Narragansett Indian Tribe
 |
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 2400 (1990s) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| United States (Rhode Island) | |
| Languages | |
| Formerly Narragansett, now English | |
| Religion | |
| Traditional tribal religion, Christianity |
|
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Nipmuc, Niantic, Pawtuxet, Pequot, Shawomet |
The Narragansett tribe are an Algonquian Native American tribe from Rhode Island. For a long time, the tribe was nearly landless, but it worked to regain federal recognition, which it achieved in 1983. It is officially the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island and re-established sovereignty. It is made up of descendants of tribal members who were identified in an 1880 treaty with the state.
In 2009, the United States Supreme Court ruled against the Narragansett request that the Department of the Interior take land into trust which they had acquired in 1991. In Carcieri v. Salazar, the Court ruled that tribes that had achieved federal recognition since the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act did not have standing to have newly acquired lands taken into federal trust and removed from state control.
The Narragansett tribe was recognized by the federal government in 1983 and controls the Narragansett Indian Reservation, 1,800 acres (7.3 km2) of trust lands in Charlestown, Rhode Island. A small portion of the tribe resides on or near the reservation, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. Additionally, they own several hundred acres in Westerly.
In 1991, the Narragansetts purchased 31 acres (130,000 m2) in Charlestown for development of elderly housing. In 1998, they requested that the Department of the Interior take the property into trust on behalf of the tribe, to remove it from state and local control. The case went to the United States Supreme Court, as the state challenged the removal of new lands from state oversight by a tribe recognized by the US after the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act. Rhode Island was joined in its appeal by 21 other states.
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