WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE BLACK RIVER INDIANS

The Black River Indian Nation is a small Native American tribal entity which originated from a multi-tribal remnant community located just outside of Greeleyville, South Carolina.  Members can trace their bloodlines to multiple historic indigenous tribes, including the Catawba, Hatteras, Cape Fear (Dawhee), Winyah, and other Settlement Indians which once lived in the low country of South Carolina.  Members today primarily reside within the counties of Sumter, Clarendon, Williamsburg, and Georgetown, all along the course of the Black River.  We have been referred to by several different names over the generations including, the Privateer Indians, the Goins of Williamsburg, the Goins Indians, the Goins Band of Chicora, and the Greeleyville Band of Black River Indians.  Today, we refer to ourselves as the Yeni or Yenee, after the name our ancestors called the Black River in the sixteenth century.  We are presently chartered in South Carolina as a nonprofit organization and are actively seeking official State recognition.

Our Mission:  

The Mission of the Black River Indian Nation is to preserve, document, and protect various historic sites associated with our unique heritage in our region of South Carolina, as well as to educate our members of their history and ancestral culture.  We are commited to revive our cultural practices lost as a result of colonization and seek to educate the general public as to the lifeways of Native Americans in South Carolina, both before and after the period of colonization.