Seminole Nation of Oklahoma

McGirt and Rebuilding Tribal Nations Toolbox

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The McGirt decision has changed the legal landscape and created new opportunities for tribal nations starting with the Five Tribes in Eastern Oklahoma and potentially for tribal nations across Indian Country. It also has been the source of confusion, hyperbole, and alarm among some commentators.

The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development and University of Oklahoma Native Nations Center McGirt Colloquium Toolbox contains a series of briefing papers that explain the ramifications of McGirt in various areas important to tribes and clarify what is and what is not at issue. These briefing papers help affected tribes chart a pathway toward the effective exercise of post-McGirt tribal powers and productive collaboration with state governments. The briefing papers offer ideas and examples of what these processes and outcomes might look like. In particular, they consider at least eight areas through the lens of a tribal government’s responsibilities to its citizens, to other Indians, and to non-Indians on trust lands and fee lands within the external borders of recognized reservations.

We hope these papers will be shared, and the ideas disseminated, in ways that tribal governments and other partners identify as useful for creating dispassionate, helpful guidance to tribes and states in the post-McGirt era.

Resource Type
Citation

McGirt Colloquium Toolbox. 2021. The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development and University of Oklahoma Native Nations Center. https://sites.google.com/g.harvard.edu/mcgirt-rebuilding-nations/home. The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development. Retrieved on March 2, 2021.

Preserving Culture: 6 Early Childhood Language Immersion Programs

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Language immersion schools have proved to be enormously beneficial for young learners’ academics. To quote Dr. Janine Pease-Pretty on Top, Crow, founding president of Little Big Horn College, “Solid data from the Navajo, Blackfeet and Assiniboine immersion schools experience indicates that the language immersion students experience greater success in school, measured by consistent improvement on local and national measures of achievement.” Early childhood language immersion programs must be adapted to the cultural and financial resources available. Here are some examples of how educators have done that...

The Sustained Self-Sufficiency of the Five Civilized Tribes

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Between 1820 and 1870, five Indian nations in the southeast adopted constitutions, engaged in for-profit cotton export, created tribal school systems, established courts, police, and remained economically and politically independent and self-sufficient. The five nations -- Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw and Seminole -- also retained many forms of traditional culture within their new constitutions and ceremonial life...

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Citation

Champagne, Duane. "The Sustained Self-Sufficiency of the Five Civilized Tribes." Indian Country Today Media Network. October 21, 2013. Article. (https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/history/events/the-sustained-self..., accessed October 21, 2013)