- [Instructor] In this video, I wanna give you
a very brief overview
of the history of citizenship
for indigenous people in the United States.
The story of indigenous people in North America
and their citizenship status in the United States
is long and complex and it's changing even today.
The Supreme court recently ruled in July, 2020
that indigenous people in the Eastern half of Oklahoma
must be tried in federal or tribal courts,
not state courts because the land belongs
to the Muskogee Creek Nation.
So I wanna be clear that what we're covering
in this video is just the most basic outline
of how citizenship for indigenous people
has changed over time.
There is so much more to learn on this topic
if you're interested.
Okay with that said, let's go back to 1789
when the constitution gave the first definition
of who was and was not a US citizen.
Article 1 of the constitution mentions
indigenous people twice;
once to say that Congress shall have the power
to regulate commerce with foreign nations
and among the several States and with the Indian tribes.
And once to say that the population of each state
as counted for the purposes of representation
would exclude Indians not taxed.
That indigenous people were categorized
with foreign nations for the purposes
of regulating trade and not counted in state populations
shows us that they were not considered US citizens
at that time.
Remember that at this time, US citizenship
was generally reserved for white men,
women and children and voting rights were reserved
for white men with property.
The next major change in citizenship rights
was the ratification of the 14th amendment,
which guaranteed citizenship to all persons
born or naturalized in the United States.
This ensured citizenship rights for African-Americans
and the children of Asian immigrants.
But at the time the courts did not interpret it
to include indigenous people.
Only about 8% of all indigenous people,
those who were not living among a distinct nation,
but instead within white settlements were taxed
and therefore eligible to become citizens.
Now I should mention that not all indigenous people
wanted US citizenship, many preferred to live separately
from the United States as part of their own nations.
But as the US government and white settlers
colonized North America rapidly
in the mid to late 19th century,
they ignored the rights of indigenous people
as members of separate nations,
forcibly relocating them to reservations
or even killing them in order to obtain their land.
In 1887, Congress passed the Dawes Act,
which attempted to force indigenous people
to give up their culture
and common lands and live like Euro-Americans
on individual tracks of land,
any indigenous person who received a land allotment
would receive US citizenship.
It didn't grant birthright citizenship
to indigenous people or citizenship to anyone
who didn't accept a land allotment.
not until 1924 in recognition of indigenous soldiers
in World War I, did Congress confer citizenship
on all indigenous people and guarantee
birthright citizenship to them
with the passage of the Snyder Act,
which is also called the Indian Citizenship Act.
But did having citizenship automatically confer
the right to vote?
If you've been paying attention in these videos,
you will know that the answer is no.
Many States denied voting rights to indigenous people.
They faced many of the same barriers to accessing the ballot
as African-Americans did before the civil rights movement.
Following World War II indigenous people sued
for the right to vote in States that denied them.
Utah was the last state to remove formal barriers in 1962.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 provided additional
protections for indigenous voters
by outlying exclusionary practices
that deny or bridge the right of any citizen
of the United States to vote
on account of race or color.
So that's a very brief overview of indigenous citizenship
rights and voting rights.
In what ways were the citizenship rights of indigenous
peoples similar to other minorities like African-Americans
and in what ways were they different?
Why do you think indigenous people may have wanted US
citizenship or not wanted US citizenship?