The White Earth
Nation was formed by joining multiple
Chippewa bands from north central Minnesota. They had been displaced by European-American settlement and consolidated onto a
reservation in Mahnomen, Becker, and Clearwater Counties. Six Minnesota Chippewa bands enroll members separately today, but they combine numbers when identifying the entire
tribe. According to the
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe council, the White Earth Band had 19,291 enrolled members in July 2007, making it the largest
Anishinaabe tribe in the state. On March 19, 1867, the
U.S. Congress established the
White Earth Indian Reservation for the Mississippi Chippewa Indians in Minnesota, following the
ratification of a
treaty between them and the
United States. Congress had several session agreements regarding the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. After hearing many complaints about the
Pillagers, who were then landless, Congress authorized the relocation of the western Pillagers to the White Earth Indian Reservation. They were not included in the
1855 Treaty of Washington (), which was made with the eastern Pillagers at the
Mississippi River headwaters. Eventually, the Otter Tail
Pillager Band of Chippewa Indians and Wild Rice River
Pembina Band of Chippewa Indians also came to settle alongside the Mississippi Chippewa at White Earth Reservation and effectively became part of the White Earth Band. These historic bands were: • Gull Lake Band of
Mississippi River Chippewa • Removable
Mille Lacs Indians • Rabbit Lake Band of
Mississippi River Chippewa • Rice Lake Band of
Mississippi River Chippewa. Until the
Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the six bands living on the White Earth Indian Reservation acted independently of each other. After the Reorganization Act, the six wrote a
constitution forming the
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. Minnesota was divided into six tribal districts uniting all Ojibwe bands not associated with the
Red Lake Band of Chippewa, and the Pembina band. Both refused to relocate to White Earth, thus maintaining their individual identities. The tribe was involved in a case about how much compensation the descendants of the Pembina Chippewa should receive from the taking of land by the U.S. government during the early 1800s. The third and final settlement payment in 2022 of $59 million was split among the tribe, the
Little Shell Chippewa, the
Chippewa Cree, and the
Turtle Mountain Tribe of North Dakota, along with the 39,000 individual beneficiaries. Previous settlements in the case were in 1964 and 1980. ==Notable citizens==