Blackfeet Tribal Enrollment FAQ

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Frequently Asked Questions
Blackfeet Tribal Enrollment and Ancestry

NOTICE
The Enrollment Department has a new website
http://www.blackfeetenrollment.com/

Can the Blackfeet Tribe help me explore my Indian ancestry?We get hundreds of such inquiries each month and we wish we could help, but we can’t. Genealogy isn’t a government function we have staff or funding for, except to verify complete, properly-documented enrollment applications that prove you meet the strict requirements noted below. But to help people get started on their research, we have a link on our website to a useful, unofficial genealogy site that shows most Blackfeet surnames and many of its deceased members. (go to: About the Blackfeet >> Genealogy)

Can I join the Blackfeet Tribe? As with all tribes, the Blackfeet have strict enrollment criteria. Ours is written in our Constitution:

ARTICLE II - MEMBERSHIP - AMENDMENT IIISection 1. The members of the Blackfeet Tribe shall consist as follows:

(a) All persons of Indian blood whose names appear on the official census roll of the tribe as of January 1, 1935.

(b) All children born prior to the adoption of this amendment to any blood member of the Blackfeet Tribe maintaining a legal residence within the territory of the Reservation at the time of such birth.

(c) All children having one-fourth (1/4) degree of Blackfeet Indian blood or more born after the adoption of this amendment to any blood member of the Blackfeet Tribe. (AMENDMENT III APPROVED AUGUST 30, 1962)

Section 2. The tribal council shall have the power to promulgate ordinances, subject to review by the Secretary of the Interior, governing future membership and the adoption of new members.


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If (and please only if) you meet one or more the above requirements, you can call Enrollment at 406-338-3533 for application enrollment forms.

What about DNA tests to prove Indian ancestry? Are they of any use?No federally-recognized tribe accepts these tests for any official purpose. So save your money if making a case for enrollment is your aim.



What is an Indian?
To the federal government, an Indian is a person who is an ENROLLED member of a federally-recognized Indian tribe. The Blackfeet, for example, have about 16,000 enrolled members. But according to the 2000 census, 85,600 claim Blackfeet heritage. So there are about 70,000 people who think of themselves as Blackfeet but would not be recognized as such by the federal government and do not appear on the Tribal rolls. So, for example, if someone is applying to college and the application asks if you are Indian, only enrolled members can answer yes. Ironically, there are many people who have a great deal of Indian blood, but not enough from any one tribe to enroll.

Is Indian or Native American the preferred term?Indians call themselves and each other Indians. Some non-Indians fear that calling an Indian by the term Indian is somehow derogatory, but it is not. Around a reservation you mostly hear the term Indian or tribal member. But Native American is fine, too.

What financial benefits do Indians get?A common misperception is that Indians get money from the government or are exempt from taxes or similar nonsense. Like any other local, state, or federal governmental entity, tribal governments operate on funding from a variety of sources to provide services to their populace. Individual tribal members pay taxes like everyone else and don’t get handouts. Some “casino tribes” pay out nice per capitas to members, but most tribes have little or no surplus cash. Blackfeet members get a $50 check each Christmas from oil and gas and other enterprise income.

What is an Indian Tribe? An Indian tribe is one of the 564 federally-recognized tribes in the U.S. Most are small with a few hundred to a few thousand members. A few are large like the Blackfeet. The largest is the Navajo with over 200,000 enrolled members. The federal government considers a tribe to consist of its enrolled members only. But many tribes, such as the Blackfeet, think of their tribe as also including community members that are non-enrolled descendants.