to gain federal recognition and the right to operate gaming on reservations. Gaining recognition also is a way for Native American groups to assert their identity, their Indianness. Tribes were originally recognized as legal parties through treaties, executive orders, or presidential proclamations. The 1934 Indian Reorganization Act played a major role in the development of the concept of federal recognition. It provided recognition to those tribes with which the government already had a relationship. Under its provisions, some non-federally recognized tribes were enabled to become federally recognized. During the 1960s and early 1970s, dozens of groups that lacked federal acknowledgment came forward to demand their rights as Native peoples. In the east, groups like the Mashpee Wampanoag filed suit for lands lost in preceding generations. In the west, groups sought fishing rights. In the southeast, others came to demand the government recognize them as surviving aboriginal peoples. As federal tribal status allowed groups standing to bring claims and many came to see the injustice of denying acknowledgment to indigenous peoples, many parties came to acknowledge the need for more consistent procedures for recognizing tribes left outside the circle. With tribal input, the BIA created its Federal Acknowledgment Process in 1978. Currently known as the Office of Federal Acknowledgment, this entity is the main body charged with deciding which groups are eligible to secure status. Acknowledgment criteria have been created by regulation based on statute. They are set by the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Branch of Acknowledgment and Research. Since the mid-1970s, representatives of federally recognized tribes have consulted with BIA on these criteria. To be federally recognized, a group must meet the following: "[S]ince 1900, it must comprise a distinct community and have existed as a community from historical times; it must have political influence over its members; it must have membership criteria; and it must have membership that consists of individuals who descend from a historical Indian tribe and who are not enrolled in any other tribe." The existence of persistent political relationship as an aspect of tribal relations is also emphasized. Blood Quantum and Gatekeeping of Native American identity Over the course of history, the definition and idea of an “Indian” has been altered by settler colonial society and by the United States government. The addition of blood quantum laws not only tore Native tribes apart, but it made it extremely difficult for most Native Americans to qualify