VSU’s Haggard to Disclose B.I.A. Federal Acknowledgement Process for Native Americans

Pictured is Dr. Dixie R. Haggard, professor in the Department of History and the Native American Studies Program at Valdosta State University.

VALDOSTA – Dr. Dixie R. Haggard, professor in the Department of History and the Native American Studies Program at Valdosta State University, will present The Great Father's “Orphans”: The B. I. A.'s Acknowledgement Process and the Pascagoula River Tribe from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 22, in the Hugh C. Bailey Science Center Room 1025. Admission is free of charge and open to the public.

Haggard said his lecture “…will focus on the Bureau of Indian Affairs Federal Acknowledgement process for groups that claim to be Native American but do not yet have a government to government relationship with the United States government.”

Haggard described the process of gaining acknowledgement for Native Americans as extremely laborious and complicated.

“Over 360 groups have begun this process since 1978; 35 have been declined and 18 have received acknowledgement,” he said. “I am volunteering as a consultant for the Pascagoula River Tribe to help them with this process.”

Haggard has taught at VSU for a decade and has led classes on North American Indian cultural history, Native American history, the biography of American Indian leaders, the American Indian experience in the 20^th century, and the native people of Georgia. He is considered an expert on the subject of Native American history and has shared his knowledge through dozens of peer-reviewed articles and chapters, book and manuscript reviews, essays, conferences, and presentations.

Haggard’s book, Indian Country (1866 to 1933), is currently in production.

Contact Dr. Dixie R. Haggard at drhaggard@valdosta.edu or (229) 249-4834 for more information.

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