Friday, January 3, 2025 – 50 years of official self-determination

Native America Calling

In his message to Congress in 1970, President Richard Nixon acknowledged the need for a change in how the federal government interacts with Native Nations: “It is long-past time that the Indian policies of the federal government began to recognize and build upon the capacities and insights of the Indian people,” Nixon wrote. It was a pivotal moment that, along with the Red Power Movement, the occupation of Alcatraz, other protests, and determined advocacy by increasingly informed Native groups and individuals, led up to the signing of the Indian Self Determination and Education Assistance Act on January 6, 1975. We’ll look at what informed that legislation and what its influence has been 50 years later.