The Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe (

Yavapai language Yavapai is an Upland Yuman language, spoken by Yavapai people in central and western Arizona. There are four dialects: Kwevkepaya, Wipukpaya, Tolkepaya, and Yavepe. Linguistic studies of the Kwevkepaya (Southern), Tolkepaya (Western), Wipukepa ...

: Wiikvteepaya), formerly known as the Yavapai-Prescott Tribe of the Yavapai Reservation, a

federally recognized tribe A federally recognized tribe is a Native American tribe recognized by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs as holding a government-to-government relationship with the US federal government. In the United States, the Native American tribe ...

Yavapai people The Yavapai ( ) are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe in Arizona. Their Yavapai language belongs to the Upland Yuman languages, Yuman branch of the proposed Hokan languages, Hokan language family. Today Yavapai peop ...

. Fewer than 200 people are enrolled in the tribe.

Reservation

The Yavapai reservation is approximately in central

Yavapai County Yavapai County ( ) is a county near the center of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 236,209, making it the fourth-most populous county in Arizona. The county seat is Prescott. Yavapai County comprises the Pr ...

in west-central

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. In the early 1930s, Sam Jimulla and his wife Viola Jimulla, with community support, pushed the government to provide reservation lands for the tribe, as they had been unable to secure federal funds for a housing project. In 1935, 75 acres of the former

Fort Whipple, Arizona Fort Whipple is a former United States (U.S.) Army post that was temporarily established at Del Rio Springs, north of present-day Chino Valley, Arizona, and later relocated to a permanent site near present-day Prescott, Arizona. History The init ...

were set aside as a reservation. Continued pressure from the tribe resulted in an additional 1320 acres being conferred on the tribe in 1956.

Government

Simultaneously with the creation of a reservation, the government pressed for the Prescott Yavapai to accept the terms of the

Indian Reorganization Act The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of June 18, 1934, or the Wheeler–Howard Act, was U.S. federal legislation that dealt with the status of American Indians in the United States. It was the centerpiece of what has been often called the "Indian ...

, but the tribe rejected the move away from a hereditary chief and confirmed the commissioner of Indian Affairs choice of Jimulla as their tribal leader. When Jimulla died in 1940, he was succeeded by his wife, though a tribal council was established. Don Mitchell, husband of Jimulla's daughter Grace, served as chair of the tribal council from 1940 to 1948 and then tribal president from 1948 to 1972, though Viola served as Chieftess until her death. Grace Mitchell succeeded her parents as chieftess in 1967 and in 1972, Jimulla's granddaughter Patricia Ann McGee became tribal president. Upon Mitchell's death in 1976, the tribe conferred the title of chieftess upon Jimulla's other surviving daughter, Lucy Miller, and reconfirmed the dual governance system by retaining McGee as tribal president. Following Miller's 1984 death the tribal leadership was solely vested in the council and the tribal president. McGee retained the post until 1988, when she was ousted for two years by Stanhope "Stan" Rice Jr. She regained leadership in 1990 and served until her death. Rice regained the presidency in 1994 and held the position until his ouster in 2001. He was succeeded by Ernest Jones Sr. The tribe is headquartered in

Prescott, Arizona Prescott ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. As of 2020 United States census, 2020 Census, the city's population was 45,827. In 1864, Prescott was designated as the capital of the Arizona Territory, r ...

."Tribal Directory."
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National Congress of American Indians The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is an Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American Indian and Alaska Natives, Alaska Native Indigenous rights, rights organization. It was founded in 1944 to represent the tribes and resist U.S. ...

.'' Accessed 6 March 2014.

Economic development

The tribe has a shopping center, two casinos, and a hotel where the reservation abuts State Highway 69 at

. A business park is on the reservation off State Highway 89 north of Prescott. The 2000 census reported a resident population of 182 persons on the Yavapai-Prescott Indian Reservation, 117 of whom were of solely Native American heritage.

Services

Law enforcement services are provided by the Yavapai-Prescott Tribal Police Department.

Charlie Ben Wilson

Notable tribal members

* Viola Jimulla (1878–1966), chief of the Prescott Yavapai from 1940 to 1966.

Education

The reservation is served by the Prescott Unified School District.

Citations

References

Yavapai-Prescott Reservation, Arizona
United States Census Bureau

External links

Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe
official website {{authority control Native American tribes in Arizona Prescott, Arizona Federally recognized tribes in the United States Geography of Yavapai County, Arizona American Indian reservations in Arizona