Vinyard Indian Settlement

Last updated
Vinyard Indian Settlement [1]
Named afterVinyard family, [2] American Indians
Formation2002 (nonprofit) [1]
Type nonprofit organization, [1] unrecognized cultural heritage group
EIN 37-1387373 [1]
PurposeCultural, Ethnic Awareness (A23) [1]
Location
Official language
English
Principal officer
Christine Wagner [1]

Vinyard Indian Settlement is an unrecognized group and nonprofit organization of people who claim to have Shawnee ancestry. The organization is based in Herod, Illinois. [1]

Contents

Origin

The poet Barney Bush (1944–2021), who claimed to be of Shawnee and Cayuga ancestry, was a major organizer for this group. [3] He purchased a trailer that served as the group's headquarters and organized a council. [4] Bush said that about 1810 Shawnee refugees fled a militia in Ohio and hid out near Karbers Ridge, Illinois, where the German/Irish-American Vinyard family allowed them to settle on their land. [5] Bush said they assimilated into the local communities. [6] Other locals did not collaborate this story, and genealogists had "open objections to any connection with the Shawnee." [6]

Nonprofit organization

In 2002, the group formed a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Herod, Illinois. Christine Wagner is their principal officer. [1] In 2011, their revenue was $12,637 and their expenses were $22,254. [1]

In 2019, Mark Denzer served as executive director of the organization. [7]

Land

The group owns a 24-acre parcel of land outside of Herod, Illinois, and hope to purchase more surrounding land. [8]

Status

The Vinyard Indian Settlement is not federally recognized or state-recognized as a Native American tribe. [8] Illinois has no state-recognized tribes. [8]

In 2015, the Illinois state house of representatives passed HB 3127, Vinyard Indian Settlement of Shawnee Indians Recognition Act, which would have established them as the first state-recognized tribe in Illinois. However, upon hearing testimony from Shawnee tribes, the state senate did not vote on the bill. [8] [9] Leaders from the Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, and Shawnee Tribe all traveled to Illinois to testify against the recognition of the Vinyard Indian Settlement. [10]

Activities

The organization hosts Reconnection Days, an annual gathering in September, [8] begun in 2010. [11] They hold two other annual public festivals. [8]

Ben Barnes, chief of the federally recognized Shawnee Tribe, based in Miami, Oklahoma, stated of Barney Bush and the Vinyard Indian Settlement: "These [ceremonial] activities he presents for people are minstrel shows. When they do those pantomimes, that is offensive and racist." [8]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Vinyard Indian Settlement". GuideStar. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  2. ↑ Bigger, Reckoning at Eagle Creek, 64.
  3. ↑ "Barney Bush". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  4. ↑ Bigger, Reckoning at Eagle Creek, 63.
  5. ↑ Bigger, Reckoning at Eagle Creek, 43–44.
  6. 1 2 Bigger, Reckoning at Eagle Creek, 44.
  7. ↑ Mathis, Christi (30 October 2019). "SIU is recognizing November as Native American Heritage Month". Southern Illinois University News. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Smith, Ryan (November 22, 2017). "Are the Vinyard Indians the Rachel Dolezal of native tribes?". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  9. ↑ "Bill Status of HB3716". Illinois General Assembly. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  10. ↑ Pember, Mary Annette (24 June 2015). "Indian Country All Too Familiar With Rachel Dolezals of the World". Tulalip News. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  11. ↑ "Vinyard Indian Settlement celebrates Reconnection Days". Harrisburg Register. 17 September 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2023.

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