Unrecognized Tribes K-M
Alphabetical list of unrecognized American indian tribes beginning with K to M.
These are groups known to self-identify as Native American tribes but that have not been recognized by the federal government (Bureau of Indian Affairs) nor by any state nor tribal government.
We do not necessarily endorse these organizations or the validity of their claims. We are just reporting what is out there and suggest you exercise your own due diligence in verifying their authenticity.
We would especially suggest further investigation of any organization that charges a membership or enrollment fee, or that does not require genealogy research and official documentation for enrollment.Links to tribal profile pages are at the bottom of the page.
A-C D-G H-J K-M N-P Q-S T-V W-Z
K
Kah-Bay-Kah-Nong (a.k.a. Gabekanaang Anishinaabeg/Warroad Chippewa), Letter of Intent to Petition 2/12/1979; Postal service returned certified letter 10/30/1997 (Minnesota)
Katalla-Chilkat Tlingit Tribe of Alaska. Letter of Intent to Petition 02/02/1995; certified letter returned by P.O. 10/1997
Kawaiisu Tribe of the Tejon Indian Reservation
Kaweah Indian Nation, Inc.(Kansas) Also in North Carolina.Kern Valley Indian Community. Letter of Intent to Petition 02/27/1979.
Kentucky Cherokee Heritage Group
Kettle River Band of the St. Croix Chippewa of Minnesota. Currently recognized only as part of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe (Minnesota)
Kispoko Sept of Ohio Shawnee (Louisiana)
Knugank. Letter of Intent to Petition 1/7/1999.
Kokeneschv Natchez Nation.
Konkow Valley Band of Maidu. Letter of Intent to Petition 08/20/1998.
L
Lake Superior Chippewa of Marquette. Letter of Intent to Petition 12/13/1991.
Langley Band of the Chickamogee Cherokee Indians of the Southeastern United States, aka Langley Band of Chickamogee of Cherokee Indians. Letter of Intent to Petition 04/20/1994; Postal service certified letter returned 11/5/1997
Lemhi-Shoshone Tribes, was stripped of recognition in 1907.
Lenape Tribe of Delaware
Little Owl Band of Central Michigan Indians. Letter of Intent to Petition 11/27/2000.
Lone Wolf Band of Cherokee Indians (Indiana)
Lost Cherokee of Arkansas and Missouri.between two different addresses.
Lost Cherokee of Arkansas and Missouri (I). Faction in Conway, AR.
Lost Cherokee of Arkansas and Missouri (II). Faction in Dover, AR.
Louisiana Choctaw Turtle Tribe
Lower Eastern Ohio Mekoce Shawnee, Ohio Letter of Intent to Petition 3/5/2001.
Lower Eastern Ohio Mekojay Shawnee, Ohio
M
Mackinac Bands of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians. Letter of Intent to Petition 05/13/1998
Maconce Village Band of Ojibwa. Letter of Intent to Petition 03/07/2000. Receipt of Petition 3/7/2000
Maidu Nation. Letter of Intent to Petition 1/6/1977
Maliseet Tribe (Maine)
Maple River Band of Ottawa. Letter of Intent to Petition 01/31/2005.
Miami Nation of Indians of the State of Indiana, Inc. Letter of Intent to Petition 04/02/1980; Declined to Acknowledge 08/17/1992 57 FR 27312
Manahoac Saponi Nation
Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community. Letter of Intent to Petition 4/11/1996 (Minnesota)
Melochundum Band of Tolowa Indians
Mishkanaka (Chumash)
Mission Creek Band of Indians, Mission Creek Reservation, Desert Hot Springs California. Letter of Intent to Petition 09-29-2011.
Miwok Tribe
The Mohegan Tribe & Nation. Letter of Intent to Petition 10/06/1992
Monachi Indian Tribe. Letter of Intent to Petition 10/14/2004.
Mono Lake Indian Community. The tribe has dwindled from 4,000 members to just 83.Letter of Intent to Petition 07/09/1976.
Morning Star Shawnee Nation, Ohio
Munsee Thames River Delaware. Letter of Intent to Petition 07/22/1977; declined to Acknowledge 01/03/1983 47 FR 50109
Muskegon River Band of Ottawa Indians. Letter of Intent to Petition 07/26/2002. Receipt of Petition 07/26/2002.[
Muscogee Nation of Florida (formerly Florida Tribe of Eastern Creek Indians). Letter of Intent to Petition 06/02/1978; awaiting Active Consideration; all documents have been filed with BAR.
Muwekma Ohlone Tribe (formerly Ohlone/Costanoan Muwekma Tribe a.k.a. Muwekma Indian Tribe: Costanoan/Ohlone Indian Families of the San Francisco Bay). Letter of Intent to Petition 05/09/1989. Declined to Acknowledge 9/17/2002 (67 FR 58631); decision effective 12/16/2002Mutsen Tribe. Letter of Intent to Petition 12/07/1994
Article Index:
The Keechy Tribe was a Native American Southern Plains tribe that lived in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. Also known as the Kichai, they were most closely related to the Pawnee.
Recognition Status: Unrecognized
The Keechy are no longer recognized as a distinct tribe. Today the remnants of the Keechy tribe are enrolled in the the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, to which they are related, as well as the Delaware Nation. These tribes live mostly in Southwestern Oklahoma, particularly in Caddo County, to which they were forcibly relocated by the United States Government in the 19th century.
Traditional Name / Traditional Meaning:
Their name for themselves was K’itaish.
Alternate names / Alternate spellings:
Kichai, Keechi, Keeche or Kitsai
Region: Great Plains Tribes
State(s) Today: Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas
Caddo, Wichita, and Delaware lands were broken up into individual allotments in the beginning of the 20th century. The Keechy people’s allotted lands were mainly in Caddo County, Oklahoma.
Traditional Territory:
Archeologist believe people lived around the Spiro Mounds for at least 8,000 years. The history of the Spiro Mounds area is typically divided into archaeological phases:
- Evans Phase (900–1050 CE)
- Harlan Phase (1050–1250 CE)
- Norman Phase (1250–1350 CE)
- Spiro phase (1350–1450 CE)
Residential construction at Spiro decreased dramatically around 1250, and people settled in nearby villages, such as the Choates-Holt Site to the north. Spiro remained a ceremonial and mortuary center through 1450. The mound area was abandoned about 1450, although nearby communities persisted until 1600. The cultures following in the wake of Spiro were less complex and hierarchical.
Most authorities agree that the people of Spiro were Caddoan speaking, but their descendants in historic times are difficult to identify. Archaeologists speculate that the Caddo Confederacy, Wichita, Kichai, or non-Caddoan Tunica could be their descendants. However, the cultures of all these peoples, when encountered by the Spanish and French in the 16th and 17th centuries, were substantially different from that of Spiro.
Under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco and Tawakonie) are recognized by the US Federal government and archaeologists as the cultural descendants of the builders of the Spiro Mounds.
At the time of Hernando de Soto’s visit in the 1540s, the Caddo controlled a large territory. It included what is now Eastern Oklahoma, Western Arkansas, Northeast Texas, and Northwest Louisiana. Archaeologists have thought that the Caddo and related peoples had been living in the region for centuries and that they had their own local variant of Mississippian culture.
Recent excavations have revealed within that region more cultural diversity than scholars had expected. The sites along the Arkansas River, in particular, seem to have their own distinctive characteristics. Scholars still classify the Mississippian sites found in the entire Caddo area, including Spiro Mounds, as “Caddoan Mississippian.“
French explorers encountered the Keechy on the Red River in Louisiana in 1701. By the 1830s and 1840s, they lived in Southern and Southwestern Oklahoma with the Wichita and in the Muscogee Creek Nation.
The Keechy were part of the complex, shifting political alliances of the South Plains. By 1772, they primarily settled east of the Trinity River, near present-day Palestine, Texas.
Confederacy: Caddoan Confederacy
Composed of many tribes, the Caddo were organized into three confederacies, the Hasinai, Kadohadacho, and Natchitoches, which were all linked by similar languages. The Keechy intermarried with peoples from the Kadohadacho Confederacy.
Treaties:
Treaty With The Comanche, Aionai, Anadarko, Caddo, Etc., 1846
Population at Contact:
Population Today:
Forty-seven fullblood Kichai lived in Oklahoma in 1950. There were only four at the end of the 20th century.
Language Classification:
The Kichai language is a member of the Caddoan language family, along with Arikara, Pawnee, and Wichita.
Number of fluent Speakers:
Nasuteas (Kichai Woman), a Kichai that was part of the
Wichita tribe, 1898. Photo by Frank Rinehart (1861-1928)
Public domain photo via Wikimedia. The language is now extinct. Kai Kai, a Kichai woman from Anadarko, Oklahoma, was the last known fluent speaker of the Kichai language. She collaborated with Dr. Alexander Lesser to record and document the language.
Related Tribes:
The Kichai were most closely related to the Pawnee. They were also related to the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, as well as the Delaware Nation, Arikara, Hidatsa, Mandan (now known as the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Bertold Reservation), Tawakoni, and Waco.
Traditional Allies:
In 1712, they fought the Hainai along the Trinity River; however, they were allied with other member tribes of the Caddoan Confederacy and intermarried with the Kadohadacho during this time.
Traditional Enemies:
Early Europeans identified them as enemies of the Caddo.
Tribe History:
Spiro Mounds
Spiro Mounds is a major Northern Caddoan Mississippian archaeological site located in Eastern Oklahoma. The 80-acres site lies near the Arkansas River in Fort Coffee, seven miles north of the town of Spiro. Between the 9th and 15th centuries, the local people created a powerful religious and political center, culturally linked to the Mississippian Ideological Interaction Sphere (MIIS).
Spiro was a major western outpost of Mississippian culture. Spiro Mounds is under the protection of the Oklahoma Historical Society and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In the 1930s during the Great Depression treasure hunters bought the rights to tunnel into Craig Mound—the second-largest mound on the site—to mine it for artifacts. They exposed a hollow burial chamber inside the mound, a unique feature containing some of the most extraordinary pre-Columbian artifacts ever found in the United States, including some of fragile, perishable materials: textiles and feathers uniquely preserved in the chamber.
The treasure hunters sold the artifacts they recovered to art collectors, some as far away as Europe. Some of these artifacts were later returned to regional museums and the Caddo Nation, though other artifacts have never been accounted for. This site has been significant for North American archaeology since the 1930s, especially due to its many preserved textiles and wealth of shell carving.
The Caddoan Mississippian region contained many towns in addition to Spiro, including the Battle Mound Site. Scholars have determined that Battle Mound, lying along the Great Bend of the Red River in Southwest Arkansas, was a larger site than Spiro. Little excavation has been done there to date. The Caddoan Mississippian towns had a more irregular layout of earthen mounds and associated villages than did towns in the Middle Mississippian heartland to the east. They also lacked the wooden palisade fortifications often found in the major Middle Mississippian towns. Living on the western edge of the Mississippian world, the Caddoan may have faced fewer military threats from their neighbors. Their societies may also have had a somewhat lower level of social stratification.
Social stratification is a society’s categorization of people into socioeconomic strata, based upon their occupation and income, wealth and social status, or derived power (social and political). As such, stratification is the relative social position of persons within a social group, category, geographic region, or social unit. Generally, the greater the social complexity of a society, the more social strata exist, by way of social differentiation.
Battle of Stone Houses
On November 10, 1837, the Texas Rangers fought the Keechy Tribe in the Battle of Stone Houses. The Kichai were victorious, despite losing their leader in the first attack.
In the News:
Further Reading:
The Wichita Indians and allied tribes Waco, Towakoni, and Kichai
The Mount Tabor Indian Community is made up of the lineal descendants of the six remaining families of Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Muscogee-Creek Indians, who have continued to reside in rural Rusk, Smith (and after 1873 Gregg) counties of east Texas from historical times to present day.
Official Tribal Name: Mount Tabor Indian Community
Address: P.O. Box 2472, Kilgore, TX 75662-2472
Phone:
Email:
Official Website: mounttaborcommunity.org
Recognition Status: Unrecognized (Seeking Federal Recognition)
Traditional Name / Traditional Meaning:
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Confederacy: Five Civilized Tribes, Muskogean
Treaties:
The Choctaw signed nine treaties with the United States before the Civil War, beginning with the Treaty of Hopewell in 1786 – which set boundaries and established universal peace between the two nations. Subsequent treaties, however, reshaped those borders and forced the Choctaw to cede millions of acres of land. In 1830, the United States seized the last of the Choctaw’s ancestral territory and relocated the tribe to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi
Reservations:
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Tribal Enrollment Requirements:
Genealogy Resources:
Black Choctaws adopted through the Dawes Commission
Government:
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Language Classification: Muskogean >> Western Muskogean >> Choctaw
Language Dialects:
Number of fluent Speakers
Dictionary:
The Books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, Translated into Choktaw Language
Origins:
Bands, Gens, and Clans
The Choctaw like all of the Muscogean tribes was a matriarchal and clan culture. There were two distinct Moieties: Imoklashas (elders) and Inhulalatas (youth). Each moiety had several clans or Iskas, it is estimated there were about 12 Iskas altogether. Identity was established first by Moiety and Iska, so a Choctaw identified himself first as Imoklasha or Inhulata and second as Choctaw. The Choctaw clans include the Wind, Bear, Deer, Wolf, Panther, Holly Leaf, Bird, Raccoon and Crawfish Clans.
Related Tribes: The Five Civilized Tribes are the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek (Muscogee), and Seminole. They are so called because they were some of the first tribes to adopt European culture as their own.
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Jena Band of Choctaw, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Texas Band of Choctaw Indians (Yowani Choctaw), MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians, Mount Tabor Indian Community
The Chickasaw and Choctaw were once one tribe. Some Choctaw were once members of the Cherokee tribe.
Traditional Allies:
The Choctaw were early allies of the French, Spanish and British during the 18th century.
Traditional Enemies:
In the 1750’s the tribe was involved in a Civil War that decimated whole villages. The division was driven by factions affiliated with the Spanish and the other the French. In the 18th century the Choctaw were generally at war with the Creeks or the Chickasaw Indians.
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Choctaw People of Note:
Lane Adams – Major League Baseball player, Kansas City Royals (Nephew of Choctaw Tribal member and attorney Kalyn Free)
Marcus Amerman (b. 1959) – bead, glass, and performance artist
Michael Burrage (b. 1950) – former U.S. District Judge
Steve Burrage (b. 1952) – Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector
Choctaw Code Talkers – World War I veterans
Clarence Carnes (1927–1988) – Alcatraz inmate
Tobias William Frazier, Sr. (1892–1975) – Choctaw code talker
Samantha Crain (b. 1986) – singer/songwriter, musician
Kalyn Free – attorney
Rosella Hightower (1920–2008) – prima ballerina
Phil Lucas (1942–2007) – filmmaker
Green McCurtain (d. 1910) – Chief from 1902–1910
Cal McLish (1925–2010) – Major League Baseball pitcher
Devon A. Mihesuah (b. 1957) – author, editor, historian
Joseph Oklahombi (1895-1960) – Choctaw code talker
Peter Pitchlynn (1806–1881) – Chief from 1860–1866
Gregory E. Pyle (b. 1949) – former Chief of the Choctaw Nation
Summer Wesley – attorney, writer, and activist
Wallis Willis – composer and Choctaw freedman
Scott Aukerman (b. 1970) – actor, comedy writer, podcaster
Catastrophic Events:
Tribe History:
Although their first encounter with Europeans ended in a bloody battle with Hernando de Soto’s fortune-hunting expedition in 1540, the Choctaw would come to embrace European traders who arrived in their homeland nearly two centuries later.
Following the Revolutionary War, many Choctaw had already intermarried, converted to Christianity and adopted other white customs. The Choctaw became known as one of America’s Five Civilized Tribes, which also included the Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek and Seminole.
The Choctaw Tribe of Oklahoma ended up in Oklahoma after a forced march from their homeland, now referred to as the Trail of Tears. Many different Indian tribes had their own trail of tears, but the Choctaw were the first tribe to make this trek to what was then Indian Territory, now called Oklahoma.
During World War I and II, the U.S. Military used members of the Choctaw Nation for secure communications. They became the first code-talkers.
In the News:
Further Reading:
The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe comprises all of the known surviving Native American lineages indigenous to the San Francisco Bay region who trace their ancestry through the Mission Dolores, Mission Santa Clara and Mission San Jose and who descend from members of the historic Federally Recognized Verona Band of Alameda County.
They received a favorable opinion from the U.S. District in Washington, D.C., of their court case to expedite the reaffirmation of the tribe as a federally recognized tribe on September 21, 2006. The Advisory Council on California Indian Policy assisted in their case. They lost the case in 2011, and have filed an appeal.
Official Tribal Name:
Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area
Address:
Phone:
Fax:
Email:
Official Website:
Recognition Status:
Unrecognized. Formerly federally recognized as the Verona Band of Almeda County (). Petition for federal recognition waiting for appeal as of 2011.
Traditional Name / Traditional Meaning
Common Name:
Meaning of Common Name:
Alternate names:
Costanoans
Alternate spellings / Mispellings:
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State(s) Today:
California
Traditional Territory:
The original homeland of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe includes the present day counties in California: San Francisco, San Mateo, most of Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, and portions of Napa, Santa Cruz, Solano and San Joaquin.
This large contiguous geographical area, which historically crosscuts aboriginal linguistic and tribal boundaries, fell under the sphere of influence of the aforementioned three missions between 1776 and 1836.
The missionization policies deployed by the Catholic Church and militarily supported by the Hispanic Empire, brought many distantly related, and in some cases, already inter-married tribal groups together at the missions.
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They had 397 enrolled members in 2000.
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:
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In the News:
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