Lummi

The Lummi Nation is a Native American tribe of the Coast Salish ethnolinguistic group in western Washington state in the United States. The tribe lives on the Lummi Indian Reservation in the inland northwest corner of Washington, convert|8|mi|km|0 west of Bellingham and convert|20|mi|km|0 south of the Canadian border, in western Whatcom County.

History

The Lummi were forcibly moved to reservation lands after the signing of the Point Elliott Treaty in 1855. The reservation has a land area of 54.378 km² (20.996 sq mi), which includes the Lummi Peninsula, and uninhabited Portage Island.

In pre-Colonial times, the tribe migrated seasonally between many sites including Point Roberts, Washington, Lummi Peninsula, Portage Island, as well as sites in the San Juan Islands, including Sucia Island.

Many tribal members were Christianised in the late Nineteenth Century by the Catholic Oblate order. [CathEncy|wstitle=Lummi Indians]

The traditional lifestyle of the Lummi, like many Northwest Coast tribes, consisted of the collecting of shellfish, gathering of plants such as Camas and different species of berries, and most importantly involved the fishing of salmon. The Lummi developed a fishing technique known as "reef netting". Reef netting was used for taking large quantities of fish in salt water. Lummi had reef net sets on Orcas Island, San Juan Island, Lummi Island and Fidalgo Island, Portage Island and near Point Roberts and Sandy Point. [ [http://www.nwifc.wa.gov/aboutus/documents/BoldtDecision8.5x11layoutforweb.pdf Microsoft Word - Boldt Decision8.5x11 layout for web.doc ] ]

From July 30th to August 4th 2007, the Lummi hosted their first potlatch since the 1930s, the Paddle to Lummi. 68 canoeing families paddled hand-made canoes to the Lummi Reservation from parts of Washington and British Columbia. [ [http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415561 Lummi hosts largest potlatch in 70 years : ICT [2007/08/13 ] ]

Language

The Lummi language ("Xwlemi Chosen"; IPA:/xʷləmiʧɔsən/) is actually a dialect of a language called North Straits Salish or "lashootseed".

Population Living on the Reservation

It is estimated that there are 6,590 people living on the Lummi Reservation. Roughly 2,564 of these people are enrolled tribal members, 665 are either related to or live with an enrolled tribal member, and 3,361 are not tribal members nor are they affiliated with the Lummi Nation.

There are approximately 1,864 homes located on the reservation. Approximately 697 of these have an enrolled Lummi living in the home; thus, roughly 1,167 homes on the reservation do not house a tribal member. The 2000 census official numbers were 4,193 persons residing on its territory, of whom 1,828 (43.6 percent) were whites, and only 2,114 (50.4 percent) were of solely Native American heritage.

Enrollment Information

As of April 2005 there are 4219 enrolled tribal members. 49.6% of the enrolled population is female; 50.4% of the population being male

Age Distribution

The median age of tribal members is 29. 31.8% of the enrolled population is 18 or younger. 11.6% of the enrolled population is 55 or older.

Location of Enrolled Members

According to current studies conducted by the Lummi Nation approximately 78% of the enrolled Lummi tribal members live either on or near the reservation boundaries. Enrolled Lummi tribal members have an average household size of approximately 4.5 persons.

Workforce Information

A recent collaborative study conducted by the Lummi Nation and Northern Economics Inc. found the following information pertaining to the Lummi Nation Workforce.

Highest Educational Attainment

For the adult population (ages 25-64): 15.1% of the enrolled population does not have a High school Diploma or a GED; 33.8% of the population has either a High School or GED degree; 27.1% of the population has some college experience; 14.9% of the tribal population has either an AA/AS Degree; 7.5% of Lummi’s population has a Bachelors degree; and 1.6% of the population has attained a Graduate or Professional degree.

Employment

61% of the adult population (ages 18-64) is employed—moreover, the Labor Workforce Participation Rate is 74%. The unemployment rate of Lummi’s workforce is 15.9%. The Median monthly income for employed Lummi tribal members is approximately $2,000.

References

* [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-context=dt&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-CHECK_SEARCH_RESULTS=N&-mt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_P001&-mt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_P003&-CONTEXT=dt&-tree_id=4001&-redoLog=true&-transpose=N&-all_geo_types=Y&-_caller=geoselect&-geo_id=25000US2070&-geo_id=NBSP&-search_results=27000US207053073&-fully_or_partially=N&-format=&-_lang=en&-show_geoid=Y Lummi Reservation, Washington] United States Census Bureau

Further reading

*cite book|author=Gibbs, George|title=Alphabetical vocabularies of the Clallam and Lummi|publisher=Cramoisy Press|year=1863 [http://www.secstate.wa.gov/history/publications%5Fdetail.aspx?p=70 Available online through the Washington State Library's Classics in Washington History collection]

External links

* [http://www.lummi-nsn.gov/ Lummi Nation homepage]