The “Virginia Indians: 400 Years of Survival” conference featured representatives from Virginia’s eight-state recognized tribes as well as nationally known speakers and dignitaries. The conference included panel discussions on “Indian Law and Culture Through History,” “Government Policy as it Relates to American Indians,” and “Preserving History and Culture.” Speakers included Arlinda Locklear, a Lumbee Attorney and the first Native American woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, and David Wilkins, a professor of American Indian Studies, Political Science and Law at the University of Minnesota. During lunch, Robert Duncan, the president of Bacone College in Oklahoma addressed attendees. Many Virginia Indians attended Bacone during the “Plecker era,” when segregation barred them from attending public schools. Mark Tilden, a member of the Navajo Nation and a staff attorney with the Native American Rights Fund, spoke at a banquet dinner that evening. Attendees visited Virginia Indian tribal centers during a guided bus tour on Friday. The tour included the Pamunkey Indian Museum and the Mattaponi Shad Hatchery as well as cultural demonstrations and talks by each of the tribal chiefs with participation from 8-10 members of each tribe. Also on the Mattaponi Reservation, participants met artisans and toured the museum. Special events were planned at the Upper Mattaponi and Rappahannock Tribal Centers. The tour concluded with a dinner at the Chickahominy Tribal Center, followed by a program of traditional music and dancing. Participants traveled to the Monacan Indian Nation in Amherst County for their annual Homecoming on Saturday.   Kenneth Adams, chief of the Upper Mattaponi tribe, said the symposium gave the Virginia Indian tribes “an opportunity to educate the public on parts of our culture and history. We have never before had an opportunity to tell our own story in our own words on such a comprehensive level.”     Schedule of Events

Maggie Paul   Jim Pepper Henry Assistant Director of Community Services National Museum of the American Indian   E. Randolph Turner Chief Archaeologist for the Werowocomoco Project        Rodney Smolla     Dean and Professor of Law University of Richmond   Mark Tilden  Attorney Native American        Rights Fund