"We Must Start Somewhere:" Termination to Self-Determination and the Impact of Native American Activism on Tribal Sovereignty from 1945 to 1980

Abstract

This paper explores how federal Indian policy evolved from termination policy that degraded Native American sovereignty to self-determination policy that restored it as a result of pressure by Native American activists. While most historiography focuses on federal Indian policy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, an examination of twentieth century policies reveals that not only did Congress and the Supreme Court work cooperatively to attack Native American land claims, jurisdictional authority, and status as autonomous nations, but also that such destructive policies ironically pushed Native Americans to demonstrate their agency by protesting in public forums. Consequently, they created change.