Native-American Tribal Self-Determination Reaffirmed
Congress on this day passed the Native American Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, which repudiated the policy of tribal termination that began on August 1, 1953.
Termination was a policy by which Native-American tribes were dissolved as independent nations, their status before termination. The policy of termination was intended to help Native-Americans assimilate into the mainstream of American life.
President Richard Nixon repudiated the tribal termination policy on July 8, 1970.
The first important step in the struggle for the rights of Native Americans was passage of the Indian Citizenship Law on June 2, 1924 granting all American citizenship to all Native Americans in the country.
Learn more: George Castile, To Show Heart: Native American Self-Determination and Federal Indian Policy, 1960–1975 (1998)
Learn more at the Native American Rights Fund: http://www.narf.org/