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UNIT 19: Federal Indian Policy Series

Nation Rebuilding Era

From 1995 to the present, Tribal nations have been exercising the sovereignty won through decades of legal and political struggle and using it to build. Governments, courts, economies, language programs, and land recovery efforts are all part of the same work: nation building from the inside. This era is empowering. It is also ongoing. Build a research website documenting the laws, court decisions, and nation-building work that define the Nation Rebuilding Era.

📜 7 Stages
ðŸŠķ Intermediate
⏱ïļ 45–60 min per stage
1995 – Present

Federal Indian Policy Series: Unit 19 of 19

This is the final era unit in 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 Tribal Self-Governance Act of 1994 marked a transition. The fight for the legal right to self-govern was largely won. What opened in 1995 was different - the work of actually doing it. Building courts, economic institutions, cultural programs, and the infrastructure that sovereignty requires.

McGirt v. Oklahoma (2020) is this era's landmark case. In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court affirmed that the Creek Nation's reservation was never legally disestablished - and that much of eastern Oklahoma remains Indian Country. Written by Justice Gorsuch. Still being contested today.

In this unit, you'll build a research website about the Nation Rebuilding Era. The new CSS pattern is scroll-snap - a technique that locks your scroll to specific sections so each one fills the screen completely. You'll use it for the five pillars of nation-building.

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

  • Build a scroll-snap section where each panel fills the screen as you scroll
  • Research the five pillars of nation-building and present them as a designed layout
  • Document McGirt v. Oklahoma and explain why it matters today
  • Profile Tribal nations that are leading in nation-building
  • Write your own analysis of what nation rebuilding looks like in your region

What You'll Build

A research website about the Nation Rebuilding Era (1995-Present) - six sections, Prussian blue archival design.

A scroll-snap pillar section. Law cards. A McGirt callout. Nation profiles. A look at what Indian Country looks like today. Your research in your own words.

This is the most recent era in the series - and it's still happening. Your research connects the past to the present.

This era is still unfolding. The nation-building work you'll research is happening right now.

Your learning path

The 7 Stages

Stage 1 The Foundation Era context + framework anchor Stage 2 The Building Scroll-snap nation pillars Stage 3 The Laws VAWA, TLOA, UNDRIP, HEARTH Stage 4 The Courts McGirt callout + 2 cases Stage 5 The Nations Indian Country landscape Stage 6 My Research Student writing section Stage 7 Today Era's living impact
Let's Begin

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Sources

The historical and legal content in this unit draws from federal primary sources, Supreme Court opinions, peer-reviewed scholarship, and the research of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development. The nation-building framework is grounded in Rebuilding Native Nations (ed. Jorgensen, 2007), which synthesizes decades of comparative research on Tribal governance and economic development. Court case summaries draw directly from published Supreme Court opinions. The legislative history of the Nation Rebuilding Era is documented through the National Archives and the Library of Congress.

Primary Legislative & Government Sources

  • HEARTH Act (Helping Expedite and Advance Responsible Tribal Home Ownership Act), Public Law 112-151 (2012). Authorized Tribes to lease Tribal trust lands without case-by-case federal approval, provided the Tribe has BIA-approved leasing regulations in place. Removed a significant administrative bottleneck that had delayed economic development on trust lands for decades. Available via the National Archives.
  • Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, Public Law 113-4 (2013), Title IX (Safety for Indian Women). Granted Tribes criminal jurisdiction over non-Indian perpetrators of domestic violence, dating violence, and violations of protective orders on Tribal lands. Directly addressed the gap in Tribal criminal jurisdiction created by Oliphant v. Suquamish (1978) for crimes against Native women by non-Indian abusers. Landmark recognition of Tribal authority over all persons on Tribal territory in the domestic violence context. Available via the National Archives.
  • Tribal Law and Order Act, Public Law 111-211 (2010). Expanded Tribal sentencing authority from one year to three years per offense for Tribes that meet specified due process requirements. Required federal agencies to report data on declined prosecutions in Indian Country. Strengthened Tribal courts and Indian police. Addressed the public safety crisis documented across Indian Country in the decade prior to passage. Available via the National Archives.
  • United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), adopted by the UN General Assembly, September 13, 2007. The United States voted against adoption along with Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. President Obama reversed this position and formally endorsed UNDRIP on December 16, 2010. UNDRIP affirms Indigenous peoples' rights to self-determination, lands, territories, and resources, and sets international standards for consultation and free, prior, and informed consent. Available via un.org.
  • Indian Land Tenure Foundation, Land Recovery Programs. The ILTF documents Tribal and individual Indian land recovery efforts across the country, including the Indian Land Buy-Back Program authorized under the Cobell Settlement and funded at $1.9 billion. Available at iltf.org.

Court Cases

  • United States v. Lara, 541 U.S. 193 (2004). U.S. Supreme Court. Held that Congress has the constitutional authority to relax restrictions on Tribal criminal jurisdiction, including the authority to allow Tribal courts to prosecute non-member Indians. The case directly addressed the jurisdictional gap for non-member Indians that existed between Oliphant (no Tribal jurisdiction over non-Indians) and the general rule of inherent Tribal jurisdiction over members. Available via the Supreme Court of the United States and Justia Law.
  • McGirt v. Oklahoma, 591 U.S. 894 (2020). U.S. Supreme Court. Held 5-4 that the Muscogee (Creek) Nation's reservation in eastern Oklahoma was never formally disestablished by Congress, and therefore remains Indian Country for purposes of federal criminal jurisdiction. Justice Gorsuch, writing for the majority, applied the plain text of federal statutes and the rule that Tribal treaty rights are not abrogated by implication. The ruling confirmed that the Five Tribes retain reservation status over nearly half of eastern Oklahoma, including most of Tulsa. Available via the Supreme Court of the United States and Justia Law.
  • Haaland v. Brackeen, 599 U.S. 255 (2023). U.S. Supreme Court. Upheld the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act 7-2, rejecting challenges that ICWA's Indian classification constitutes a racial preference and that ICWA's placement requirements violate the Tenth Amendment's anti-commandeering doctrine. The Court held that ICWA's Indian child classification is a political classification tied to Tribal membership and the federal trust relationship, following Morton v. Mancari (1974), and that ICWA's Tribal placement preferences are consistent with the federal government's authority over Indian affairs. Available via the Supreme Court of the United States and Justia Law.

Academic & Scholarly Sources

  • Jorgensen, Miriam, ed. Rebuilding Native Nations: Strategies for Governance and Development. University of Arizona Press, 2007. The foundational text for this unit's framework. Synthesizes decades of research from the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development on the relationship between Tribal governance, cultural match, economic development, and community outcomes. The "Nation Building Approach" developed in this book distinguishes between genuine sovereignty in practice and the dependency-based federal administration model it replaced. Essential reading for understanding why this era matters and what makes it distinct from the eras before it.
  • Cornell, Stephen, and Joseph P. Kalt, eds. What Can Tribes Do? Strategies and Institutions in American Indian Economic Development. American Indian Studies Center, UCLA, 1992. The earlier companion to Rebuilding Native Nations, documenting the initial Harvard Project research on Tribal economic development. Establishes the empirical foundation for the claim that sovereignty and cultural match are the primary drivers of successful Tribal development, outperforming location, resources, and federal programs as explanatory factors.
  • Wilkins, David E. American Indian Politics and the American Political System. Rowman & Littlefield, 2007. Documents the political organizing behind the Tribal Law and Order Act, VAWA 2013's Tribal provisions, and the ongoing advocacy of NCAI, NARF, and Tribal nations during this era. Wilkins, a Lumbee scholar, traces both the legislative history and the Tribal political work that produced it.
  • Nagle, Mary Kathryn, and Elise Schiebel. Beyond Oliphant: Restoring Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction over Non-Indians. National Indigenous Women's Resource Center, 2021. Documents the decade-long legislative campaign that produced VAWA 2013's Tribal provisions, the legal arguments for Tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians, and the early implementation data from the pilot Tribes. Essential context for understanding Stage 3's treatment of the Tribal provisions.

Tribal & Research Organization 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. (Unit 19 is the positive culmination of this standard across the full curriculum sequence. Students who have traced the arc from Units 11 through 17 arrive here having documented removal, allotment, termination, and the legal recovery of self-determination. Unit 19 shows what Tribes are doing with the sovereignty those prior eras denied and the Self-Determination Era reclaimed. The VAWA 2013 Tribal provisions, the McGirt ruling, and the land recovery pillar are each direct expressions of sovereignty in practice: Tribes governing their territory, protecting their members, and recovering their land base.)
  • OSEU.SS.H.3 , Treaty Rights and Sovereignty (All Grades): Students will understand how federal policy interacted with Tribal sovereignty across different eras. (McGirt v. Oklahoma is the landmark treaty rights and sovereignty case of this era. The Five Tribes' reservation boundaries, established by treaty and never formally disestablished, were confirmed as legally intact in 2020 because the Court applied the plain text of federal statutes and the settled rule that Tribal rights are not extinguished by implication. McGirt is a direct application of the principle students encountered in Unit 17's Mille Lacs case: treaty rights survive until Congress explicitly acts to abrogate them.)
  • 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. (The language and culture pillar in Stage 2 is the cultural expression of this standard. Language immersion schools, language nests, and master-apprentice programs operating today represent Tribal nations exercising sovereignty over their own cultural futures. For students whose own languages are among those being revitalized, this is not historical content. It is a live process that federal policy once tried to end and that Tribes are now sustaining and expanding with their own resources and authority.)
  • 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 work in the Nation Rebuilding Era: What has this nation built? What laws or cases shaped the path? What is still in progress? The Harvard Project's Honoring Nations reports, official Tribal nation websites, and Indian Country Today are primary starting points. Students who can answer these questions in their own words, with specific evidence, have produced research-based writing that meets the standard and contributes to the era series they will assemble in Unit 19.)
  • 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 scroll-snap section in Stage 2 decomposes into three parts: the container element, which receives scroll-snap-type: y mandatory; the child panels, each of which receives scroll-snap-align: start; and the layout rules that make each panel fill the viewport so snapping produces a clean transition. Students who can explain why removing any one of these three parts breaks the snap behavior have internalized the dependencies in the system. That is decomposition practice: understanding which parts are load-bearing.)
  • CSTA 2-AP-17 (Grades 6–8): Systematically test and refine programs using a range of test cases. (Testing scroll-snap means verifying behavior across all five pillar panels: does each one land cleanly? Does scrolling backward snap correctly? What happens at the top and bottom of the container? Students who test these cases understand that a CSS interaction pattern has edge cases just as a JavaScript function does. The scroll-driven animation in Stage 7 adds a second test context: does the animation play in sync with scroll progress, or does it play all at once on page load?)
  • ISTE 1c , Empowered Learner: Students use technology to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways. (The scroll-snap section is a design choice about how to present the five pillars of nation-building. Rather than a single scrolling page with five sections stacked, scroll-snap gives each pillar a dedicated, full-attention panel. Students who understand why this choice was made are thinking about how structure shapes how a reader experiences content. That design literacy carries directly into Unit 19, where students will make structural choices about how to present eight eras in a single multi-page site.)
  • ISTE 3b , Knowledge Constructor: Students evaluate the accuracy, perspective, credibility, and relevance of information, media, data, or other resources. (The Harvard Project research is a credibility exercise. The claim that sovereignty in practice produces better outcomes than federal administration is an empirical claim based on comparative research across dozens of Tribal nations. Students who understand how that research was conducted, what it measured, and what it found can evaluate it as evidence, not just accept it as assertion. That is knowledge construction: building understanding from evaluated sources rather than received information.)
  • 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. (VAWA 2013's Tribal provisions are directly relevant to Minnesota's eleven Tribal nations. Native women in Minnesota face disproportionate rates of violence, and the jurisdictional gap created by Oliphant had left non-Indian perpetrators of domestic violence on Tribal lands largely outside the reach of Tribal courts. The Tribal provisions address that gap. For students at Minnesota schools near reservations, this is not distant policy. It is the legal framework governing safety in Tribal communities around them.)
  • 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. (Haaland v. Brackeen (2023) brought the constitutionality of ICWA before the Supreme Court. The case directly implicates Minnesota: ICWA was passed in part in response to documented mass removal of Native children in Minnesota during the decades before its passage. The Court's 7-2 ruling upholding ICWA ensures that Minnesota's Tribal nations retain the federal protections for Native children that ICWA established. Students who trace from the historical removal practices in Unit 14 to ICWA's passage in Unit 17 to Brackeen's resolution in Unit 19 have followed a legal and policy story across three eras.)
  • 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. (Scroll-snap introduces a new CSS layout concept that students have not encountered in the prior units. The development process for Stage 2 is: understand what scroll-snap-type and scroll-snap-align do, build the container with the correct CSS, verify each panel snaps correctly, adjust sizing if panels do not fill the viewport as expected. Students who work through that process are applying an iterative development approach to a pure CSS interaction pattern with no JavaScript to fall back on.)
  • 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 6 is the research and writing stage for this unit. Students produce a section of their era website documenting a specific Tribal nation's nation-building work. The writing is published as part of the student's multi-stage site, the same site they will contribute to the Unit 19 multi-page assembly. The audience for the writing is real: anyone who views the student's published site. That publication context is an authentic reason to write clearly and accurately.)
  • 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 contemporary Tribal governance and development. (North Dakota's five Tribal nations, Standing Rock, Spirit Lake, MHA Nation, Turtle Mountain Band, and Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, have each engaged in nation-building work during this era. Gaming compacts, language revitalization programs, Tribal colleges, and land recovery efforts are all documented activities across ND reservations. Students researching North Dakota nations can draw on official Tribal nation websites and the Harvard Project's Honoring Nations reports for North Dakota-specific examples.)
  • 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. (McGirt v. Oklahoma is significant beyond Oklahoma. The legal principle, that reservation boundaries established by treaty and never formally disestablished by Congress remain intact, applies to reservations across the country. North Dakota's reservations were established by treaty. Students who understand McGirt understand a legal principle that is directly relevant to the land and governance status of Tribal nations in their state.)
  • 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. (Stage 2's scroll-snap section applies existing knowledge of CSS layout, padding, and sizing to a new CSS property. Students who understand box model and display properties are prepared to understand scroll-snap because the snap behavior depends entirely on the container and children having the right dimensions. The new concept is small: two CSS properties. The context for applying them is the full layout knowledge students have built across Units 11 through 17.)
  • 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 scroll-driven animation in Stage 7 is a pre-built feature that students can read, understand, and adapt. The animation-timeline: scroll() property is the current CSS standard for the scroll-linked animation technique used across major commercial websites. Students who understand the pattern, even as readers rather than authors, are learning a technique they will encounter throughout professional web development. Stage 7 frames it as a teachable pattern with explanation of what each property does.)
  • OSEU Standard 1 , History (All Grades): Understand the history of the Oceti Sakowin and other Indigenous peoples, including contemporary Tribal governance and the Nation Rebuilding Era. (The nine Oceti Sakowin nations, including the Oglala Lakota Tribe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and others, are each exercising sovereignty in the ways this unit documents: governance, economic development, language revitalization, land recovery, and justice. For South Dakota students, especially Lakota students, the nation-building story is not distant or abstract. It is the operational reality of the nations around them and in many cases the nations they belong to.)
  • 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. (VAWA 2013's Tribal provisions represent one of the most significant expansions of Tribal criminal jurisdiction since the Self-Determination Era. For South Dakota, where Native women face some of the highest rates of violence in the country, the Tribal provisions are not a distant federal policy story. They are a direct expression of what sovereignty in practice means: the authority to protect your own members on your own territory. Students who understand the Oliphant gap, the advocacy that produced VAWA 2013, and the Tribal provisions themselves have traced an exercise of sovereignty from legal gap to legislative remedy.)
  • 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. (The Cobell settlement, finalized in 2009 and funded at $3.4 billion, resolved decades of federal mismanagement of Individual Indian Money accounts and created the Indian Land Buy-Back Program. For South Dakota allotment heirs, the Buy-Back Program has been a mechanism for Tribal nations to consolidate fractional interests back into Tribal ownership. The land recovery pillar in Stage 2 connects to this history: the fragmented ownership the Dawes Act created in Units 14 is a problem Tribes are still working to reverse today.)
  • 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. (By Unit 19, students are building on seven prior units of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The new CSS pattern, scroll-snap, is one small addition to a large existing skill set. The decomposition practice in this unit is recognizing where the new concept fits into the existing system: scroll-snap is a CSS layout property that works with box model, sizing, and overflow. Students who can locate a new concept within the structure of what they already know are demonstrating the decomposition skill at a higher level than they could at the start of the curriculum.)