The recognition of Tribal sovereignty and Indigenous history redefines what it means to be “of the people.” The Ford Foundation helped the Native American Rights Fund do this when they became our first funder when we started in 1970. At that time, Native Americans were being forced to assimilate, relocate to the cities, have their tribes terminated and their treaty rights ignored by federal policy. Through the legal representation provided by the Native American Rights Fund to the poorest of the poor in America at that time, we helped change federal policy to the recognition of treaty rights, Tribal sovereignty, and Tribal self-determination, which had been the law pursuant to the Constitution and federal law since 1787 until the termination policy started in the 1950s.

Native Americans have been “of the people” here on this continent since time immemorial. They were here when the first Europeans set foot on this land in 1492. Europeans came to realize that the tribes were composed of different nations and began to make treaties with them to resolve conflicts and establish relationships. It was this treaty-making process with the tribes that was recognized and included in the Constitution in 1787 and implemented by federal law until the policy of terminating tribes and ignoring Tribal treaties began in the 1950s. The legal representation provided by the Native American Rights Fund helped to change that, beginning in 1970, and this continues today. The shared identity of Native Americans as Americans should allow us to thrive together for the next 250 years.

Additional Of The People Voices

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