Felix Cohen noted that, “[f]rom the earliest years of the Republic the Indian tribes have been recognized as “distinct, independent political communities’” (Cohen 1941, 122). Despite the early nation-to-nation relations between tribal nations and the United States, self-determination was not codified. After termination policies of the 1950s were put in place, many tribal nations and organizations lost over three million acres of tribal lands and their legal standing. Termination is generally acknowledged to be a policy failure; “[n]ative[s] … often returned to their communities to avoid staggering levels of unemployment and poverty.” “Although some Natives … chose to move off reservations to urban areas, fifty percent returned home to their families and reservations within five years because of a lack of job opportunities, education, and social services.” Activists, grassroots groups, and tribes started working to establish self-determination
ISSN 2691-6592