Ridgetop Shawnee

Ridgetop Shawnee
Tribe of Indians, LLC[1]
Pine Mountain Indian Community[2]
NicknameRidgetop Shawnee, Ridgetop Band of Shawnee Indians
Named afterShawnee people
FormationJanuary 22, 2009 (2009-01-22)[1]
FounderWilliam Hayes Shackleford[1]
DissolvedSeptember 10, 2011 (2011-09-10)[1]
Typelimited liability corporation[1]
Tax ID no.0721940 (LLC)
Legal statusinactive[1]
Official language
English
Websiteridgetopshawnee.net

The Ridgetop Shawnee Tribe of Indians is a cultural heritage organization and was nonprofit organization and limited liability company (now inactive) based in Kentucky, U.S.

The band is unrecognized as a tribe and is not a federally recognized tribe[3] or a state-recognized tribe.[4][5]

The organization was founded in 2009.[1]

Nonprofit organization

William Hayes Shackleford founded the Ridgetop Shawnee Tribe of Indians, LLC, as a limited liability company and nonprofit organization, based in Hazard, Kentucky, in 2009.[1] The organization went inactive but became active again in 2021, with Jeffery R. Morgan serving as its registered agent.[1]

Shackleford organized the Pine Mountain Indian Community, Kentucky LLC in 2013, another nonprofit limited liability company in Hazard, Kentucky.[2] This organization dissolved in September 2015.[2] Morgan also served as this organization's registered agent.[2]

Status, recognition, and identity

In March 2023, the Cultural Preservation Department of the Tribal Historic Preservation Office of the Absentee Shawnee Tribe described ""a concerning phenomenon we are witnessing in our ancestral settlement areas in our ancestral settlement areas including but not limited to Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana, [and] Alabama", commenting that "In these areas, there are a number of people who claim Shawnee ancestry; this is not so much the concern as the fact that some of these individuals or groups use this claim to exploit Shawnee culture as a means of gaining opportunities for themselves from a public that is largely unaware of the vast divide that separates our tribal community politically and culturally from those of alleged Shawnee ancestry", and went on to name the Ridgetop Shawnee as one of the ten similar groups they "have identified that have recently organized as alleged Shawnee bands/tribes and promote themselves as the voice of the Shawnee."[6]

While the Commonwealth of Kentucky has a Native American Heritage Commission,[7] Kentucky has no state-recognized tribes[8] and "the state doesn’t have a process for them to apply for formal recognition".[7] However, some of the public mistakenly believe that the Ridgetop Shawnee are state-recognized.[9]

The Kentucky House of Representatives passed Joint Resolution 15 in 2009 and Joint Resolution 16 in 2010 as congratulatory resolutions to "Commend the Ridgetop Shawnee Tribe of Indians for their efforts to help their elderly and their youth; recognize their work to preserve their native language and heritage."[10][11][12]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Ridgetop Shawnee Tribe of Indians L.L.C." OpenCorporates. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Pine Mountain Indian Community, Kentucky LLC". OpenCorporates. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Indian Entities Recognized by and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs". Federal Register. 91 FR 4102: 4102–4106. January 30, 2026. Retrieved August 21, 2026.
  4. ↑ "Kentucky". Advance Native Political Leadership. Retrieved August 27, 2026.
  5. ↑ "Not Just a Hunting Ground: Native Americans in Kentucky- State Recognition". Lexington History Museum. Retrieved August 27, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Tribal Historic Preservation Office, Cultural Preservation Department" (PDF). The Absentee Shawnee News. No. 11, Vol. 25. Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. November 2010. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
  7. 1 2 Hume, Sarah (November 23, 2023). "Written out of existence? Native Americans in Kentucky push for recognition of culture". Courier Journal. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  8. ↑ "State Recognition of American Indian Tribes". National Conference of State Legislatures. Archived from the original on January 5, 2024. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  9. ↑ Hacker, Lyn (May 27, 2026). "Native Dawn Flute Festival in Harrodsburg starts today, runs through Sunday; musicians, crafts, food". North Kentucky Tribune. Retrieved May 27, 2026.
  10. ↑ "Kentucky General Assembly 2009 Regular Session HJR-15". kentucky.gov, updated February 5, 2009. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  11. ↑ "Kentucky General Assembly 2010 Regular Session HJR-16". kentucky.gov, updated February 9, 2010. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  12. ↑ "House Joint Resolution 16". Kentucky General Assembly. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
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