Get Request For Certificate Of Degree Of Indian Form

To apply for a CDIB card, a person must first prove they are a direct descendant of someone on the 1906 Dawes Rolls. The Oklahoma Historical Society's website has one helpful tool to let people research their ancestors.

Your degree of Indian blood is computed from lineal ancestors of Indian blood who were enrolled with a federally recognized Indian tribe or whose names appear on the designated base rolls of a federally recognized Indian tribe.

The concept of using so-called “blood quantum”—or amount of tribal affiliation in a person's ancestry—to determine tribal enrollment eligibility has no basis in Native American traditions. In early 1900s, the U.S. government began imposing this system on tribes as a means of defining and limiting citizenship.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs uses a blood quantum definition—generally one-fourth Native American blood—and/or tribal membership to recognize an individual as Native American. However, each tribe has its own set of requirements—generally including a blood quantum—for membership (enrollment) of individuals.

Calculating blood quantum involves dividing an individual's parents' combined degree of “Indian blood” in half. For example, if one parent has 1⁄4 “Indian blood” and the other has 1⁄2, their children will have 3⁄8 blood quantum.

And how tribes use blood quantum varies from tribe to tribe. The Navajo Nation requires a minimum of 25 percent "Navajo blood," and Turtle Mountain requires a minimum of 25 percent of any Indian blood, as long as its in combination with some Turtle Mountain.

The Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB) is an official U.S. document, issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), which certifies an individual has a specific degree of Native American blood of a federally recognized Indian tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village or community.