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In Focus: National American Indian Heritage Month In his November 1 proclamation marking National American Indian Heritage Month, 2006, President Bush reaffirmed his administration's adherence to a national policy of self-determination for Indian tribes, a policy that began under President Richard Nixon.
The United States “will continue to work on a government-to-government basis with tribal governments, honor the principles of tribal sovereignty and the right to self-determination,” Bush said, “and help ensure America remains a land of promise for American Indians, Alaska Natives, and all our citizens.” (See text of proclamation.)
Many people are puzzled when they hear the U.S. president use such phrases as "government-to-government basis with tribal governments," "tribal sovereignty" or "self-determination" for American Indians. Isn’t the United States "one nation ... indivisible," as the Pledge of Allegiance says?
The answer is more interesting than a simple "yes" or "no." According to the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Tribal Justice, American Indian tribes are considered "domestic dependent nations" within the United States. As such, they retain sovereign powers over their members and territory except where such powers specifically have been modified by U.S. law. American Indians are more than members of a racial minority group in the United States; they are indigenous people of the Americas with a status akin to dual citizenship.
The U.S. federal government currently recognizes 561 Indian nations. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) within the U.S. Department of the Interior manages 55.7 million acres of land held in trust by the United States for American Indians. The BIA also is responsible for maintaining tribal schools serving nearly 48,000 American Indian primary, secondary and university students.
Tribal MembershipEach tribe determines who qualifies as a member, and an individual can qualify as a member of more than one tribe. As a result, many of the 4.5 million U.S. citizens -- or 1.5 percent of the total population -- identified as full- or part-American Indians or Alaska Natives in the most recent U.S. Census Bureau estimate (July 1, 2005), might claim membership in more than one Indian nation.
In general, tribes use the blood-quantum system, the descent system or a combination of the two to determine membership. Tribes also might have residency or other requirements for those who seek membership.
In the blood-quantum system, a prospective member must prove he or she has inherited a certain percentage of “Indian blood” from the tribe he or she wishes to join. The Nez Perce Nation, for example, will grant membership only to those who are "at least one fourth (1/4) degree Nez Perce Indian ancestry born to a member of the Nez Perce Tribe."
The descent system does not set a minimum blood requirement. Instead, prospective members must demonstrate that they are directly descended from a tribal member from a particular time period. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, for example, requires that prospective members trace their lineage to at least one person listed on the Dawes Rolls of 1899-1907, the official list of people accepted by the Dawes Commission as members of the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole Indian tribes.
For a timeline of key legal developments affecting the status of the American Indian in the United States, see fact sheet.
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Thanksgiving
In 1621, after the first harsh winter in the New World, the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony turned for help to the neighboring Wampanoag tribe. Without them, they would not have survived; and in gratitude, they invited them to a 3-day feast. Other harvest celebrations were held in colonial America but this feast is widely accepted as the "first Thanksgiving" - and the beginning of an American tradition.
Carter Revard - Leaving Tracks
Carter Revard’s poems and essays are about his Indian Osage roots. They tell his story and his family’s story -- and the story of his people. As he explained at a reading in Berlin poems "leave tracks." Revard read from his poems in Oldenburg, Siegen, Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden and Nuernberg in November 2006.
Chat with Joseph Bruchac
On November 20, author Joseph Bruchac, a professional storyteller of the traditional tales of the Adirondacks and the native peoples of America's northeastern woodlands, will discuss his lifelong interest in American Indian history and culture.
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