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UNIT 18: Federal Indian Policy Series

Self-Determination Era

From 1968 to 1994, Congress passed more legislation protecting Tribal sovereignty than in any era since the treaty period. Tribes won legal fights that still hold today. This unit, you research the Self-Determination Era.

📜 7 Stages
ðŸŠķ Intermediate
⏱ïļ 45–60 min per stage
1968 – 1994

Federal Indian Policy Series: Unit 18 of 19

This unit is part of an eight-era series. Each era gets its own research website. When all eight are complete, you will combine them into one multi-page site in Unit 20.

Unit 12 · Treaty-Making Unit 13 · Removal Unit 14 · Reservation System Unit 15 · Allotment & Assimilation Unit 16 · Reorganization Unit 17 · Termination Unit 18 · Self-Determination Unit 19 · Nation Rebuilding

The Big Idea

The Termination Era ended not with a single law but with a shift in conditions. AIM's founding in Minneapolis in 1968, the Alcatraz occupation, the Trail of Broken Treaties - activism created political pressure that forced federal policy to change. What followed was the most productive legislative era for Tribal sovereignty since 1871.

ISDEAA gave Tribes the right to contract federal programs and run them themselves. ICWA protected Native children in child welfare proceedings. NAGPRA required the return of ancestral remains from museums. These aren't just laws - they're the legal infrastructure Tribes use every day.

In this unit, you'll build a research website about the Self-Determination Era. The new CSS pattern is a filterable card grid - buttons that let readers sort legislation by decade. You'll also learn about McGirt v. Oklahoma (2020), which shows that the legal fights from this era are still being won.

By the end of this unit, you'll be able to say "I can..."

  • Build a filterable card grid where buttons sort content by category or decade
  • Research the key laws of the Self-Determination Era and explain what each one did
  • Profile Tribal nations that shaped self-determination policy
  • Document major court cases including McGirt v. Oklahoma (2020)
  • Write your own analysis of what self-determination means in practice

What You'll Build

A research website about the Self-Determination Era (1968-1994) - six sections, Prussian blue archival design.

A filterable grid of key laws by decade. Nation profiles. Court cases. A section showing how this era connects to Indian Country today. Your research in your own words.

This era is why Tribal nations have the legal tools they use today. Your website explains how they got them.

The legal victories in this era are still being enforced. This is recent history - and it's still unfolding.

Your learning path

The 7 Stages

Stage 1 The Foundation Design system + hero Stage 2 The Shift Context & turning point Stage 3 The Laws Filterable by decade Stage 4 The Nations Mille Lacs, Red Lake, Pine Ridge Stage 5 The Courts 5 landmark decisions Stage 6 My Research Source documentation Stage 7 Today Era's living impact
Let's Begin

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Sources

The historical content in this unit draws from federal primary sources, Supreme Court opinions, peer-reviewed scholarship, and Tribal nation records. The legislative history of the Self-Determination Era is extensively documented: every major law cited in this unit is available through the National Archives and the Library of Congress. The court case summaries draw directly from published Supreme Court and federal district court opinions. The Mille Lacs Band v. Minnesota narrative is drawn from the district court's 1994 findings and the Supreme Court's 1999 opinion in Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians, 526 U.S. 172 (1999).

Primary Legislative & Government Sources

  • Indian Civil Rights Act (ICRA), Public Law 90-284 (1968). Applied most Bill of Rights protections to Tribal governments, including freedom of speech, due process, and equal protection. The first federal law to impose constitutional-style constraints on Tribal governmental authority. Also created the Model Code for Courts of Indian Offenses. Available via the National Archives and the Library of Congress.
  • Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDEAA), Public Law 93-638 (1975). Authorized Tribes to contract with the federal government to administer programs previously operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service. Replaced BIA paternalism with Tribal administration as the policy default. The cornerstone legislation of the Self-Determination Era. Available via the National Archives.
  • Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), Public Law 95-608 (1978). Established federal minimum standards for state child custody proceedings involving Native children, requiring preference for placement with extended family, Tribal members, or other Native families. Addressed the mass removal of Native children from their families and communities that had accelerated through the 1950s and 1960s. Available via the National Archives.
  • American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA), Public Law 95-341 (1978). Declared federal policy to protect and preserve the traditional religious practices of American Indians, including access to sacred sites. The 1994 Amendments, Public Law 103-344, extended explicit protection to the ceremonial use of peyote by members of the Native American Church. Available via the National Archives.
  • Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), Public Law 100-497 (1988). Established the legal framework for Tribal gaming, creating three classes of gaming and the National Indian Gaming Commission. Passed one year after the Supreme Court's ruling in California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians (1987). Available via the National Archives. Current regulations available at nigc.gov.
  • Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Public Law 101-601 (1990). Required federal agencies and institutions receiving federal funding to inventory and return Native American cultural items and human remains to lineal descendants and culturally affiliated Tribes. Created the NAGPRA review committee and established federal penalties for violations. Available via the National Archives.
  • Tribal Self-Governance Act, Public Law 103-413 (1994). Expanded self-governance compacting beyond the programs covered by ISDEAA to all federal programs serving Tribal nations, allowing Tribes to redesign, consolidate, and redirect resources according to Tribal priorities rather than federal program structures. Marks the close of the Self-Determination Era. Available via the National Archives.

Court Cases

  • Morton v. Mancari, 417 U.S. 535 (1974). U.S. Supreme Court. Upheld Indian employment preference in the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a political classification tied to the federal trust relationship and Tribal sovereignty, not a racial classification subject to equal protection challenge. Available via the Supreme Court of the United States and Justia Law.
  • Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, 435 U.S. 191 (1978). U.S. Supreme Court. Held that Tribal courts lack inherent criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians on Tribal lands, absent express congressional delegation. Available via the Supreme Court of the United States and Justia Law.
  • United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians, 448 U.S. 371 (1980). U.S. Supreme Court. Found that the federal government's taking of the Black Hills in 1877 violated the Fifth Amendment just compensation clause and awarded the Sioux Nation $17.5 million plus 103 years of interest, totaling over $1.3 billion. The Oceti Sakowin nations have declined to accept the payment; the money remains in a federal trust account. Available via the Supreme Court of the United States and Justia Law.
  • Montana v. United States, 450 U.S. 544 (1981). U.S. Supreme Court. Established the Montana test for Tribal civil jurisdiction over non-members on fee land within reservation boundaries, holding that such jurisdiction exists only when non-members enter consensual relationships with the Tribe or when their conduct threatens Tribal political integrity, economic security, health, or welfare. Available via the Supreme Court of the United States and Justia Law.
  • California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, 480 U.S. 202 (1987). U.S. Supreme Court. Held that California could not apply its bingo regulations to Tribal gaming operations on reservation lands because California permitted rather than prohibited bingo as a matter of state policy. The ruling established the prohibitory/regulatory distinction that directly produced the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988. Available via the Supreme Court of the United States and Justia Law.
  • Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians, 526 U.S. 172 (1999). U.S. Supreme Court. Affirmed that the Mille Lacs Band and other Ojibwe bands retained treaty rights to hunt, fish, and gather on ceded territory under the 1837 Treaty with the Chippewa, notwithstanding Minnesota statehood and subsequent executive orders. The case was filed in federal district court in 1990; the district court ruled in favor of the Band in 1994. The Eighth Circuit affirmed; the Supreme Court affirmed in 1999. Available via the Supreme Court of the United States and Justia Law.

Academic & Scholarly Sources

  • Wilkins, David E. American Indian Politics and the American Political System. Rowman & Littlefield, 2007. The most comprehensive political science account of the self-determination era. Wilkins, a Lumbee scholar, documents both the legislative history and the Tribal political organizing that produced it. The chapters on ISDEAA, ICWA, and IGRA are directly relevant to Stages 2, 3, and 5 of this unit.
  • Canby, William C. American Indian Law in a Nutshell, 6th ed. West Academic, 2015. The standard reference for Indian law doctrine. The chapters on criminal and civil jurisdiction, the trust relationship, and gaming provide the legal framework for understanding Oliphant, Montana, Mancari, and Cabazon. Accessible to advanced high school students and essential for educators.
  • Wilkinson, Charles F. Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations. W. W. Norton & Company, 2005. Documents the political organizing that produced ISDEAA, the restoration movement following Termination, and the emergence of Tribal gaming as an economic development strategy. Wilkinson was directly involved in Indian law as an attorney during the Self-Determination Era and writes as both historian and participant.
  • Deloria, Vine Jr. and Clifford Lytle. The Nations Within: The Past and Future of American Indian Sovereignty. Pantheon Books, 1984. Analyzes the Indian Reorganization Act's legacy and the argument for full Tribal sovereignty that animated the Self-Determination Era. Deloria and Lytle distinguish between the limited self-governance offered by federal policy and the full sovereignty Tribal nations hold as a matter of political right. The distinction is central to understanding what the self-determination laws achieved and what they did not.
  • Wilkinson, Charles F. Messages from Frank's Landing: A Story of Salmon, Treaties, and the Indian Way. University of Washington Press, 2000. Documents the treaty rights fishing battles in the Pacific Northwest that ran parallel to the Mille Lacs litigation in the Midwest. The Boldt Decision (1974) and Mille Lacs are related cases applying the same legal principle: treaty-reserved rights survive statehood.

Tribal Nation & Community Sources

Student Research Resources

Educational Standards

This unit aligns with computer science, social studies, and Indigenous education standards across MN, ND, and SD. Click a panel to expand.

  • OSEU.SS.H.2 , Federal Policy and Self-Determination (All Grades): Students will analyze how federal policies affected the sovereignty, land base, and self-determination of Tribal nations over time. (The Self-Determination Era is the positive arc of this standard: after eras defined by removal, allotment, and termination, this era documents federal policy moving toward Tribal authority. ISDEAA in particular is the direct inverse of the allotment era: where Dawes broke up Tribal control over land and administration, ISDEAA returned administrative authority to Tribal governments. Students who have traced the full curriculum sequence from Units 11 through 16 can locate this era accurately within the larger pattern.)
  • OSEU.SS.H.3 , Treaty Rights and Sovereignty (All Grades): Students will understand how federal policy interacted with Tribal sovereignty across different eras. (The Mille Lacs case is the most direct illustration of this standard in the entire curriculum sequence: a treaty signed in 1837 was still being litigated in federal court 153 years later. The 1999 Supreme Court affirmed that the 1837 Treaty rights survived statehood, executive orders, and over a century of state resistance. For Ojibwe students in Minnesota, this is not historical abstraction. The treaty rights the Band exercised when it filed suit in 1990 are the same rights members exercise today on the same ceded territory.)
  • OSEU.SS.C.1 , Identity and Culture (All Grades): Students will understand the cultural practices and governance traditions of Indigenous peoples and how federal policy has interacted with them. (AIRFA 1978 and the 1994 peyote amendments are the legislative expressions of this standard: Congress formally acknowledged that federal policy had historically restricted Indigenous religious practice and declared a new policy of protection. NAGPRA extended the principle to material culture: the human remains and cultural items held in museums and universities without consent of the people they belonged to. Both laws raise questions students can engage directly: What does it mean when a government declares protection for practices it previously tried to eliminate?)
  • OSEU.ELA.W.1 , Research Writing (All Grades): Students will produce research-based writing appropriate to task and purpose. (Stage 6 asks students to research a specific Tribal nation's engagement with the Self-Determination Era: Which laws affected this nation most directly? Did the nation compact under ISDEAA? Did the nation face litigation over treaty rights or jurisdiction? The official Tribal nation websites listed in the sources section are the starting point. For nations with gaming operations, the NIGC website includes the compact history. For nations that were party to treaty rights cases, published federal court opinions are primary sources.)
  • CSTA 2-AP-13 (Grades 6–8): Decompose problems and subproblems into parts to facilitate the design, implementation, and review of increasingly complex programs. (The filterable card grid decomposes into three parts: the HTML, which marks each card with a data-category attribute and each button with a data-filter attribute; the CSS, which sets initial display states and active button styles; and the JavaScript, which listens for button clicks, reads the selected filter, and iterates through cards to show or hide them. Students who build each layer understand why the filter does not work if any one part is missing. That dependency structure is what decomposition practice is building toward.)
  • CSTA 2-AP-17 (Grades 6–8): Systematically test and refine programs using a range of test cases. (Testing a filter means clicking every filter button and verifying that the right cards appear and disappear each time. An "All" button requires a separate test case: every card should be visible regardless of category. A card with a misspelled data-category value is a real-world debugging scenario students should encounter and resolve. Testing across all combinations is the systematic approach.)
  • ISTE 1c , Empowered Learner: Students use technology to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways. (The filterable legislation grid is a design choice about how to present a large amount of information. Rather than displaying ten laws at once, the filter invites the reader to explore by decade, which creates a narrative: the 1970s burst of legislation, the 1980s gaming case, the 1990s closing of the era. Students who understand this are not just building a filter; they are making an editorial choice about how their reader experiences the history.)
  • ISTE 3b , Knowledge Constructor: Students evaluate the accuracy, perspective, credibility, and relevance of information, media, data, or other resources. (The Cabazon case in Stage 3 requires students to follow a legal chain: a Supreme Court ruling in 1987 produced a federal law in 1988. Students who can trace that chain from opinion to legislation understand how case law and statutory law interact, which is a core legal literacy skill that extends well beyond this unit.)
  • MN Social Studies 8.4.4.18.1 (Grade 8): Describe the origin, development, and impact of major federal policies affecting American Indian people in Minnesota. (The Mille Lacs Band v. Minnesota case is the most directly Minnesota-specific federal court case in the entire curriculum sequence. The 1837 Treaty rights to hunt and fish on ceded territory in northern Minnesota are rights that Mille Lacs Band members exercise today. For Minnesota students, this is not a historical case with a resolution in the past: the treaty rights affirmed in 1999 are current rights with current legal meaning. Stage 4 and Stage 5 both address this case from different angles.)
  • MN Social Studies 9-12.4.4.18.2 (Grades 9–12): Analyze the legal foundations of Tribal sovereignty and the federal trust relationship, including federal policy eras and their ongoing impact. (Morton v. Mancari (1974) is the foundational case for understanding how Indian law treats the distinction between race and political status. The Court's holding that Indian preference in BIA employment is a political classification, not a racial one, has broader implications for how courts analyze federal Indian legislation. Students who understand Mancari understand why Indian-specific federal programs are not analyzed under the same equal protection framework as race-based classifications.)
  • MN CS K-12 6.2.1 / 7.2.1 (Grades 6–7): Use a development process to plan, design, and iteratively develop computational artifacts. (The filterable grid builds on the forEach loop pattern from Unit 10 and the data-* attribute reading from the modal in Unit 10. Students are not encountering these tools for the first time; they are applying them in a new context with a different interaction pattern. The development process here is: understand the data structure, write the HTML, write the JavaScript, test each filter case, refine.)
  • MN ELA 8.3.3.1 (Grade 8): Use technology to produce and publish writing that demonstrates command of the conventions of standard English. (Stage 5's court cases section asks students to write in precise, factual language about legal decisions. The model is the unit's own case summaries: a case name, a year, a holding, and a significance statement. Students who can produce that structure for one case in their own words have internalized the genre of legal summary writing, which is a transferable skill in social studies, government, and civics courses.)
  • ND Indigenous Studies , History and Government (All Grades): Understand the historical and political relationship between the United States government and Indigenous nations of North Dakota, including the Self-Determination Era. (North Dakota's Tribal nations engaged with ISDEAA compacting, the Indian Child Welfare Act, and gaming under IGRA during this era. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Spirit Lake Nation, Three Affiliated Tribes, and Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa all developed self-governance infrastructure during this period. Students researching North Dakota nations are directed to official Tribal nation websites for documentation of how each nation used the tools the Self-Determination Era provided.)
  • ND SS 9-12.6.2 (Grades 9–12): Analyze the role of federal law and Supreme Court decisions in shaping the political, legal, and economic status of American Indian nations. (The Montana test established in 1981 continues to govern Tribal civil jurisdiction over non-members on fee land. Students who understand Montana understand a constraint on Tribal authority that is present across all reservation communities with significant non-Indian land ownership, including many North Dakota reservations where allotment-era land sales created complex ownership patterns. The legal framework established in this era is not historical: it is the current framework courts apply today.)
  • ND CS 6.E.1 / 7.E.1 / 8.E.1 (Grades 6–8): Create artifacts by applying existing knowledge of computing concepts and practices. (The filterable grid in Stage 3 applies three tools students already know: data attributes from Unit 10, forEach loops from Unit 10, and style.display toggling from Unit 9. The new element is filter state: tracking which category is currently active, updating the active button's visual state, and applying the filter to every card on each click. The state management pattern is the new concept; everything else is review.)
  • ND CS 9-12.E.3 (Grades 9–12): Design and iteratively develop computational artifacts for practical intent, personal expression, or to address a societal need. (The Self-Determination Era website is the most legislation-dense site in the Federal Indian Policy Series. The filterable grid is a response to a genuine design problem: how do you present ten significant laws in a way that does not overwhelm the reader? Students who build the filter are solving that design problem, not just implementing a pattern. The iteration is in testing: does the filter actually help a reader navigate the content, or is it visual complexity without function?)
  • OSEU Standard 1 , History (All Grades): Understand the history of the Oceti Sakowin and other Indigenous peoples, including the Self-Determination Era and its consequences for South Dakota nations. (United States v. Sioux Nation (1980) is the most significant federal court decision involving Oceti Sakowin nations in the twentieth century. The Supreme Court found that the taking of the Black Hills in 1877 was unconstitutional and awarded over $1.3 billion in compensation. The Oceti Sakowin nations have unanimously declined to accept the payment for over four decades. The money sits in a federal trust account. For South Dakota students, especially Lakota students, this is not a resolved case. The refusal is a present-day act of sovereignty, not a historical position.)
  • OSEU Standard 3 , Sovereignty and Government (All Grades): Understand the sovereign status of Tribal nations and how federal policy shaped governance structures across different eras. (ISDEAA compacting changed what Tribal governance looked like on the ground. Before 1975, federal programs serving Tribal communities were administered by the BIA. After 1975, Tribes could contract those programs and administer them directly, hiring their own staff and setting their own priorities within the program structure. For Pine Ridge and other South Dakota reservations, this shift was significant: it meant Tribal governments had both the authority and the responsibility for services their members depended on. Stage 4's Pine Ridge profile documents this transition.)
  • SD Social Studies 9-12.H.2 (Grades 9–12): Analyze the causes and effects of major federal policies affecting Indigenous peoples of South Dakota. (ICWA 1978 had direct effects in South Dakota, which had one of the highest rates of Native child removal from Tribal communities in the country before the law passed. The "Sixties Scoop" era of child removal was national, but South Dakota's numbers were among the most documented. Students who understand what ICWA was responding to, and who trace the law's provisions against that history, understand both what the era's legislation was trying to accomplish and why enforcement has remained contested.)
  • SD CS 6-8.AP.M.1 (Grades 6–8): Decompose problems and subproblems into parts to facilitate the design, implementation, and review of increasingly complex programs. (The filterable grid is the most complete decomposition exercise in the Federal Indian Policy Series to this point. Students who can articulate what the HTML does, what the CSS does, and what the JavaScript does, and who can explain why removing any one part breaks the interaction, have internalized the separation of concerns principle that is foundational to all front-end web development. The filter is a small, testable system, which makes it a good decomposition exercise: each part is visible and verifiable.)