A Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood or Certificate of Degree of Alaska Native Blood (both abbreviated CDIB) is an official U.S. document that certifies an individual possesses a specific degree of Indian blood of a federally recognized Indian tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, or community. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States Pueblos are traditional communities of Native Americans in the southwestern United States of America. They are issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs after the applicant supplies a completed genealogy with supporting legal documents such as birth certificates, showing their descent, through one or both birth parents, from an enrolled Indian or an Indian listed in a base roll such as the Dawes Rolls. History Although the bureau which was called the Office of Indian Affairs was formed in 1824 similar agencies had existed in the U Genealogy (from Greek: el γενεά el-Latn genea, "descent" and el λόγος el-Latn logos, "knowledge" is the study of The Dawes Rolls (or Final Rolls of Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes or Dawes Commission of Final Rolls were created by the Dawes Commission. Blood degree cannot be obtained through adoptive parents. The blood degree on previously issued CDIB's or on the base rolls in the filer's ancestry are used to determine the filer's blood degree (unless they challenge them as inaccurate). Information collected for the filing is held confidential by privacy laws.
A CDIB can show only the blood degree of one tribe or the total blood degree from all tribes in the filer's ancestry. Some tribes require a specific minimum degree of tribal ancestry for membership, which might require the first type of certificate, while some federal benefits programs require a minimum total Indian blood degree so an individual might require the second type of certificate to qualify. For example, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians requires at least 1/16th degree of Eastern Cherokee blood for tribal membership, the Bureau of Indian Affairs' "Higher ED grant" for college expenses requires a 1/4 degree minimum. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians are a Federally recognized Native American tribe in the United States of America
A Certificate Degree of Indian Blood does not establish membership in a tribe. Tribal membership is determined by tribal laws and may or may not require a CDIB or may require a separate tribal determination of ancestry or blood degree.
The CDIB is controversial, both from a race politics perspective, in general, and in particular, because non-federally recognized tribes are not eligible for the card nor for the benefits which require one. Some groups such as the Freedman, descendants of black slaves who may be eligible for tribal membership are often not eligible for a CDIB because they are not Indian by blood or their degree of blood was not recorded in the base rolls (where Freedman was used instead of stating a degree).
See also
References
- Proposed rule (includes sample of application), U. Blood Quantum Laws is an umbrella term that describes legislation enacted to define membership in Native American groups S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, accessed Feb. 22, 2006
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