| Ridgetop Shawnee Tribe of Indians, LLC Pine Mountain Indian Community | |
| Logo Alt: | Ridgetop Shawnee logo |
| Nickname: | Ridgetop Shawnee, Ridgetop Band of Shawnee Indians |
| Named After: | Shawnee people |
| Founder: | William Hayes Shackleford |
| Type: | limited liability corporation |
| Vat Id: | (for European organizations) --> |
| Status: | inactive |
| Focus: | --> |
| Location City: | Hazard, Kentucky |
| Area Served: | or |
| Region: | --> |
| Language: | English |
| Parent Organisation: | --> |
The Ridgetop Shawnee Tribe of Indians is an inactive limited liability company, nonprofit organization, and unrecognized tribe in Kentucky. Founded as an organization in 2009, they identify as being of Shawnee and Cherokee descent.
William Hayes Shackleford founded the Ridgetop Shawnee Tribe of Indians, LLC, as a limited liability company and nonprofit organization, based in Hazard, Kentucky, in 2009.[1] The organization went inactive but became active again in 2021, with Jeffery R. Morgan serving as its registered agent.[1]
Shackleford organized the Pine Mountain Indian Community, Kentucky LLC in 2013, another nonprofit limited liability company in Hazard, Kentucky.[2] This organization dissolved in September 2015.[2] Morgan also served as this organization's registered agent.[2]
In June 2013, the Pine Mountain Indian Community LLC announced that the Ridgetop group would be renamed as the Ridgetop Shawnee, to serve as the heritage arm of this nonprofit organization. Within this new management structure, the Ridgetop Shawnee would concentrate on the preservation and protection of the heritage of the region. The Pine Mountain Indian Community would focus on economic development and community development in Southeastern Kentucky.
In March 2023, the Cultural Preservation Department of the Tribal Historic Preservation Office of the Absentee Shawnee Tribe described "a concerning phenomenon we are witnessing in our ancestral settlement areas in our ancestral settlement areas including but not limited to Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana, [and] Alabama", commenting that "In these areas, there are a number of people who claim Shawnee ancestry; this is not so much the concern as the fact that of these individuals or groups use this claim to exploit Shawnee culture as a means of gaining opportunities for themselves from a public that is largely unaware of the vast divide that separates our tribal community politically and culturally from those of alleged Shawnee ancestry", and went on to name the Ridgetop Shawnee as one of the ten similar groups they "have identified that have recently organized as alleged Shawnee bands/tribes and promote themselves as the voice of the Shawnee".[3]
While the State of Kentucky has a Native American Heritage Commission,[4] Kentucky has no state-recognized tribes[5] and "the state doesn’t have a process for them to apply for formal recognition."[4]
The Kentucky House of Representatives passed Joint Resolution 15 in 2009 and Joint Resolution 16 in 2010 as congratulatory resolutions to"Commend the Ridgetop Shawnee Tribe of Indians for their efforts to help their elderly and their youth; recognize their work to preserve their native language and heritage."[6] [7] [8]