ever be left out as long as this tribe exists.
We do not just sit around and wait for descendants to come to us....we seek them out as well. We started out as the Manahoac Saponi nation.....but as soon as new information was brought to us....we included the MattaMuskeet name....since we found out several of our ancestor's had came to the Saponi from the Mattamuskeet and the Hatteras. It would be wrong for us to not have included them. Since the Saponi, Hatteras, and Mattamuskeet's culture, dress style, language, etc was nearly identical....then it was not much changes for the added Mattamuskeet name.
The Saponi originally was a Siouan speaker, however when they came back to Va from NC....most of their words had became Algonkian which was the Mattamuskeet and Hatteras language. There is still a 3rd language that was picked up by the Saponi and thus far no one knows where it came from.
We know the Saponi reservation land in Brunswick, VA is still ours rightfully, there is no records showing that it was sold by our ancestors, there is also no records showing the government taking it back, the last record of it was that it was our ancestors (record to the Queen of England from Lt governor Spotswood). We know there is land in New York that is supposed to still belong to our cousins that went to Canada. We know there is some confusion over some of the Mattamuskeet reservation in Hyde county, NC.
However this is not what our tribe was started for.....we do not need to reclaim land or get any money from the Government unless it's a grant for research into our past which would be used stricly for that purpose. We are not the kind of group which says the Europeans did our ancestors wrong because the past is the past and today is now. No one in the 1700's or 1800's is alive today. Our group was started strictly for the preservation of our ancestor's heritage and way of life.....and to find all of the descendants in a attempt to bring them all back together. We wish to find a comon ground in which all the descendants who have been arguing with each other to find a way for them enter a neutral ground way of thinking.....something that can meet each descendant's complaints and work on a way to get around it so there is no more arguing amongst ourselves.
We also know clearly that there is no full blood Native amongst our ancestor's descendants...has not been for awhile.....even in the early 1600's our ancestrial tribes was called mixed bloods. Our Native ancestors accepted people of all races into their villages and said "Welcome home brother....Welcome home sister".....that is the way of our ancestors, we will continue that tradtion our ancestors set many years ago. By not seeking state or federal reconition we will be able to keep that tradtion.....today the descendants look white, black and some still have the native look.....yet they are all descendants and all have just as much right to reclaim their heritage as anyone of us. A tribe is not a race....a tribe is a family....and we will treat it like that. When we have events we will allow all descendants to be a part of every bit of it without having predjudice of their skin tone. If your brother had a child of someone not of your race and the child takes on your brother's last name....would you tell your brother's kids they can't do your families tradition based soley on their skin tone? Is a person's last name a race? Like I mentioned before, a tribe is not a race...it's family and friends that shared a common culture, tradtions, ancestor, and worked together to keep everyone in that tribe safe.
Our ancestor's tribe was called mixed race in the early 1600's....today is the year 2008 and we are still mixed and made up of many races with the same common ancestors.
Hopefully we will set the wheels in motion for other tribes to learn from our message of acceptance for all of our tribe's descendants.
We currently understand there is possible Aztec and Mayan blood among us....which we are still researching.....there was possible Aztecs taken from the Mexico City/Veracruz area that was brought to our ancestor's tribal areas which may have accounted for alot of very simular things between their ancestors and our ancestors.....we know some Mayans may have abandoned their land to enter Florida and then into SC and NC,.so we will be working on keeping the Aztec and Mayan groups in our circle of friends as we further research that aspect.
Representing your heritage should never cost money, learning about your ancestors should never cost money, attending cultural events about your ancestors should never cost money, becoming accepted into a group that represents your ancestors should never cost money, sometimes things in life really are free and this should be one of them things. If anyone asks you for money in our groups name, please contact us because we do not ask for money of any kind (however like mentioned before, sometime in the future we may need some assistance in getting events together but our plan is seeking assistance from other groups in that aspect and possibly seeking assistance from vendors, we may be able to even talk to certain communities' leaders assistance, thus that way we will be able to keep true to our promise of never asking anyone for money).
For arts, crafts and things of that nature, since we are not State or Federally recognized we can not re create our ancestor's arts and crafts and call them Native American or Indian made, this is a price that we pay for not seeking recognigtion, even though we have our documents and records in order showing our descent from the Saponi and Mattamuskeet, we have to realize we are mixed with other races also, we have to also realize that if we seek recognigtion then we may give up the right to accept all our brothers and sisters. If we find a way to be able to still accept all our brothers and sisters and keep our ancestor's traditions unharmed and have state recognigtion at the same time then we may discuss the idea of State recognigtion amongst our members. Until that time we will be forced to label any arts and crafts as "not Native American made", it's a insult to us but that is the law and we can accept it if it means we can keep our ancestor's traditions untarnished. Now remember it takes hard work and research for artists and crafts people to make their creations and that is done on a individual level so they may have vendor tables and such at events and ask for money for those creations, which is expected at any cultural event, it would not be right to ask for them type of creations to be done for free, it may also rest largely on the vendor's shoulders for the events to be free. Remember that buying items from vendors is not a requirement at events, it is purely optional. Some vendors at events may come from other tribes and groups which are State recognized and thus they may have "Native American made" labels if you are seeking something along them lines (Remember to ask which tribe or group the vendor came from and ask about a educational idea behind the craft so that you may know whose history is behind it, different groups had different designs and crafts so make sure you do not confuse different group's arts and crafts style with another one, crafts should serve as a educational lesson as it does anything else). Remember anything bought from vendors at our future events is purely a one on one thing between the buyer and the vendor......the vendor's profits are purely 100 percent theirs, it is our way of showing respect to the vendors for helping make the events happen. There may also be public speakers at our events which may be authors of books on Geneaology and history, these authors may or may not have books for sale, our group stays in constant contact with many authors of books on geneaology and history so these people out of our respect for them will be asked to give public speechs. As with any type of cultural event you will find this, it is not uncommon, these public speakers will be seen the same way as I described the Vendors. Usually public speakers charge events money for them to appear and give speechs....we will ask them to do the speechs for free, out of respect for them taking this offer we will allow them to sale their books after their speechs if they wish to do that...it is one of the ways to keep the event free for all. Remember like I stated before, buying items from vendors at events is optional.
I hope that covers all questions anyone may have, we have not had our first event thus far but are looking foward to having them. I hope everything I have wrote here helps everyone understandthat we understand money comes from hardwork and we do not want to take anyone's hard earned money, we want to instead be able to give something for free....not only to the Saponi and Mattamuskeet descendants but also to the communties which our ancestors came from. We would also want to teach people about two communties of Native Americans that was so color blind that they became not just a mix of two races...but in some cases a mix of 3 races....these two groups was the Saponi and the Mattamuskeet....we want you to know about them.
Joseph "Nanmankoi" Newman
Manahoac Saponi Mattamuskeet Nation