These organizations self-identify as Native American tribes or heritage groups, but have not been recognized as independent tribes by the established Native American tribes or by the US federal or state governments.
For groups that are recognized by the government of the United States as Native American tribes and tribal nations, see List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States and List of Alaska Native tribal entities. For groups that are recognized by state governments as Native American tribes, see State-recognized tribes in the United States.
Most of these organizations are not accepted as being Native American by established Native American tribes. Exceptions include tribes whose previous recognition was terminated, especially in California under the California Rancheria Termination Acts. Certain historic tribes in California signed treaties in 1851 and 1852 that the U.S. Senate secretly rejected after being pressured from the State of California; many of these historic tribes remain unrecognized.
The following groups claim to be of Native American, American Indian, Alaska Native, or Métis heritage by ethnicity but have no federal recognition through the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Federal Acknowledgment (OFA), United States Department of the Interior Office of the Solicitor (SOL), and are not recognized by any state government in the United States nor by any recognized Indigenous nations. Some of the organizations are regarded as fraudulent and called Corporations Posing as Indigenous Nations (CPAIN).
List of unrecognized groups claiming to be American Indian tribes
Following is a list of groups known to self-identify as Native American tribes but that have been recognized neither by the federal government (Bureau of Indian Affairs) nor by any state nor tribal government.
Alabama
Cherokee Nation of Alabama. Letter of Intent to Petition 02/16/1999. Cherokee River Indian Community, Moulton, AL. Letter of Intent to Petition 08/03/2000. Receipt of Petition 08/03/2000. Chickamauga Cherokee of Alabama. Chickmaka Band of the South Cumberland Plateau. Coweta Creek Tribe, Phenix City, AL. Letter of Intent to Petition 2/12/2003. Eagle Bear Band of Free Cherokees. The Langley Band of the Chickamogee Cherokee Indians of the Southeastern United States, aka Langley Band of Chickamogee of Cherokee Indians, Birmingham, AL Letter of Intent to Petition 04/20/1994; Postal service certified letter returned 11/5/1997. Phoenician Cherokee II – Eagle Tribe of Sequoyah, Gadsden, AL Letter of Intent to Petition 09/18/2001. Powhatan Nation of American Indians, Enterprise, AL Principal Creek Indian Nation East of the Mississippi, Florala, AL. Letter of Intent to Petition 11/09/1971. Declined to Acknowledge 06/10/1985 50 FR 14302; certified letter returned "not known" 10/1997. Wolf Creek Cherokee Tribe, Inc. of Florida. Also in Florida.
Alaska
Chilkoot Kaagwaantaan Clan, Haines, AK. Letter of Intent to Petition 4/22/1997. Five Landless Alaska Tlingit communities. These Tlingit communities were omitted from the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and received neither land nor subsistence rights under the Act. Katalla-Chilkat Tlingit Tribe of Alaska, Juneau, AK. Letter of Intent to Petition 02/02/1995; certified letter returned by P.O. 10/1997. Knugank, Dillingham, AK. Letter of Intent to Petition 1/7/1999. Qutekcak Native Tribe, Seward, AK. Letter of Intent to Petition 2/13/2002. Receipt of Petition 2/13/2002. Tsimshian Tribal Council, Ketchikan, AK. Letter of Intent to Petition 07/02/1978.
Arizona
American Cherokee Confederacy
Arizona Cherokee Pioneers
Barrio Pascua – a village of Yaqui on the Arizona-Mexico border region. Chiricahua Apache Ndeh Nation, Silver City, AZ The United Cherokee Nation (UCN) – Western National Office. Also in Georgia. Supposed "clans" organized in these areas, often calling themselves as "Cherokee Nation of ....": Alabama, Alaska, Alberta, Arizona (Georgia, Nevada), Arkansas, California, Colorado (New Mexico, Utah), Connecticut, Cyprus, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho (Montana), Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana (Mississippi), Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri (Kansas), Nebraska (Iowa), New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin (Illinois (Chicago and Metropolis branches), Minnesota) and Wyoming.