Indigenous Governance Database
Oglala Sioux Tribe
Indigenous Governance Speaker Series: A Message for Indigenous Women Leaders with Cecilia Fire Thunder (Oglala Sioux/Lakota)
The first woman to successfully run for president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Cecilia Fire Thunder shares valuable insight on being an impactful leader. Her wisdom includes stories about working with local and national governments and lobbying congressional leaders. She reflects on why and how she…
This Community Is Striving To Rebuild One Of The Poorest Places In America
PINE RIDGE, South Dakota — Alan Jealous, a 27-year-old construction worker, dreamt of building and owning a home. Homeownership is the cornerstone of the American Dream. But for this citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation living on the Pine Ridge reservation, a community that regularly tops the list…
The Indian Reorganization Act at 80 years
At Pine Ridge, daily controversy surrounds the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934. Congress enacted the IRA on June 18, 1934. However, the voting requirement was drastically altered just three days prior. This amendment (H.R. 7781, 49 Stat., 378) dated June 15, 1934, lowered the overall voting…
Pine Ridge Renaissance: From the Ground Up, Sovereignty Can Be Real
This article chronicles the groundswell of small business development taking place on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, home to the Oglala Sioux Tribe. It examines the critical importance that citizen entrepreneurs can and do play in developing sustainable economies in Indian Country.
Terry Janis: Citizen Engagement and Constitutional Change at the White Earth Nation (Q&A)
Terry Janis, former Project Manager for the White Earth Constitution Reform Project, fields questions from the audience about his specific role in White Earth's constitutional reform process. He stresses the need for those engaging in constitutional reform to be cognizant of the fact that a process…
Terry Janis: The White Earth Nation Constitutional Reform Process
In this lively and far-reaching discussion with NNI's Ian Record, Terry Janis (Oglala Lakota), former project manager of the White Earth Nation Constitution Reform Project, provides an overview of the citizen education and engagement campaign that preceded White Earth's historic vote to ratify a…
Terry Janis: Citizen Engagement and Constitutional Change at the White Earth Nation
Terry Janis (Oglala Lakota), former Project Manager of the White Earth Nation Constitution Reform Project, provides participants with a detailed overview of the multi-faceted approach to citizen engagement that the White Earth Nation followed as it worked to educate the White Earth people about the…
Honoring Nations: David Gipp: Sovereignty, Education and United Tribes Technical College
United Tribes Technical College President David Gipp discusses the impetus behind the establishment of United Tribes Technical College (UTTC) and the emergence of the tribal college movement, the growth of UTTC over the past four decades, and the critical roles tribal colleges and universities play…
Honoring Nations: Oren Lyons: Wounded Knee II: Honoring the Legacy of Ted Kennedy
Onondaga Chief and Faithkeeper Oren Lyons shares a story about late U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy's crucial yet little-known role in averting an attack by the federal government on those who took over Wounded Knee in 1973.
NNI Forum: Asset Building for Indian Country
The Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy (NNI) at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona convened a panel of leading experts to discuss the fundamental obstacles standing in the way of asset building in Native communities, and the innovative strategies that Native…
Native Nation Building TV: "Promoting Tribal Citizen Entrepreneurs"
Guests Joan Timeche and Elsie Meeks examine the pivotal role that citizen entrepreneurs can play in a Native nation's overarching effort to achieve sustainable community and economic development. It looks at the many different ways that Native nation governments actively and passively hinder…
Oglala Sioux Tribe to issue IDs at tournament
For the first time in its history the Oglala Sioux Tribe will bring its enrollment office to the public. During this year’s Lakota Nation Invitational in Rapid City the tribe will have a booth set up to issue tribal IDs to enrolled members who may not have the opportunity to travel to Pine Ridge to…
Teach youth about forms of government
Why aren’t the schools teaching about the IRA form of government? Why aren’t they teaching about the traditional tiospaye form of government? The disenchantment and what appears to be apathy or even seditiousness toward the Indian Reorganization Act system of government have become “normal” among…
Glimmers of hope on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation has become emblematic of rural poverty, neglect and the plight of struggling American Indians. But across the reservation, there are glimmers of hope and resistance against the monumental challenges the Lakota people face. In the case of Alice Phelps and the…
As old ways faded on reservations, tribal power shifted
Long before the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act transformed tribal government, before nepotism and retaliation became plagues upon reservation life, there were nacas. Headsmen, the Lakota and Dakota called them. Men designated from their tiospayes, or extended families, to represent their clans when…
New economic hope on Pine Ridge Reservation
When I read the Lakota Country Times I am heartened by the economic progress that oftentimes is hidden in the more alarming media reports of rampant alcoholism and the resulting horrors that the disease brings to the communities there on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. There is hope to be had in…
Building better homes in Indian Country
There's no other house like it on the Oglala Sioux's 2 million-acre Pine Ridge Reservation: Its walls are insulated by 18-inch strawbales rather than plastic sheeting, and its radiant-floor heating is much cheaper than the typical propane or electric. A frost-protected shallow foundation inhibits…
Hoka! Coffee gets off the ground in Pine Ridge
Some people are lucky enough to find a job that stimulates their passions, Sharice Davids just happens to be one of those people. Sharice’s recently created a coffee company on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Taking inspiration from the Lakota language she decided to name her company Hoka!…
Addressing the crisis in the Lakota language
With only 2 to 5 percent of children currently speaking Lakota, Thomas Short Bull, president of the Oglala Lakota College, said the time has come to raise the alarm. As the day begins at the Lakota Language Immersion School, a young boy passes an abalone bowl of sage to each child sitting on the…
The Dirt Poor and Filthy Rich: A Study in Contrasts
A pair of Sir Elton John’s signature high-heeled boots. … Jimmy Hendrix’s Flying V guitar. One of Madonna’s bustiers. A bevy of pick-chipped six-strings previously owned by rock legends like Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton — and one American Indian tribe owns them all. The Seminole Tribe of Florida, who…