Tribal Government

Chief Kevin Brown serves as the leader of the Pamunkey Indian Tribe. He previously served on the Tribal Council from 1984 to 1992 and again from 2004 to 2008 before being elected Chief from 2008 to 2015. During his first tenure as Chief, he played a crucial role in securing federal recognition for the Tribe. After stepping down in 2015, following the recognition milestone, he was re-elected as Chief in 2024. 

Chief Brown’s grandfather was born on the Pamunkey reservation but later moved to Philadelphia, where Kevin Brown was born. At the age of two, he relocated with his family to Pittsburgh but spent several summers as a child on the Pamunkey reservation. In 1972, after high school, he returned to help his grandfather fish for shad and later moved to the reservation full-time, fishing for ten years. Outside the fishing season, he traveled extensively. 

In the late 1970s, Chief Brown traveled to the Mohawk reservation and volunteered to help the Akwesasne Notes, a National Indian Newspaper in upstate New York. In 1979, he married his first wife at the Onondaga Nation reservation in New York. He then traveled west, attending powwows and developing his skills as an artist, particularly in pottery. During the 1970s and 1980s, he was a member of the Pamunkey Pottery Guild, crafting traditional pieces. His home base remained the Pamunkey reservation, where he continued fishing from March to May, like many of the men in his community. 

Chief Brown took art classes at VCU, Hampton University, and J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College. In the early 1980s, art became more of a hobby as he transitioned to working as a brick mason. His artistic interests include pottery, painting, and bronze casting. His son, Ishi, was born in 1978 and now lives on the Six Nations Reserve in Canada. In 2002, he met and married his second wife, Beverly, a child development specialist with the Norge Need Center in James City County. Today they have a combined nine grandchildren and four great grandchildren. 

Beyond leadership, Chief Brown is passionate about music, playing the Dobro guitar in a bluegrass band for 20 years. After a stint in a blues trio, he began writing and recording his own songs. His music is available on Spotify under the name Kevin Blackwater. He still paints, creates pottery, and in 2007, completed a bronze casting at Jamestown. Chief Brown is honored to once again lead the Pamunkey Indian Tribe and looks forward to preserving its rich heritage while advocating for its future growth and prosperity.