Little River Band of Ottawa Indians ( oj, Gaaching-Ziibi Daawaa Anishinaabe) is a

federally recognized This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

Native American tribe of the

Odawa people The Odawa (also Ottawa or Odaawaa ), said to mean "traders", are an Indigenous American ethnic group who primarily inhabit land in the Eastern Woodlands region, commonly known as the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. They ha ...

in the United States. It is based in Manistee and Mason counties in northwest Michigan. It was recognized on September 21, 1994. It is one of three federally recognized tribes of Odawa people in Michigan. The others are the

Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (LTBBOI, oj, Waganakising Odawa) is a federally recognized Native American tribe of Odawa. A large percentage of the more than 4000 tribal members continue to reside within the tribe's traditio ...

and the

Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians ( oj, Gichi-wiikwedong Odaawaag miina ojibweg) is a federally recognized Native American tribe located in northwest Michigan on the Leelanau Peninsula. Sam McClellan is the current tribal c ...

. Other bands with federal status include the

Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma The Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma is one of four federally recognized Native American tribes of Odawa people in the United States. Its Algonquian-speaking ancestors had migrated gradually from the Atlantic coast and Great Lakes areas, reaching what a ...

and several

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. They historically spoke the

Odawa language The Ottawa, also known as the Odawa dialect of the Ojibwe language is spoken by the Ottawa people in southern Ontario in Canada, and northern Michigan in the United States. Descendants of migrant Ottawa speakers live in Kansas and Oklahoma. Th ...

, a dialect of

Anishinaabemowin Ojibwe , also known as Ojibwa , Ojibway, Otchipwe,R. R. Bishop Baraga, 1878''A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the Otchipwe Language''/ref> Ojibwemowin, or Anishinaabemowin, is an Indigenous languages of the Americas, indigenous language o ...

(Ojibwe), but use of this language has declined.

History

This area around the

Manistee River The Manistee River ( '), seldom referred to as the Big Manistee River, runs U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed November 21, 2011 through the northwestern Lower Peninsula o ...

was long occupied by bands of Ottawa and Chippewa (Ojibwe) before European colonization. French

fur traders The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mo ...

visited the villages during the historic period. In 1836 the Ottawas were assigned a reservation along the Manistee River by a treaty with the United States government which was part of the tribe's historic range. The treaty provided reservation lands for five years and provisions to move tribal members west beyond the Missouri River, however a new treaty was ratified in 1855. The new treaty provided the tribe with a reservation that included Custer and Eden townships in Mason County and Crystal and Elbridge townships in Oceana County. Part of that land came back under tribal ownership in August 2000 when the Little River Band bought about 740 acres in Mason County. The Little River Band of Ottawa Indians is one of 567 federally recognized tribes of

Native Americans in the United States Native Americans, also known as American Indians, First Americans, Indigenous Americans, and other terms, are the Indigenous peoples of the mainland United States ( Indigenous peoples of Hawaii, Alaska and territories of the United State ...

. On September 21, 1994, the tribal status of the Little River Band (along with that of the

) was reaffirmed by the federal government when President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

signed Senate Bill 1357 into law. Since January 1994 the Little River Band has published a monthly newspaper, ''Currents.'' All editions are available on the official tribal website.

Tribal government

The Band is the successor apparent to nine of the 19 historical Grand River Bands of Ottawa peoples who lived along the Thornapple,

Grand Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and c ...

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, Pere Marquette, Manistee and its tributary Little Manistee rivers. The Little River Band operates its own constitutional government; it has three parts: executive, legislative and judicial. The Band holds regular elections for a nine-member legislative council and an ''Ogemakaan'' (Elected Chief). There is a separate but equal elected judicial branch. The government has 28 different departments dealing with various programs and processes necessary to running a modern government.

Membership

The Tribal Council has set the membership rules, based on

blood quantum Blood quantum laws or Indian blood laws are laws in the United States that define Native American status by fractions of Native American ancestry. These laws were enacted by the federal government and state governments as a way to establ ...

and descent from historic bands of the region. Persons are eligible if 1/4 Native American, with at least 1/8 from Grand River Ottawa or Michigan Ottawa; and direct descent from a Native American of Manistee, Mason, Wexford or Lake Counties in the State of Michigan, who was listed on the schedule of Grand River Ottawa in the "Durant Roll of 1908;" or is a lineal descendant of individuals listed on the "1870 Annuity Payrolls of Chippewas and Ottawas of Michigan," listed under certain Ottawa chiefs; and is not enrolled in another tribe. The Tribe also accepts: "Any child who is less than 18 years of age, who meets the membership criteria in Section 1, shall be eligible for membership, notwithstanding such adoption."

Language

The Little River Band's original language

, an Algonquian language, is designated as " critically endangered" by the 2010 ''

Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger The UNESCO ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger'' is an online publication containing a comprehensive list of the world's endangered languages. It originally replaced the ''Red Book of Endangered Languages'' as a title in print after a ...

'' of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
/ref> Few elders and other members can still speak the full language. The Band is spread out far beyond their reservation, living in areas among the majority English-speaking culture, and the language is not commonly used.

Little River Casino Resort

On December 3, 1998, Governor

John Engler John Mathias Engler (born October 12, 1948) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 46th Governor of Michigan from 1991 to 2003. A member of the Republican Party, he later worked for Business Roundtable, where ''The Hill'' c ...

signed a compact between the Little River Band and the State of Michigan allowing gaming on reservation property; these efforts were spearheaded by Tribal Member Robert Guenthardt, who served as Head Chairperson, and would soon become the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians' first elected Ogema. In 1999 the Band opened the Little River Casino Resort on its Manistee Reservation. Since its opening the resort has expanded in multiple stages to more than 23,000 square feet of space. Its complex includes a 292-room luxury hotel, a 1,700-seat event center, and an expanding collection of slots and table games. The tribe has invested revenues from its gaming operations for economic development and to support the well-being of its people

Notable people

* Margaret Bailey Chandler *

Andrew Blackbird Andrew Jackson Blackbird (c. 1814 – 17 September 1908), also known as Makade-binesi ("Black Hawk")'','' was an Odawa (Ottawa) tribe leader and historian. He was author of the 1887 book, ''History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan'' ...

Notes

Native American religion Native American religions are the spiritual practices of the Native Americans in the United States. Ceremonial ways can vary widely and are based on the differing histories and beliefs of individual nations, tribes and bands. Early European ...

References

;Notes

External links

Official tribal websiteConstitution of the Little River Band of Ottawa
official tribal website
Little River Casino ResortNative Americans in Michigan Databases
Mainly Michigan website, includes "Durant Roll of 1908" and "Mt. Pleasant Indian School Register (1893 to 1932)" {{DEFAULTSORT:Little River Band Of Ottawa Indians Algonquian peoples Federally recognized tribes in the United States Great Lakes tribes Indigenous peoples in the United States Manistee County, Michigan Mason County, Michigan Native American tribes in Michigan Odawa