Nansemond

[4] The six words, which may have been corrupted in memory by the time they were written down in 1901, are nĭkătwĭn (one), näkătwĭn (two), nikwásăti (three), toisíaw’ (four), mishä́naw (five), and marímo (dog).

[6] In 1607, when a group of settlers led by the explorer John Smith arrived on the north side of the James River and established the settlement of Jamestown, the Nansemond were initially wary.

When the search party encountered some Indians, they informed the group that the missing colonists had been sacrificed, with their brains cut and scraped from their skulls using mussel shells.

In retaliation, the colonists went to Dumpling Island, where the head chief lived, as well as the location of the tribe's temples and sacred items.

Houses and religious sites were ransacked for valuables, such as pearls and copper ornaments, which were customarily buried with the bodies of leaders.

The City of Suffolk established a task force to consider the project, which supported giving the site to the Nansemond despite being composed mostly of non-Indians.

[15] The tribe planned to use this site to reconstruct the settlement of Mattanock and build a community center, museum, and pow wow ground, among other facilities.

This clause stated that if the construction of Mattanock Town with a reenactment village for tourist attraction did not happen within five years, the land would revert to the city.

Despite having new funding opportunities due to their new status, the Nation was unable to meet the deadline for completing the tourist village requirement, and as a result, the city repossessed the property.

[17][18] On May 15, 2024, the Suffolk City Council unanimously approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) allowing the transfer of the 71 acres back to the Nation.

The Nation also informed the council of a shift in their vision for Mattanock Town to prioritize conservation and education over tourism.

[16] They hold monthly tribal meetings at the Indiana United Methodist Church (which was founded in 1850 as a mission for the Nansemond).

[21] These landless tribes had each applied for federal recognition since the late 20th century through the regular process of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in the Department of Interior.

Administrators refused to acknowledge families who claimed to be Indian and generally classified them as black, destroying the continuity of records.

[22][23] The bill had a hold placed for "jurisdictional concerns" by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), who urged they apply for recognition through the BIA.

However, the Virginia tribes have lost valuable documentation because of the state's passage of the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, requiring the classification of all residents as white or black (colored).

As implemented by Walter Plecker, the first registrar (1912–1946) of the newly created Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics, records of many Virginia-born tribal members were changed from Indian to "colored" because he decided some families were mixed race and was imposing the one-drop rule.