The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Cherokee Nation, and United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians are collectively opposed to the ECSIUT, with the Cherokee Nation notably including the organization in a list of 212 "fraudulent groups" that claim Cherokee identity.[6] These three federally recognized tribes uniformly uphold a strict stance against federally unrecognized Cherokee heritage groups asserting Cherokee tribal identity.[6][7] In 2008, the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians adopted a joint resolution condemning fabricated 'Cherokee tribes' and opposing the recognition of any new tribes or bands claiming Cherokee identity at either the state or federal level.[8]
Headquarters and purpose
The ECSIUT was first headquartered in Columbia, South Carolina and founded by William Moreau Goins, who established the group as the Eastern Cherokee, Southern Iroquois, & United Tribes, A Heritage Society on June 27, 1997.[1][9] The society formed after the Midlands Intertribal Empowerment Group (MIEG) was established on July 14, 1995[10], and began holding annual powwows at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds each May.[11] Some members of the MIEG subsequently joined the ECSIUT.[12] The name of the society was amended to include The Cherokee Indian Tribe of South Carolina, Inc. on November 23, 1999.[1] The ECSIUT was established with the mission to "preserve, present, protect, and document Cherokee history and other Native American Indian tribes' cultures and individuals, material culture, historic buildings, and folkways in South Carolina".[13] Like it's predecessor, the society was intended "to provide an intertribal forum for the Native American people throughout the State of South Carolina to caucus, to discuss educational, health, spiritual, and economic development needs for their respective communities and...to foster a spirit of unified voice among Native American communities."[13] Goins served as CEO until his death on November 11, 2017.[9] The ECSIUT has since relocated and is presently headquartered in Duncan, South Carolina.[4]
In April 2020, two and a half years after Goins' death, the ECSIUT elected archaeologist Lamar Nelson as their new Chief, "Tribal CEO," and tribal archeologist.[14] Nelson previously served on the organization's board.[15] He alleges to be of Cherokee descent, describing himself as a 'mixed-blood Native American' on the basis of family tradition, claiming his paternal grandmother was half Cherokee and his paternal grandfather was half Choctaw.[15][16] Based on these statements, Nelson maintains he is one-eighth Cherokee and one-eighth Choctaw, placing him above the minimum blood quantum for membership in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, as well as the Cherokee Nation and the Choctaw Nation, which maintain no such requirements, so long as tribal descent can be verified.[15][16][17][18][19] Nelson maintains that he has practiced his ancestry throughout his life, having learned about native plants and Cherokee traditions from his grandmother.[15] He maintains that his great-grandmother was a Cherokee medicine woman and that his ancestors are buried beneath Lake Keowee.[16][20]
In his capacity as CEO of the ECSIUT, Nelson has led community programs on Native American history, displaying artifacts, offering to identify items brought by attendees, and appearing in regalia.[15]
Recognition and membership
Group recognition
The ECSIUT was first recognized as a state-recognized group under South Carolina Code Section 1-31-40(A)(7)(10), with authority in Chapter 139 (100–111), on February 17, 2005.[21] Under state law, groups are defined as organizations of individuals with diverse backgrounds and do not require a unified ethnic or cultural heritage, unlike tribes, which are composed of interrelated families or clans with at least a century of documented continuity.[21] The ECSIUT was originally founded as a Cherokee heritage group in 1997, including Native Americans and individuals from other ethnic backgrounds, without requiring ancestral or blood relation among members.[1][2][3]
Gene Crediford, who photographed and interviewed various groups in South Carolina from the 1980s through the 2000s, has noted that Columbia, South Carolina, where the ECSIUT was founded, lacked central communal organization in modern history and had been historically associated with Cofitachequi rather than the Cherokee people.[22] He concluded that the ECSIUT, like the Midlands Intertribal Empowerment Group (MIEG) from which it evolved, represented recently formed urban groups rather than “traditional communities.”[12] Similarly, Wes Taukchiray, writing fifteen years earlier with Alice Kasakoff in 1992, observed that while Cherokee heritage groups were forming near Greenville and Spartanburg, their members could not trace descent to historically documented Indigenous communities in the state, all of which being located in the South Carolina Lowcountry.[23] Crediford has noted that some individuals with ambiguous ancestry often identify as “Cherokee,” regarding the term to be synonymous with “Indian.”[22]
Nelson, as leader of the ECSIUT, has stated that members are multi-tribal, with close social, ancestral, cultural, and economic ties to tribal communities in South Carolina, as well as Native groups and tribes in other states.[16] He explained, “Some of our members have affiliations, family connections, and enrollment with other tribes yet we honor their rights, and honor their citizenship.”[16] Recent formation and flexibility of membership of the ECSIUT aligns with the criteria for state-recognized groups, which under South Carolina law held less stringent requirements for recognition and membership than those applied to state-recognized tribes.[21]
Repeal of state-recognized groups
In 2018, the Governor of South Carolina, Henry McMaster, signed legislation repealing the state’s ability to state-recognize groups.[24] Concerns were raised about group recognition, as it did not require members to prove or document Indigenous ancestry, although such organizations could apply for certain federal grants, register businesses as minority-owned, and participate in state discussions on Native American affairs.[24] State officials and researchers had raised concerns that some organizations and individuals asserting Indigenous identity lacked verifiable historical or ancestral documentation.[24]
As an already state-recognized group, the ECSIUT was grandfathered in along with other state-recognized groups under existing policy to maintain its recognized status after the state eliminated its legal framework for future group recognition.[25]
State recognition
In 2025, following the transition of the South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs to the State Commission for Community Advancement and Engagement (SCCAE)[26], the agency formally redesignated the ECSIUT as a state-recognized tribe.[4] The redesignation coincided with heightened regional debate over Cherokee identity, during which the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and other federally recognized tribes, including the Choctaw Nation, opposed congressional efforts to grant federal recognition to the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, citing historical appropriations of Cherokee identity and insufficient documentation.[27][28]
The effect of the ECSIUT’s redesignation as a state-recognized tribe is unclear based upon its existent membership, which includes multi-tribal and unrelated individuals, as well as non Native Americans.[16][21]
Opposition from Cherokee
Logo of the ECSIUT.
Seal of the Principal Chief of the EBCI.
Comparison of the ECSIUT logo to the official seal of the Principal Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
David Cornsilk, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, as well as a genealogist and historian, has highlighted concerns about such organizations, stating that they can dilute the legal and cultural definition of tribal sovereignty.[7] He explained that such groups often form from preexisting state-recognized organizations, which may be grandfathered in without requiring sufficient proof of Indigenous ancestry or tribal status.[7] The ECSIUT, grandfathered in as a state-recognized group and later redesignated as a state-recognized tribe in South Carolina,[4][25] aligns with Cornsilk’s description of organizations he and other Cherokees have expressed concerns about, including potential exploitation of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 intended to protect authentic Cherokee-made items.[7]
Activities
For twenty years the ECSIUT hosted an annual Native American film festival in Columbia, South Carolina which gave exposure to Indigenous filmmakers.[29]
↑Joint Council of the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Resolution #00-08. A Resolution Opposing Fabricated Cherokee "Tribes" and "Indians."
↑Crediford, Gene J. (2009). Those Who Remain: A Photographer's Memior of South Carolina Indians (1sted.). Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press. p.42. ISBN9780817355180.
123456Lowrimore, Ashley (2020). "ECIUT Elects New Chief"(PDF). Native American Studies Quarterly - University of South Carolina Lancaster. 10 (2): 6–7. Retrieved 24 November 2025.
↑"Enrollment". ebci.gov. Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Retrieved 24 November 2025.
↑Paredes, J. Anthony; Taukchiray, Wesley D.; Kasakoff, Alice Bee (1992). Indians of the Southeastern United States In the Late 20th Century. Tuscaloosa and London: The University of Alabama Press. p.75.
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