 Medicine Lodge Treaty (1867) |
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Signed between the United States government and several of the Great Plains Native American tribes, the Medicine Lodge Treaties were a series of treaties relocating these Native American groups to Indian Territory. The October 21, 1867 treaty relocated the Kiowa and Comanche people.
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| Memorial of the Freedmen of the Chickasaw Nation (1882) |
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This statement prepared by two Chickasaw Freedmen used clauses in Article 3 of the Treaty of 1866 to assert that Freedmen had the right to remain in the Chickasaw Nation despite not being formally adopted as citizens. They also demanded Chickasaw Freedmen be guaranteed the right to vote within the Chickasaw Nation.
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| Meriam Report: General Summary of Findings and Recommendations (1928) |
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The Meriam Report highlighted the failures of allotment while advocating for reform.
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| Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones (1973) |
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In Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones, the Supreme Court ruled that the state could tax tribal business that is off-reservation, but not business that took place on the reservation.
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| Message from the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy (1776) |
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This message from the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy addresses members of the Continental Army after they were sent to New York City from Albany by General Philip John Schuyler. After New York, they traveled to Philadelphia where they addressed the Continental Congress. This document reflects the involvement of Native Americans in the American War for Independence.
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| Native American Citizenship and Competency During the Allotment and Assimilationist Era |
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This teaching module explores how citizenship featured in Native American policy during the Allotment and Assimilation Era. It highlights the first formal naturalization process for individuals on a national scale. Focusing on competency commissions from 1915 to 1920, this unit guides students in analyzing how legal assessments of "competency" in the context of citizenship were shaped by race, gender, and settler values. Using primary documents— including applications, inspection reports, and naturalization rituals—this module examines how federal policies enforced whiteness and domestic norms as criteria for inclusion. The module also encourages discussion about the dual role of citizenship as both a tool of assimilation and a potential resource for Native resistance and legal agency.
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| Naturalization Act of 1790 |
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The Naturalization Act of 1790 had important legal and political implications in the Early Republic. An emerging racial hierarchy was reflected in the determinations of who was allowed to become a citizen. The act specified that any free white person who had resided in the U.S. for two years could be admitted to become a citizen, provided they were a "person of good character" according to a court of law.
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| Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative (2008) |
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This amendment to the Nebraska Constitution banned the use of affirmative action in the "operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting." It was initiated as a ballot measure that was approved in 2008.
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| Nebraska Vagrancy Law (1881) |
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Vagrancy acts passed by the Nebraska state legislature reflected race-neutral legal language that was used to target the poor, people of color, and women.
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| Nebraska Vagrancy Law (1929) |
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Vagrancy acts passed by the Nebraska state legislature reflected race-neutral legal language that was used to target the poor, people of color, and women.
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| Northwest Ordinance (1787) |
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The Northwest Ordinance had important legal and political implications during the Early Republic. A key feature of the legislation was the recognition of tribal sovereignty and legal jurisdiction.
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| Oklahoma's Poor Rich Indians: An Orgy of Graft and Exploitation of the Five Civilized Tribes, Legalized Robbery (1924) |
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The introduction of Zitkala-Ša's groundbreaking report opened the scene on fraud facilitated by guardians, lawmakers, and county clerks at the expense of minors, heirs, and incompetents during early Oklahoma statehood, and focused on probate courts as a site of legal exploitation.
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| Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe (1978) |
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In Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, the court ruled that Native American tribes had no jurisdiction over non-Indians. The ruling was later overturned by the Indian Civil Rights Act and the ruling in Duro v. Reina that stated tribes had criminal jurisdiction over nonmember Indians. The case of Dollar General v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians also held that tribes had jurisdiction over non-Indians.
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| Peonage Act of 1867 |
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Following the passage of the 13th Amendment, this act officially abolished peonage, or debt slavery, in the United States. It specifically targeted New Mexico Territory, where this form of involuntary servitude was historically practiced. This act was later codified at 42 U.S.C. § 1994.
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| Perez v. Sharp (1948) |
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In this case, a 4-3 majority of the Supreme Court of California ruled that the state's ban on interracial marriage violated the 14th Amendment. It was the first of any state to strike down an anti-miscegenation law in the U.S, preceding Loving v. Virginia by almost 20 years.
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| Plymouth, Massachusetts, Colonial Court Cases (1646-1675) |
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These excerpts from the Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England document Native Peoples' engagement with the law after a 1641 code grants due process.
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| President Thomas Jefferson's Confidential Message to Congress (1803) |
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Jefferson's statement showed government interest in tribal removal, land appropriation, and eventual dispossession.
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| Public Law 280 (1953) |
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This law gave California, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, and Wisconsin criminal and civil jurisdiction on Indian reservations, as the U.S. government resolved to terminate the special trustee relationship tribes held with the United States, eroding tribal sovereignty.
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| Re: DEI Programs Are Lawful Under Federal Civil Rights Laws and Supreme Court Precedent (2025) |
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This memorandum from law professors across the United States explains how diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are legally defensible, in spite of the January 21, 2025, Executive Order titled "Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity."
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| Re: February 14, 2025 Dear Colleague Letter issued by the United States Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights (2025) |
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In this letter from the Montana University System, the Chief Legal Counsel responds to the Dear Colleague letter, describing its compliance with the guidance from the Dear Colleague Letter. It calls attention to Montana's work with tribal governments to increase the recruitment and retention of tribal students, noting that the Supreme Court has recognized distinctions based on tribal enrollment as political not racial classification.
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| Ritual on Admission of Indians to Full American Citizenship (1918) |
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This set of instructions for conducting the Ritual on Admission of Indians to Full American Citizenship was produced by the Department of the Interior in 1918 so that such ceremonies could take place across the Western reservations. It includes the opening remarks from the Representative of the Department, followed by instructions for each participant to undergo to receive U.S. citizenship. There are separate instructions for men and women. The document reveals the centrality of performance during naturalization events for Native Americans.
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| Royal Proclamation of 1763 |
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Following the Treaty of Paris, the Royal Proclamation of 1765 ceded all North American French territory to the British government. The proclamation set up governments for the new British territories. It also limited settlement past a line drawn down the Appalachian Mountains. As a reward to the soldiers who fought in the war, the document also outlines the amount of land soldiers of different ranks were entitled to.
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| Savanna's Act (2018) |
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Savanna's Act (also known as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Act) addressed federal and tribal jurisdictional cooperation concerning issues of violence and disappearance in the Native American community. The law is named after Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, a member of the Spirit Lake Nation of North Dakota who was murdered in 2017. The act was signed into law in 2020.
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| Seminole Agreement (1900) |
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This congressional act ratified an agreement with the Seminole Nation concerning allotment, like enrollment and laws of descent. The second proviso established matrilineal descent of lands, money, and property for heirs.
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| Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida (1996) |
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In the Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida, the Supreme Court considered whether the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act violated the state of Florida's state sovereignty as guaranteed by the Eleventh Amendment.
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