The Catawba Indian Nation is the only federally recognized native tribe in the state of South Carolina. First receiving federal recognition in 1941, the tribe's federal status was rescinded under the Catawba Indian Tribe Division of Assets Act (1959) as part of the US government's termination policy (1953-1968). In 1973, the Catawba Nation Tribal government was reformed and petitioned to regain federal recognition. Over the next 20 years the Catawba engaged in a legal battle with the governments of both the United States and the State of South Carolina to regain federal recognition and settle outstanding land claims resulting from the illegal Treaty of Nation Ford (1840). After a long fight which included several cases heard before the Supreme Court of the United States, the Catawba regained recognition through an act of Congress via the Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina land Claims Settlement Act of 1993, regaining its status as a sovereign, self-governing nation.
During the late 1980s, Early Fred Sanders and Dr. Wenonah George Haire formed the Catawba Cultural Task Force to begin collecting, preserving, and perpetuating the history and culture of the Catawba people. In 1990, this project was organized into the Catawba Cultural Preservation Project (CCPP), housed in the former Catawba Indian School building, which was donated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and subsequently moved from it's original location behind the LDS Church on Reservation Road, to its current location at 1536 Tom Steven Road. When the Catawba Indian Nation (CIN) regained Federal recognition in 1993, the Executive Committee of the CIN formalized the CCPP as the entity officially responsible for the collection, preservation, promotion, and education of and about the history, culture, arts, and language of the Catawba to both tribal members and the general public. The CCPP operated as an independent, non-profit organization until 2020, when it became a division of the tribal government.
The University of Florida is the oldest and largest university in the state. Its history dates to 1853, when the Kingsbury Academy in Ocala was acquired by the state-supported East Florida Seminary. In the 1860s the seminary moved to Gainesville and later was consolidated with Florida Agricultural College, a land-grant school in Lake City. In 1905 it became the University of Florida and returned to Gainesville.