HOMELAND - Plains Indian Timeline 1977-2000

Broadcast Schedule

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1977-78 - U.S. Congress passes a series of approximately 50 laws that help redefine tribal issues regarding water rights, fishing rights and land acquisition. Some land is returned to the tribes, and issues of self-governance are further clarified.

1978 - The Indian Child Welfare Act ends the discrimination that prevented Native Americans from acting as foster parents or qualifying for adoption. It also provides Indian communities with child welfare and family services. The American Indian Religious Freedom Act finally reverses U.S. policies outlawing certain tribal rituals and shamanic practices.

Looking down the Gold Run, Black Hills, late 1800s (University of Chicago)

1980 - The Supreme Court rules that the U.S. owes the Lakota Sioux interest from a 1877 payment as compensation for taking the Black Hills, originally part of Indian lands. The Lakota reject the payment, hoping to reclaim the Black Hills from the U.S.

1989 - The National Museum of the American Indian Act orders the Smithsonian Institute to return Native American remains to American Indian tribes.

1990 - The Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act protects Indian gravesites on federal public lands against looting. The Indian Arts and Crafts Act, which goes into effect in 1996, finally protects the work of Indian artists, an effort that began in 1935.

1992 - The celebration of the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas prompts protests from many Native American tribes and supporters.

1997 - Corporation for Public Broadcasting establishes Native American Public Telecommunications, Inc., (NAPT) to promote, produce and distribute Native American television and radio programming.

1999 - On March 22, Sioux people establish the Oceti Sakowin spiritual camp on La Framboise Island in the Missouri River near Pierre, South Dakota, in protest of the treaty-breaking Danklow Acts (Terrestrial Wildlife Habitat Restoration Act and Water Resources Development Authorization), which give 200,000 acres of tribal lands to the state of South Dakota.

On July 7, 1999, President William Clinton visits the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota for a "nation to nation" business meeting and tours the reservation's housing facilities. The president signs a pact with Oglala leaders establishing an empowerment zone and participates in a conference on home ownership and economic development for Native Americans.

2000 - On January 16, the activist group Grass Roots Oyate begins its occupation of the Red Cloud Building at the Oglala Sioux Tribal Headquarters, Pine Ridge Reservation, in protest of what they deem the corrupt, oppressive and ineffective politics of tribal leadership. Federal officials remove financial records the following day, and the elected tribal president was eventually suspended. The activists vow to continue the occupation until their demands are met.

In September 2000, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) determine that bones of the 9,000 year-old human remains known as Kennewick Man, found in the Columbia River in Washington, be returned to the five Indian tribes that have claimed him as their ancient ancestor, as determined by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990.

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