GovInfo provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.
Search U.S. Government Publishing Office’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications for catalog records. Many records link to the full text.
All FDLP Resource Guides are open educational resources for anyone to share, copy, and reuse.
Read about featured U.S. Government events that impacted the civil rights of AIAN since 1783, and learn about notable individuals in American history.
Check out some U.S. Government resources on historical research on American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians.
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Library of Congress Native Americans: Resources in Local History and Genealogy
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National Endowment for the Humanities
Teacher's Guide: American Indian History and Heritage
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National Park Service Explore parks that "preserve native cultural heritage and celebrate tribal cultures." |
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Smithsonian
National Museum of the American Indian
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U.S. National Archives and Records Administration American Indian and Alaska Native Records in the National Archives
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Click on the side arrows to see brief biographies of notable AIAN, including Co-Rux-Te-Chod-Ish, Bessie Coleman, Charles Curtis, Sharice Davids, Lily Gladstone, Debra Haaland, Joy Harjo, John Herrington, Diane Humetewa, Josephine Gates Kelly, Cheri Madsen, Nicole Aunapu Mann, Russell Means, Navarre Scotte Momaday, Mary Peltola, Elizabeth Peratrovich, Hiram R. Revels, Louis Sockalexis, Standing Bear, Wes Studi, Jim Thorpe, and Annie Dodge Wauneka.
First Native American and African American elected to U.S. Senate (Croatan)
First Native American declared "a person within the meaning of the law" (Ponca)
First Native American to receive the Medal of Honor (Pawnee)
First Native American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1893 and Vice President of the United States in 1929 (Kaw Nation)
First Native American to play in the National League and Major League Baseball (Penobscot)
First Native American to win a gold medal in the Olympics (Sac and Fox Nation)
First female chair of a tribal council in 1946 (Standing Rock Sioux Reservation)
First Native American and African American woman to hold a pilot license (Cherokee)
First Native American to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 (Navajo)
American civil rights activist on the equality of Alaska Natives (Tlingit)
First Native American to receive a Pulitzer Prize in 1969 and later received the National Medal of Arts in 2007 (Kiowa)
Activist for rights of American Indians (Oglala Lakota)
First Native American to receive an Academy Honorary Award in 2019 (Cherokee)
First Native American U.S. Poet Laureate (Muscogee Creek Nation)
One of the first Native American women elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2019; and first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary in 2021 (U.S. Secretary of the Interior) (Pueblo of Laguna)
First Native American woman and enrolled tribal member to serve as a U.S. Federal judge (Hopi)
First Native American astronaut in space in 2002 (Chickasaw)
First Alaska Native elected to U.S. Congress in 2022 (Yup'ik)
First Native American to participate in the Paralympics in 1996 (Omaha)
First Native American woman in space in 2022 (Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribe)
One of the first Native American women elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2019 (Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin)
First Native American nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and winner of the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Piegan Blackfeet and Nez Perce)
| Date | Event | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 22, 1783 | Confederation Congress Proclamation of 1783 | March 3, 1871 | Indian Appropriations Act of 1871 |
| 1790 to 1834 | Nonintercourse Acts | May 1, 1871 | The Cherokee Tobacco |
| March 16, 1810 | Fletcher v. Peck | December 17, 1883 | Ex parte Crow Dog |
| May 28, 1830 | Indian Removal Act | November 3, 1884 | Elk v. Wilkins |
| March 3, 1832 | Worcester v. Georgia | March 3, 1885 | Indian Appropriations Act of 1885 |
| February 27, 1851 | Creation of the reservation system | February 8, 1887 | Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 |
| October 18, 1867 | Russia formally transfers Alaska to the United States | May 25, 1896 | Ward v. Race Horse |
| July 9, 1868 | Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution |
Click on the side arrows for more information about the featured events in U.S. Government history.
Though newly established as a country, the United States of America continues a form of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 (also known as the Proclamation Line of 1763) in which only the Federal government can extinguish aboriginal title land use and occupancy.
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"An Act to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes... That no person shall be permitted to carry on any trade or intercourse with the Indian tribes, without a license for that purpose under the hand and seal of the superintendent of the department, or of such other person as the President of the United States shall appoint for that purpose."^
During this time period, the U.S. Congress passes several statutes that concern aboriginal title to Indian land that only the Federal government can extinguish and the regulation of commerce between AIAN and non-tribal members. Below are some of the featured statutes.
For more information:
"The majority of the court is of opinion that the nature of the Indian title, which is certainly to be respected by all courts, until it be legitimately extinguished, is not such as to be absolutely repugnant to seisin in fee on the part of the state."^
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the state of Georgia was unconstitutional in selling a tract of land to private parties in 1795 and later rescinding it under a subsequent legislature.*
For more information:
"An Act to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi."^
This act authorizes the President of the United States to forcibly remove the remaining tribes "between the original states and the Mississippi River" to move west of the river, which led to the Trail of Tears.*
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"The Cherokee nation, then, is a distinct community, occupying its own territory, with boundaries accurately described, in which the laws of Georgia can have no force... The whole intercourse between the United States and this nation, is, by our constitution and laws, vested in the government of the United States."^
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that only the Federal government regulates the "use of Indian land," not the state of Georgia.*
For more information:
"An Act making Appropriations for the current and contingent Expenses of the Indian Department, and for fulfilling Treaty Stipulations with various Indian Tribes, for the Year ending June the thirtieth, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two."^
The Indian Appropriations Act of 1851 "creates the reservation system."*
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On this date, Russia formally transfers Alaska to the United States. Alaska Natives "are not recognized or consulted in the transaction" regarding their ancestral claim to the land.*
For more information:
"Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."^
Ratified on this date, this Amendment "extends liberties and rights granted by the Bill of Rights to formerly enslaved people" and "equal protection under the laws" for all citizens.*
For more information:
"No Indian nation or tribe within the territory of the United States shall be acknowledged or recognized as an independent nation, tribe, or power with whom the United States may contract by treaty; but no obligation of any treaty lawfully made and ratified with any such Indian nation or tribe prior to March 3, 1871, shall be hereby invalidated or impaired."^
This act has an added rider that "revokes the President's authority to enter into treaties with tribes" because the tribes are no longer considered independent nations.* The U.S. Congress now ratifies the treaties.
For more information:
"'This Constitution and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties which shall be made under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land.' It need hardly be said that a treaty cannot change the Constitution or be held valid if it be in violation of that instrument."^
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that Elias C. Boudinot and Stand Watie, who are members of the Cherokee nation, must pay taxes per the Internal Revenue Act of 1868, despite the treaty with the Cherokee Nation in 1866.*
For more information:
"To give to the clauses in the treaty of 1868 and the agreement of 1877 effect, so as to uphold the jurisdiction exercised in this case, would be to reverse in this instance the general policy of the government towards the Indians, a declared in many statutes aid treaties, and recognized in many decisions of this court, from the beginning to the present time. To justify such a departure, in such a case, requires a clear expression of the intention of Congress, and that we have not been able to find. It results that the First District Court of Dakota was without jurisdiction to find or try the indictment against the prisoner, that the conviction and sentence are void, and that his imprisonment is illegal."^
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that tribes have the right to self-govern on their lands and maintain order between tribal members.*
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"The plaintiff, not being a citizen of the United States under the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, has been deprived of no right secured by the Fifteenth Amendment, and cannot maintain this action."^
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that John Elk, having renounced his Winnebago tribal allegiance and living off the reservation, could not claim U.S. birthright citizenship.
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"All Indians, committing against the person or property of another Indian or other person any of the following crimes, namely murder, manslaughter, rape, assault with intent to kill, arson, burglary, and larceny within any Territory of the United States, and either within or without an Indian reservation, shall be subject therefor to the laws the same courts and in the same manner and shall be subject to the said crimes, respectively; and the said courts are hereby given jurisdiction in all such cases."^
After the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Ex parte Crow Dog, this act now allows Federal courts jurisdiction over major crimes that are committed between tribal members on reservations. This act is also known as the Indian Major Crimes Act.*
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"An Act to provide for the allotment of lands in severalty to Indians on the various reservations, and to extend the protection of the laws of the United States and the Territories over the Indians, and for other purposes."^
This act is "breaking up reservations and tribal lands by granting land allotments to individual Native Americans and encouraging them to take up agriculture."*
For more information:
"To refer to the limitation contained in the territorial act and disregard the terms of the enabling act would be to destroy and obliterate the express will of Congress. For these reasons the judgment below was erroneous, and must, therefore, be reversed, and the case must be remanded to the court below with directions to discharge the writ and remand the prisoner to the custody of the sheriff, and it is so ordered."^
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that despite the 1868 treaty with the Shoshones and Bannock tribes, the later admittance of Wyoming (first as a territory, then as a state) ended the tribes' rights to hunt in that state.* This ruling is later overturned by Herrera v. Wyoming in 2019.
For more information:
| Date | Event | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 24, 1912 | Alaska becomes an incorporated territory | March 24, 1981 | Montana v. United States |
| June 2, 1924 | Indian Citizenship Act | June 13, 1983 | New Mexico v. Mescalero Apache Tribe |
| June 18, 1934 | Indian Reorganization Act | October 5, 1988 | Indian Self-Determination Amendments of 1987 |
| January 3, 1959 | Alaska becomes a state | October 17, 1988 | Indian Gaming Regulation Act |
| April 11, 1968 | Indian Civil Rights Act | November 28, 1989 | National Museum of the American Indian Act |
| December 18, 1971 | Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act | August 3, 1990 | National American Indian Heritage Month is designated |
| January 21, 1974 | Oneida Indian Nation v. County of Oneida | November 16, 1990 | Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act |
| January 4, 1975 | Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 | October 25, 1994 | Indian Self-Determination Act Amendments of 1994 |
| May 15, 1978 | Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez | October 26, 1996 | Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 |
| August 11, 1978 | Indian Religious Freedom Act | January 21, 1997 | Babbit v. Youpee Sr. |
| November 8, 1978 | Indian Child Welfare Act |
Click on the side arrows for more information about the featured events in U.S. Government history.
"An Act To create a legislative assembly in the Territory of Alaska to confer legislative power thereon, and for other purposes."^
Though this act established the first territorial legislature of Alaska, AIAN were excluded the right to vote.*
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"To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to issue certificates of citizenship to Indians... that all non-citizen Indians born within the territorial limits of the United State be, and they are hereby, declared to be citizens of the United States."^
Though this act grants citizenship to AIAN, the "right to vote, however, was governed by state law," which some states continued to bar AIAN until 1957.*
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"To conserve and develop Indian lands and resources; to extend to Indians the right to form business and other organizations; to establish a credit system for Indians; to grant certain rights of home rule to Indians; to provide for vocational education for Indians; and for other purposes."^
This act "offers federal subsidies to tribes that adopt constitutions like that of the United States and replace their governments with city council–style governments," ends the allotment of tribal lands, and creates a "process by which lands could be restored to tribal ownership."*`
For more information:
"NOW, THEREFORE, I, DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, President of the United States of America, do hereby declare and proclaim that the procedural requirements imposed by the Congress on the State of Alaska to entitle that State to admission into the Union have been complied with in all respects and that admission of the State of Alaska into the Union on an equal footing with the other States of the Union is now accomplished."^
Alaska becomes the 49th state of the Union.*
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"No Indian tribe in exercising powers of self-government shall... make or enforce any law prohibiting the free exercise of religion, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition for a redress of grievances."^
"Commonly known as the Indian Bill of Rights, the ICRA provides protections similar, but not identical, to those provided by the U.S. Constitution."*
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"To provide for the settlement of certain land claims of Alaska Natives, and for other purposes."^
This act extinguishes aboriginal titles and claims of many Alaska Native communities in exchange for "40 million acres to be divided among them along with a shared payment of $462,500,000."*
For more information:
"There has been recurring tension between federal and state law; state authorities, have not easily accepted the notion that federal law and federal courts must be deemed the controlling considerations in dealing with the Indians... the Federal Government has shown a continuing solicitude for the rights of the Indians in their land. The Nonintercourse Act of 1790 manifest this concern in statutory form. Thus, the Indians' right to possession in this case is based not solely on the original grant of rights in the land but also upon the Federal Government's subsequent guarantee."^
The U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously that the Oneida Indian Nation (OIN) can pursue their claim in the Federal courts because the United States government did not extinguish the "aboriginal rights" to their lands when the OIN had ceded them to the state of New York in 1795.*
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"To provide maximum Indian participation in the Government and education of the Indian people; to provide for the full participation of Indian tribes in programs and services conducted by the Federal Government for Indians and to encourage the development of human resources of the Indian people; to establish a program of assistance to upgrade Indian education; to support the right of Indian citizens to control their own educational activities; and for other purposes."^
This act allows "Indian tribes to have greater autonomy and to have the opportunity to assume the responsibility for programs and services administered to them on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior through contractual agreements."*
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"This case requires us to decide whether a federal court may pass on the validity of an Indian tribe's ordinance denying membership to the children of certain female tribal members."^
Though the Plaintiffs argued that the tribal ordinance is discriminatory based on sex, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that Title I of the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 is not violated because of tribal sovereignty.*
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"That henceforth it shall be the policy of the United States to protect and preserve for American Indians their inherent right of freedom to believe, express, and exercise the traditional religions of the American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut, and Native Hawaiians, including but not limited to access to sites, use and possession of sacred objects, and the freedom to worship through ceremonials and traditional rites."^
This act "legalizes traditional spirituality and ceremonies, overturning local and state regulations still on the books banning American Indian spiritual practices."*
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"To establish standards for the placement of Indian children in foster or adoptive homes, to prevent the breakup of Indian families, and for other purposes."^
This act "provides guidance to States regarding the handling of child abuse and neglect and adoption cases involving Native children and sets minimum standards for the handling of these cases."*
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"Here, regulation of hunting and fishing by nonmembers of the Tribe on lands no longer owned by the Tribe bears no clear relationship to tribal self-government or internal relations."^
With two exceptions, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Crow Tribe lacks "inherent authority to preclude fishing by nonmembers on waterways within the reservation in which the tribe did not hold the beneficial interest to the underlying land."*
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"In this case the governing body of an Indian Tribe, working closely with the Federal Government and under the authority of federal law, has exercised its lawful authority to develop and manage the reservation's resources for the benefit of its members. The exercise of concurrent jurisdiction by the State would effectively nullify the Tribe's unquestioned authority to regulate the use of its resources by members and nonmembers, interfere with the comprehensive tribal regulatory scheme, and threaten Congress' firm commitment to the encouragement of tribal self-sufficiency and economic development."^
While many reservations have "'checkerboard' land patterns," the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rules that Federal law preempts state law concerning tribal authority.
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"The Congress declares its commitment to the maintenance of the Federal Government's unique and continuing relationship with, and responsibility to, individual Indian tribes and to the Indian people as a whole through the establishment of a meaningful Indian self-determination policy which will permit an orderly transition from the Federal domination of programs for, and services to, Indians to effective and meaningful participation by the Indian people in the planning, conduct, and administration of those programs and services."^
This act adds "Title III, which authorized the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and Indian Health Service (IHS) to enter into self-governance compacts for the first time under a demonstration project."*
For more information:
"To regulate gaming on Indian lands."^
Following the U.S. Supreme Court's 1987 ruling in California et al. v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians et al., this act regulates gaming on tribal lands "once a state has legalized any form of gambling, tribes within that state can offer the same game on tribal land held in trust by the United States without any state regulation."*
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"To establish the National Museum of the American Indian within the Smithsonian Institution, and for other purposes."^
This act establishes a "living memorial to Native Americans and their traditions" and requires the Smithsonian Institute to "return or repatriate Indian human remains or Indian funerary objects to Indian tribes or individuals."^
For more information:
"Designating the month of November 1990 as 'National American Indian Heritage Month.'"^
Started in 1986 as an annual week in November, this joint resolution from the U.S. Congress designates November as National American Indian Heritage.*
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"To provide for the protection of Native American graves, and for other purposes."^
This act concerns the "protection and return of Native American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony."*
For more information:
"To specify the terms of contracts entered into by the United States and Indian tribal organizations under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act and to provide for tribal Self-Governance, and for other purposes."^
This amendment of the act establishes the "permanent Tribal Self-Governance program" within the U.S. Department of the Interior.*
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"To provide Federal assistance for Indian tribes in a manner that recognizes the right of tribal self-governance, and for other purposes."^
This act reorganizes "the previous system of housing assistance for Native Americans and replaced it with a single block grant program, the Native American Housing Block Grant (NAHBG)."*
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"Congress' creation of an ever-so-slight class of individuals equipped to receive fractional interests by devise does not suffice, under a fair reading of Irving, to rehabilitate the measure."^
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that a provision of the Indian Land Consolidation Act violates the Fifth Amendment concerning "certain small interests in Indian land escheat to the tribe upon the death of the owner."*
For more information:
| Date | Event | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 14, 2000 | Indian Tribal Economic Development and Contract Encouragement Act of 2000 | July 29, 2010 | Tribal Law and Order Act |
| April 19, 2004 | Lara v. United States | June 18, 2012 | Salazar v. Ramah Navajo Chapter |
| October 27, 2004 | American Indian Probate Reform Act | May 20, 2019 | Herrera v. Wyoming |
| March 29, 2005 | City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of NY | October 10, 2020 | Not Invisible Act |
| December 14, 2006 | Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act | June 29, 2022 | Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta |
| February 24, 2009 | Carcieri v. Salazar | June 15, 2023 | Haaland v. Brackeen |
Click on the side arrows for more information about the featured events in U.S. Government history.
"To encourage Indian economic development, to provide for the disclosure of Indian tribal sovereign immunity in contracts involving Indian tribes, and for other purposes.."^
This act states which types of contracts and agreements with AIAN tribes do not require the U.S. Secretary of the Interior's approval.*
For more information:
"Because the Tribe acted in its capacity as a sovereign authority, the Double Jeopardy Clause does not prohibit the Federal Government from proceeding with the present prosecution for a discrete federal offense... We recognize that in 1871 Congress ended the practice of entering into treaties with the Indian tribes... But the statute saved existing treaties from being 'invalidated or impaired.'"^
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the double jeopardy clause is not in violation because the United States and tribes are different sovereignties.*
For more information:
"To amend the Indian Land Consolidation Act to improve provisions relating to probate of trust and restricted land, and for other purposes."^
This act concerns the distribution of trust property to AIAN heirs in which "any Indian Tribe may adopt its own Tribal probate code to govern the descent and distribution of trust and restricted land" within a reservation or a tribe's jurisdiction.*
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"Given the longstanding, distinctly non-Indian character of central New York and its inhabitants, the regulatory authority over the area constantly exercised by the State and its counties and towns for 200 years... The Oneidas long ago relinquished governmental reins and cannot regain them through open-market purchases from current titleholders."^
Although the Oneida Indian Nation (OIN) recently claimed landownership, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the OIN took too long to do so because various governmental jurisdictions were in control during the 200-year period, of which the landowners had to pay property taxes for their land parcels.*
For more information:
"To amend the Native American Programs Act of 1974 to provide for the revitalization of Native American languages through Native American language immersion programs; and for other purposes."^
This act's goal is to revitalize "Native American languages through native language immersion and restoration programs," which the Administration for Native Americans implements.*
For more information:
"We hold that the term “now under Federal jurisdiction” in § 479 unambiguously refers to those tribes that were under the federal jurisdiction of the United States when the IRA was enacted in 1934. None of the parties or amici, including the Narragansett Tribe itself, has argued that the Tribe was under federal jurisdiction in 1934."^
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the U.S. Secretary of the Interior cannot "take land into trust for the Narragansett Indian Tribe (Tribe) because the statute applies only to tribes under federal jurisdiction" per the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.*
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"To protect Indian arts and crafts through the improvement of applicable criminal proceedings, and for other purposes."^
Included in this act is enhancing "tribes' authority to prosecute and punish criminals" and "decreasing violence against AIAN women."*
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"For the period in question, however, it is the Government—not the Tribes—that must bear the consequences of Congress’ decision to mandate that the Government enter into binding contracts for which its appropriation was sufficient to pay any individual tribal contractor, but 'insufficient to pay all the contracts the agency has made.'"^
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Federal government must pay in full contract support costs (CSC) "when Congress appropriates sufficient funding to pay any individual contract's CSCs."*
For more information:
"Considering the terms of the 1868 Treaty [between the United States and the Crow Tribe] as they would have been understood by the Crow Tribe, we conclude that the creation of Bighorn National Forest did not remove the forest lands, in their entirety, from the scope of the treaty."^
The U.S. Supreme Court vacates and remands this case in that the statehood of Wyoming in 1890 did not terminate treaty-protected rights for the Crow Tribe to hunt offseason on unoccupied lands.^
For more information:
"To increase intergovernmental coordination to identify and combat violent crime within Indian lands and of Indians."^
This act creates a joint commission between the U.S. Department of the Interior and U.S. Department of Justice to reduce violent crime against AIAN, which includes "improving coordination between Federal agencies and of relevant Federal programs."^
For more information:
"We conclude that the Federal Government and the State have concurrent jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed by non-Indians against Indians in Indian country. We therefore reverse the judgment of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals and remand the case for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion."^
This ruling overturns "nearly 200 years of law enforcement practice nationwide" in that now the Federal government and states "have concurrent jurisdiction over crimes committed by non-Indians against Indians in Indian country."*
For more information:
"We affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals regarding Congress’s constitutional authority to enact ICWA. On the anticommandeering claims, we reverse. On the equal protection and nondelegation claims, we vacate the judgment of the Court of Appeals and remand with instructions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction."^
The U.S. Supreme Court rules 7-2 that the Indian Child Welfare Act is constitutional.
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