Bill 694

                    Current Status

Bill Number:                       694
Type of Legislation:               Concurrent Resolution CR
Introducing Body:                  Senate
Introduced Date:                   19950330
Primary Sponsor:                   McGill 
All Sponsors:                      McGill 
Drafted Document Number:           mcgill\res9691.jym
Date Bill Passed both Bodies:      19950411
Subject:                           Chicora Indian Day; April
                                   20

Body    Date      Action Description                       Com     Leg Involved
______  ________  _______________________________________  _______ ____________

Senate  19950411  Received from House
House   19950406  Adopted, returned with concurrence
House   19950406  Committee report: Favorable              24 HIMR
House   19950404  Introduced, referred to Committee        24 HIMR
Senate  19950330  Introduced, adopted, sent to House

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

TO ESTABLISH APRIL 20TH AS CHICORA INDIAN DAY IN RECOGNITION OF THE CHICORA INDIAN TRIBE'S HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

Whereas, in the early sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the people living in present-day South Carolina knew their homeland by the name Chicora; and

Whereas, the Chicora's land was bordered on the north by the Cape Fear River and on the south by the Savannah River, and possibly as far west as the Appalachian Mountains; and

Whereas, the first written reference to the Chicora people was made by the Spaniard Martyr in 1520, and thereafter by numerous Spanish and French explorers, including Hernando de Soto; and

Whereas, the native people of Chicora had no written language but were intelligent and skilled in the simple arts and crafts incident to their primitive way of life; and

Whereas, the Chicoras were organized into families with a headman and thereafter into tribes under a chief and his council and into a nation under a cacique (king); and

Whereas, the Chicoras welcomed the Spanish and French explorers with kindness, generosity, and hospitality and were rewarded with cruelty and enslavement; and

Whereas, the Chicora population was decimated by warfare between the Spanish and French, and eventually by smallpox, measles, typhus, and other diseases carried by the British settlers to America; and

Whereas, the last recorded Chicora activity occurred in 1743, where Chief Eno Jemmy Warrior and his warriors met the Catawbas at Cherawtown during the government's attempt to move all natives to the Catawba community; and

Whereas, the remaining Chicoras were forcibly assimilated into white communities; and

Whereas, in the 1970's, the remaining indigenous Chicoras began the process of establishing recognition of their tribe, and in 1986 the board members of the South Carolina Council of Native Americans elected Gene Martin interim Chief; and

Whereas, in 1991, Chief Martin was elected tribal chief by the members of the tribe; and

Whereas, the 1990 census identified eighty (80) tribal members, and the tribal role now contains over 480 names; and

Whereas, the tribal headquarters are located in Andrews, South Carolina in Georgetown County; and

Whereas, Horry, Georgetown, and Williamsburg Counties and the cities of Surfside, Conway, and Andrews proclaim the third week in November the Chicora Indian Tribal Week. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring:

That the members of the General Assembly hereby establish April 20th as Chicora Indian Day in recognition of the Chicora Indian Tribe's historical significance and contributions to the State of South Carolina.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to Chief Gene Martin of the Chicora Indian Tribe.