Ani-Stohini/Unami

Ani-Stohini/Unami is a small Native American tribe located in seven counties of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and one county of North Carolina. They submitted a full Petition for Federal Acknowledgment of Existence as an Indian Tribe through the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in the Department of the Interior in 1968. The Bureau of Indian Affairs stated that they lost the petition and blamed the American Indian Movement take over of the B.I.A. during protests in 1972 for the missing documentation. The tribe again submitted a petition in 1994,[1] but remain an unrecognized tribe. They are not recognized by the state of Virginia either.[2]

Ani-Stohini/Unami
Total population
350
Regions with significant populations
Virginia and North Carolina
Languages
English, Tla Wilano
Religion
Native, Christianity

Members of the Ani-Stohini/Unami live in Carroll, Grayson, Wythe, Washington, Smyth, Patrick, and Floyd counties in Virginia and Surry and Alleghany counties in North Carolina.[3] Their Tla Wilano language has almost died out due to recent deaths of five tribal elders.

In the 21st century, Charles Howard Thomas is working on a Tla Wilano language grammar book, lessons, and dictionary. The International Encyclopedia of Linguistics lists Tla Wilano as a Lenape or Delaware language dialect. It has not been fully studied by anyone outside the tribe.

The tribe has been referred to by more than 40 names since the colonial period, making continuity difficult to follow. throughout history making tribal identification difficult. In the south, they were called the Saura Indians, and some historians contend that their language is Siouan rathern than related to Delaware, an Algonquian language. In the area around Saltville, Virginia, they were called the Chisca Indians. In the 1960s, as they worked to reorganize and achieve recognition, they took the name Ani-Stohini/Unami. They wanted to denote a distant kinship to the Cherokee and their own name for themselves in Tla Wilano. The Ani-Stohini/Unami have never claimed to be Cherokee and in fact, insist that chiefs noted as Cherokee by some historians and even some early explorers were Tla Wilano-speaking Indians, not Cherokee.

History

The Ani-Stohini/Unami first petitioned the federal government for recognition in 1968. It renewed its effort in the 1990s after having been told that the original application materials had been destroyed during the 1971 takeover of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) headquarters by activist members of American Indian Movement (AIM). The tribe began the recognition process again, with a 1994 letter of intent to petition to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Ani-Stohini/Unami is officially listed as petitioner #150 of the tribes in the BAR process for federal acknowledgement and is so noted in the Federal Register. The tribe was represented at all six of the White House conferences for non-federally recognized tribes held by the Clinton administration. They have been active in supporting welfare and environmental programs, such as the Indian Child Welfare Act, and lobbying to gain federal protection of the Appalachian Mountain bog turtle through the Interior Department and US Senator John Warner (D-Virginia) .

The tribe participated in making the film Morning Song Way (2006).[4] The unrated drama is in English and was directed by Charles Howard Thomas.[5]

Language

The Ani-Stohini/Unami describe their language as Tla Wilano, which others have said is a dialect of Unami, or Lenape. According to Ethnologue in 1997, 308 people self-reported on the US Census that some Unami language is used at home.[6]

Charles Howard Thomas began learning the language in the 1970s, when there were still 36-38 native speakers, mostly elders. Upon the death of Creed Burcham in 2008, Thomas was the sole remaining speaker.[7] The International Encyclopedia of Linguistics lists Tla Wilano as an alternate name for Unami, which was formerly spoken by Lenape and related peoples in Oklahoma, New Jersey, and the lower Delaware Valley.[8] The historical speakers of Unami were the Lenape, whose territory was generally north of Virginia and North Carolina.[9] The Chisca Indians were documented historically as living in southwestern Virginia but their language was not known.

Today

Today the Ani-Stohini/Unami live in mountainous rural communities in the southwest part of the state. They are primarily employed in factories, agriculture, and food services. Most of the people of the tribe have known each other all of their lives and live where their ancestors lived. They have never applied for state recognition but have been seeking Federal Recognition since 1968. With the recent deaths of elders Myrtle Marsh and Caroline Frank, and the most recent passing of Richard Marshall, three seats remain empty on the tribal council.

Notes
  1. "Receipt of Petition for Federal Acknowledgment of Existence as an Indian Tribe." Federal Register. Volume 60, No. 48. 13 March 1995. Accessed 8 Feb 2014.
  2. Stockes, Brian. "Virginia tribes begin a quest for federal recognition." Indian Country Today Media Network. 6 Sept 2000. Accessed 8 Feb 2014.
  3. Pepper, C. "Eastern Tribes of First Contact." Indigenous Peoples' Literature. Retrieved 8 Dec 2013
  4. "Morning Song Way Film Screening." Archived December 11, 2013, at the Wayback Machine WSLS10. Retrieved 8 Dec 2013.
  5. "Plot, Details & Awards: Morning Song Way." Archived December 13, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Moviefone. Retrieved 8 Dec 2013.
  6. "Unami." Archived 2013-12-12 at the Wayback Machine Ethnologue. Retrieved 8 Dec 2013.
  7. "About Tla Wilano". Living Dictionaries. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  8. Frawley 68
  9. "Native Americans: Introduction to the Lenni Lenape, or Delaware Indians." Penn Treaty Museum. Accessed 6 May 2014.

References
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