Indigenous Citizens. Sovereignty, Land, and the Fight for Native Rights #TheBlackTable

Native Americans have historically viewed American citizenship, granted broadly in 1924, not as a replacement for tribal identity but as a means to protect it. They leveraged tools like voting and protest, afforded by U.S. citizenship, to safeguard their distinct tribal citizenships and inherent sovereignty, navigating a 'very tenuous' dual status.

Professor Rosier explains that after the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act, Native activists understood American citizenship as a force for 'getting them to the table' and enabling them to use 'tools of voting and protest... to protect tribal citizenship.'

The U.S. government has a long history of establishing treaties with Native nations only to abrogate them when resources like gold were discovered. This practice, justified by the concept of 'plenary power' (Congress's self-declared right to unilaterally break treaties), fundamentally undermined Indigenous trust and sovereignty, leading to massive land and wealth transfers.

Rosier quotes Kiowa leader Satank: 'We make but few contracts... and them we remember. Well, the whites make so many they are liable to forget them.' He details how Congress established 'plenary power' to abrogate treaties, leading to the loss of 'billions of dollars transferred from native ownership to white ownership.'

The determination of tribal citizenship has been a complex and often contentious issue, particularly regarding the descendants of formerly enslaved people within Native nations (Freedmen). While some nations like the Seminole granted full citizenship, others, such as the Chickasaw and Choctaw, continue to deny it, asserting their right to self-determine membership, often based on blood quantum criteria initially imposed or influenced by federal policies.

Rosier discusses the 1866 treaties requiring nations like the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, and Chickasaw to grant citizenship to freed people. He notes the Seminole were the only nation to grant full citizenship, while the Chickasaw and Choctaw continue to deny it. The Cherokee Nation amended its constitution in 2021 to eliminate blood as a citizenship criterion due to Supreme Court pressure.

Federal policies like the General Allotment Act of 1887 and the boarding school system (influenced by the Lake Mohonk conferences) aimed to assimilate Native Americans by destroying communal land ownership and traditional cultural practices. However, Indigenous peoples consistently resisted these efforts, asserting the value of their cultural and political systems, and later using education to advocate for their rights.

Rosier describes the Lake Mohonk conferences' goal to turn Native people into 'Christian capitalists' and the 'incredible damage' the General Allotment Act did by dividing reservations, often giving Native people the worst land. He highlights Gertrude Bonnin (Zitkala-Ša) who protested the boarding school curriculum and advocated for Native voting rights.