The Lummi Nation is a Native American tribe of the Coast Salish ethnolinguistic group in western Washington state in the United States. Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States Coast Salish refers to a cultural or ethnographic designation of a subgroup of the First Nations or Native American cultures in British Columbia, Washington ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The tribe lives on the Lummi Indian Reservation in the inland northwest corner of Washington, 8 miles (13 km) west of Bellingham and 20 miles (32 km) south of the Canadian border, in western Whatcom County. Bellingham, Washington is the County seat of Whatcom County in the U
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History
The Lummi were forcibly moved to reservation lands after the signing of the Point Elliott Treaty in 1855. The Treaty of Point Elliott of 1855 or the Point Elliott Treaty is the lands settlement treaty between the United States government and the nominal Native American Year 1855 ( MDCCCLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common year The reservation has a land area of 54. 378 km² (20. 996 sq mi), which includes the Lummi Peninsula, and uninhabited Portage Island. Portage Island is an island in the western part of Bellingham Bay in Whatcom County Washington, USA.
In pre-Colonial times, the tribe migrated seasonally between many sites including Point Roberts, Washington, Lummi Peninsula, Portage Island, as well as sites in the San Juan Islands, including Sucia Island. Point Roberts is a small Census-designated place in Whatcom County Washington, United States. Portage Island is an island in the western part of Bellingham Bay in Whatcom County Washington, USA. The San Juan Islands are a part of the San Juan Archipelago in the northwest corner of the continental United States. Sucia Island State Park is a Washington State Marine Park. Sucia Island is located north of Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands, San Juan County
Many tribal members were Christianised in the late Nineteenth Century by the Catholic Oblate order. [1]
The traditional lifestyle of the Lummi, like many Northwest Coast tribes, consisted of the collecting of shellfish, gathering of plants such as Camas and different species of berries, and most importanly involved the fishing of salmon. Camassia is a Genus of six species native to western North America, from southern British Columbia to northern California, and Salmon is the common name for several species of Fish of the family Salmonidae. The Lummi developed a fishing technique known as "reef netting". Reef netting was used for taking large quanitities of fish in salt water. Lummi had reef net sets on Orcas Island, San Juan Island, Lummi Island and Fidalgo Island, Portage Island and near Point Roberts and Sandy Point. [2]
From July 30th to August 4th 2007, the Lummi hosted their first potlatch since the 1930s, the Paddle to Lummi. A potlatch is a festival ceremony practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast in North America along Pacific Northwest coast of the United 68 canoeing families paddled hand-made canoes to the Lummi Reservation from parts of Washington and British Columbia. [3]
Language
- Main article: Lummi (linguistics)
The Lummi language (Xwlemi Chosen; IPA:/xʷləmiʧɔsən/) is actually a dialect of a language called North Straits Salish or "lashootseed". North Straits Salish is a Salishan language which includes the dialects of Lummi, Samish, Saanich,
Population Living on the Reservation
It is estimated that there are 6,590 people living on the Lummi Reservation. Roughly 2,564 of these people are enrolled tribal members, 665 are either related to or live with an enrolled tribal member, and 3,361 are not tribal members nor are they affiliated with the Lummi Nation.
There are approximately 1,864 homes located on the reservation. Approximately 697 of these have an enrolled Lummi living in the home; thus, roughly 1,167 homes on the reservation do not house a tribal member. The 2000 census official numbers were 4,193 persons residing on its territory, of whom 1,828 (43. 6 percent) were whites, and only 2,114 (50. 4 percent) were of solely Native American heritage.
Enrollment Information
As of April 2005 there are 4219 enrolled tribal members. 49. 6% of the enrolled population is female; 50. 4% of the population being male
Age Distribution
The median age of tribal members is 29. 31. 8% of the enrolled population is 18 or younger. 11. 6% of the enrolled population is 55 or older.
Location of Enrolled Members
According to current studies conducted by the Lummi Nation approximately 78% of the enrolled Lummi tribal members live either on or near the reservation boundaries. Enrolled Lummi tribal members have an average household size of approximately 4. 5 persons.
Workforce Information
A recent collaborative study conducted by the Lummi Nation and Northern Economics Inc. found the following information pertaining to the Lummi Nation Workforce.
Highest Educational Attainment
For the adult population (ages 25-64): 15. 1% of the enrolled population does not have a High school Diploma or a GED; 33. 8% of the population has either a High School or GED degree; 27. 1% of the population has some college experience; 14. 9% of the tribal population has either an AA/AS Degree; 7. 5% of Lummi’s population has a Bachelors degree; and 1. 6% of the population has attained a Graduate or Professional degree.
Employment
61% of the adult population (ages 18-64) is employed—moreover, the Labor Workforce Participation Rate is 74%. The unemployment rate of Lummi’s workforce is 15. 9%. The Median monthly income for employed Lummi tribal members is approximately $2,000.
References
- ^
"Lummi Indians". Catholic Encyclopedia. The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language Encyclopedia published by The Encyclopedia (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company. - ^ Microsoft Word - Boldt Decision8.5x11 layout for web.doc
- ^ Lummi hosts largest potlatch in 70 years : ICT [2007/08/13]
- Lummi Reservation, Washington United States Census Bureau
Further reading
- Gibbs, George (1863). Alphabetical vocabularies of the Clallam and Lummi. Cramoisy Press. Available online through the Washington State Library's Classics in Washington History collection
External links
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