The Tribe
Forty miles south of Washington D.C., the county high school's mascot is an Indian. But for more than 2,600 Patawomeck tribal citizens, Indigenous identity isn't a get-up — it's a proud legacy traced back generations to some of the earliest contact with English settlers in what's now Virginia. What does it mean when that legacy comes under attack — when others in the community dispute those family ties that run as deep as the roots of a White Oak tree? Have times changed? Or does history rhyme?
Contributors
J. Kendall Perkinson
Guests
Bill "Night Owl" Deyo
William L. Deyo served as the first historian of the reorganized Patawomeck Tribe. His genealogies of White Oak families helped the tribe gain state recognition in 2010.
Dr. Brad Hatch
Dr. Paul Lombardo
American legal expert and historian specializing in Virginia's eugenics movement.
Rep. Abigail Spanberger
The former congresswoman representing Virginia's 7th district and a current Democratic gubernatorial candidate.