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United South & Eastern Tribes (USET) - Southern & Eastern U.S. (U.S.)

Native American

image by Donald Healy, 1 February 2008

The band
The flag

See also:

The Band

map image by Peter Orenski based on input from Don Healy

United South & Eastern Tribes (USET) - Southern & Eastern U.S.

The United South and Eastern Tribes, Inc. (USET) was founded in 1969 as "The United Southeastern Tribes" in Cherokee, North Carolina, by four southeastern Tribes - the Eastern Band of Cherokee, Mississippi Band of Choctaw, and the Miccosukee and Seminole Tribes of Florida. These leaders believed that by uniting as an inter-tribal council they could more effectively deal with a variety of common tribal issues as well as with the federal government.

The Flag

That belief-reflected in the motto "BECAUSE THERE IS STRENGTH IN UNITY" shown in quotes and in black on the flag-was borne out over the next decade as membership steadily increased. Its name changed in 1978 to "United South and Eastern Tribes, Inc.", to reflect the geographical expansion of its membership from Maine to southern Florida to eastern Texas. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, USET includes 23 federally recognized Tribes, representing a population of more than 50,000. USET provides a forum for exchanging ideas and information among member Tribes as well as a vehicle for obtaining grants from federal, state, and private-sector sources.

The USET flag, adopted in 1997 primarily for use during processionals at USET meetings, incorporates the original "Strength in Unity" idea in several ways, from the red border of the flag, to the motto, to the two red concentric rings enclosing the seal, to the circular array of 23 black peace pipes with bowls pointed inward to the red central dot. Unity consistently has been the central tenet of the organization.

The seal was created in the earliest days of the association. It was much like its present-day version in that it consisted of a two-ringed circle. Within the outer circle was the original name, "UNITED SOUTHEASTERN TRIBES, INC." above and "Established 1969" below. Within the inner circle were four peace pipes standing for the four founding Tribes. This early logo appears to have been printed entirely in gold. In 1978, along with the name change, the colors of the seal were modified to show the two circle rings in red and most everything else in black. The first letter of each word in the organizational name appears in red to highlight the acronym by which it has become known best (USET).

© Donald Healy 2008
information provided by Peter Orenski, 1 February 2008