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Federal Recognition
'New' Indians are eager to declare identity


The U.S. Census Bureau recently reported that 4.2 million Americans claim Native American ancestry, up 7.3 percent from just four years ago, and double the population in 1990. Where is this big increase coming from?

According to The New York Times Magazine, the answer is "new" Indians. They are an interesting group of people who recently discovered their Indian heritage and are eager to attend powwows, learn about tribal culture and even speak Native languages.

In Alabama alone, 65 new tribes have sprung up in the past decade. They are proud to be Native but appear anxious when outsiders come around and ask about their heritage. Some new Indians, however, acknowledge they know little about their ancestry.

''I hate to put it this way, but I'm a completely new Indian,'' Wynona Morgan, a member of the Cherokee Tribe of Northeast Alabama said. ''I have had to learn everything from the ground up, and I'm learning every day.''

Get the Story:
The Newest Indians (The New York Times 8/21)
pwnyt