A 1990 law forced museums and federal agencies to return Native remains and sacred objects

Native American tribes still are waiting for museums to return the remains of their ancestors

The remains of more than 100,000 Native Americans are held by prestigious US institutions, despite a 1990 law meant to return them to tribal nations. Here’s how their ancestors were stolen—and how tribes are working to get them back.

Native religious practices were suppressed for centuries before receiving federal protection in 1978

During the first two centuries of American history, the government frequently banned Native ceremonial dances, took sacred sites, and enrolled children in boarding schools where they were prevented from practicing their faith. The American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 committed the federal government to safeguarding Native spiritual practices.

Is repatriation the answer to looted museum objects?

For many, the return of stolen art and artifacts to their places of origin is a simple solution. But, as Patricia Marroquin Norby, the Met’s curator of Native American Art, writes in this article, there are sometimes other approaches and factors to consider. Speaking specifically about the collection she oversees, Norby discusses other solutions like co-stewardship, in which collaborative relationships are built with the tribes from whom the objects were taken.

A 1975 law let tribes run their own programs instead of relying on federal bureaucracies

The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act allowed tribes to contract directly with the federal government to administer their own health, education, and social services—reversing policies from the "termination era."

The Indian Removal Act of 1830 forcibly displaced tens of thousands of Native Americans

Signed by President Andrew Jackson, the act authorized the federal government to negotiate treaties relocating Native nations from their Southeastern homelands to lands west of the Mississippi, often by force.

Some tribes push for national parks to be under Indigenous control

Ojibwe author and academic David Treuer talks about his push for 80 million acres of American national park land to be returned to Indigenous stewards. Treuer proposes the government grant control of this land to a consortium of tribes, which would maintain and manage it for use by all Americans.

The Dawes Act of 1887 broke up communally held tribal lands

Sometimes called the General Allotment Act, the Dawes Act divided reservation land into individual plots assigned to Native Americans, while "surplus" land was sold to white settlers. The policy led to Native tribes losing roughly 90 million acres, about two-thirds of their remaining land.

The US government ran boarding schools designed to erase Native American identity

From the late 19th century into the 20th century, the federal government sent Native children to boarding schools under the philosophy of "kill the Indian, save the man." Children were forbidden from speaking their languages or practicing their cultures, and many endured abuse.

Whose bodies are held inside the American Museum of Natural History?

The American Museum of Natural History holds the remains of at least 12,000 people collected via purchase, donation, or expedition. This article by a professor of art crime details their attempt to identify the individuals whose remains the museum held. Amid questioning, AMNH announced it would change its human remains policy. At the time of the article's publication in October 2023, AMNH had few human remains on public display.

The reservation system gives tribes limited self-governance while keeping them under federal control.

Native Americans were not granted US citizenship until 1924

The Indian Citizenship Act granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the US, more than 130 years after the Constitution's ratification. Even then, some states continued to deny Native Americans the right to vote for decades.

In the 1950s, the federal government tried to dissolve tribal nations and end their sovereignty

A federal policy called "termination" withdrew official recognition from more than 100 tribes in the 1950s, cutting off federal services and subjecting reservation land to state taxes and sale.

American archaeology has a complicated legacy

Many national parks were discovered through American archaeological expeditions and, consequently, included the looting of Native American cultural sites and artifacts.

The Red Power movement pushed back against poverty and broken treaty rights in the 1960s and 1970s

Inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, Indigenous activists founded the American Indian Movement, a national advocacy organization, to protest excessive police violence and federal violations of treaty rights, drawing national attention to conditions on reservations.

Yale returns Inca artifacts to Peru

From the time he came upon Machu Picchu in 1911, Hiram Bingham began removing artifacts and human remains from the site and bringing them back to Yale University. Yale's Peabody Museum held them for 100 years, despite demands by the Peruvian government and the public that they be repatriated. Finally, in 2011, Yale returned thousands of items, including ceramics, jewelry and human skeletons.

The Trail of Tears killed thousands of Native Americans forced from their homelands

After the Indian Removal Act passed, the US Army marched the Cherokee and other nations hundreds of miles to the designated "Indian Territory" in present-day Oklahoma. Thousands died from starvation and disease along the way.

A 2020 Supreme Court ruling affirmed that nearly half of Oklahoma remains tribal land

In McGirt v. Oklahoma, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Muscogee Nation's reservation was never legally dissolved, thereby stripping Oklahoma of authority to prosecute tribal members for crimes committed on that land. Season One of the "This Land" podcast further explores how reservation court systems operate.

The EPA works directly with Indigenous nations to protect native lands

Through the National EPA-Tribal Science Council, the agency works directly with federally recognized tribes, supporting air and water monitoring, pollution cleanup, and environmental restoration. Special grant programs also exist to enable tribes to develop their own environmental programs and enhance their technical capacity.

Tribal courts handle justice on reservations, but face strict limits on whom they can prosecute

Reservation-based courts handle civil and criminal cases, but federal law sharply limits their authority over non-tribal members. As a result, non-Native individuals who commit crimes on reservations often fall outside tribal jurisdiction, creating potential gaps in accountability.

When a museum closes, it may need to sell or auction assets to pay off its debts, which can result in the breakup of valuable collections and the relocation of pieces to successor institutions and private collectors.

European diseases killed a massive share of the Native American population

After Western contact, epidemic diseases devastated Indigenous communities. By 1920, the Native American population of the US had fallen to roughly 270,000, compared with an estimated 1.2 to 18 million at the time of European arrival.

The creation of the parks often involved displacing Native tribes

Early parks like Yellowstone, Glacier, and Yosemite involved the removal of tribal communities like the Shoshone, Crow, and Nez Percé, undermining the popular narrative that parks preserved an uninhabited wilderness.

Congress regrets discriminatory laws targeting Asian immigrants

In 2011, Congress expressed regrets about discriminatory laws that targeted Asian immigrants, such as the 1875 Page Act. Click here to read one of the twin bills and learn more about the laws in question.

It took nearly a century to build the National Museum of African American History and Culture

Although Congress first authorized a national memorial to Black achievement in 1929, the National Museum of African American History and Culture did not open until 2016—after decades of stalled efforts, renewed legislation in 2003, and a prolonged fight over funding and location.

Native students fought back against forced assimilation at US boarding schools

Despite harsh conditions, Native American students preserved their identities by secretly speaking their languages, maintaining cultural practices, and, in some cases, running away.

When is it OK to dig up the dead?

Human bones tell stories that would otherwise be lost to history. But archaeologists are increasingly confronted with demands to let past generations rest in peace, according to this article.

The Corps traded gifts with many native tribes as a sign of goodwill

They offered peace medals, beads, cloth, and mirrors, while receiving food, horses, furs, and guidance that helped them navigate and survive the western wilderness. This image collection showcases items the expedition collected.

The Archaic period marked Native Americans' shift from big-game hunting to foraging

Beginning around 8000 B.C.E., Indigenous peoples began relying on diverse food sources—including wild game, plants, seeds, and fish—and moved away from large-mammal hunting. Archaeological findings from this era suggest some communities began cultivating crops and establishing irrigation systems, indicating a shift toward less-nomadic lifestyles.

The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act abolished national-origin quotas and transformed the demographics of America

Following decades of citizens pressing for reform, President Johnson signed legislation abolishing national-origin quotas, enabling increased immigration from Asia and Africa. The LBJ Presidential Library features photos, videos, audio clips, and text from the 1965 signing ceremony.

The dark side of museum collections

Using the example of a sacred Nepali religious object that was stolen from a village in the 1980s and which later appeared in the Met’s collection, this article looks at the controversies that have swirled around some of the museum’s pieces. In addition to the Nepali statue, the piece outlines decades of questionable collection practices––some of which are clear-cut cases of theft.

Employment Division v. Smith (1990) reaffirmed the Reynolds decision that the law applies to everyone, regardless of faith

The Supreme Court ruled that the government does not have to grant religious exemptions from laws that apply to everyone. The case involved Native American church members fired for using peyote in a religious ceremony.

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 restricted the government's ability to limit religious practice

Congress enacted RFRA in response to the Supreme Court's decision in Employment Division v. Smith. The law requires the government to use the least restrictive means before substantially burdening an individual's religious exercise.

One Native leader tried to save his people's land by building a nation

As the US pushed westward in the 19th century, one leader of the Ojibwe people fought back not with arms but with politics, seeking to preserve his people's territory and way of life by building a formal Native nation capable of negotiating on equal footing with the US government.

Native Americans developed pottery and religion, and experienced population growth during the Woodland period

Between 500 B.C.E. and 1100 C.E., Indigenous peoples produced pottery and practiced animism, a spiritual worldview in which animals, plants, and natural forces are believed to possess sacred power. They moved seasonally to make the most of available resources.

If you come across a fossil, such as a shell, trilobite, or ancient bone, the most important thing to do is to leave it alone.

The US Army massacred close to 300 Lakota men, women, and children at Wounded Knee in 1890

Fearing the Ghost Dance—a spiritual movement spreading across starving reservations—the Army surrounded a Lakota encampment at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota. When a shot was fired during an attempted disarmament, it sparked chaos, and soldiers killed nearly 300 people.

Native Americans built democratic systems of governance

Indigenous nations, such as the Muscogee, a confederacy of towns in the present-day Southeast, practiced participatory governance centered on communal decision-making and the consent of the governed.

Tribal casinos have generated billions in revenue

After Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988, granting tribes the legal right to operate casinos on reservation land, tribal gaming expanded dramatically. Today, tribal gaming ranks among the largest revenue sources for participating tribes.

The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 made religious liberty a formal US foreign policy priority

Congress enacted the International Religious Freedom Act to make promoting religious freedom abroad a stated goal of US foreign policy. The law established an ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom and mandated that the State Department report annually on the status of religious freedom.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed segregation and discrimination nationwide

The Civil Rights Act, signed into law in 1964, prohibited racial segregation in public accommodations and ended discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin in employment, while also strengthening protections in education. It established protections enforced across federally funded programs.

Tribal lenders have charged up to 600% APR on short-term loans

Some Native American tribes use their exemption from state legislation to bypass regulations on usury laws. Similar to payday lending, some tribal lenders have charged up to 600% APR on short-term loans.

Cases during John Marshall's tenure defined the principles of federal Indian law

During Marshall's tenure, three landmark rulings—Johnson v. M'Intosh, Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, and Worcester v. Georgia—established foundational doctrines of federal Indian law, defining tribal sovereignty, limiting state authority, and placing primary responsibility for Native affairs in the federal government.

How the Navajo nation works

Tribal reservations control over 89,000 square miles of land in the US, roughly 2.5% of all US land. While individual tribes are recognized as sovereigns, they are not viewed as countries by the US government. Learn how the Navajo nation in...

In 2023, Native Americans had the lowest life expectancy at birth among all racial and ethnic groups

Native Americans and Alaska Natives face significant health disparities linked to chronic underinvestment in reservation health infrastructure, poverty, and multigenerational psychological harm—often called historical or inherited trauma.

William Clark negotiated one-tenth of all ratified treaties between Native Americans and the US.

The US has 575 federally recognized tribal nations, each a sovereign government.

Europeans' arrival to America brought disease to Indigenous populations

Indigenous people lived in the Americas for centuries before the arrival of the first Europeans in the 15th century. Their arrival was disastrous for Native tribes; in addition to being enslaved and losing their land, they had no natural immunity to the diseases brought by colonists. Eventually, up to 95% of the Native American population was killed by illnesses including typhus, chickenpox, and cholera, an event now known as the Great Dying.

A separate agency within the Department of the Interior manages the education of Native Americans on reservations

The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), housed under the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, manages 183 elementary and secondary schools on 64 reservations across 23 states, serving around 40,000 Native American K–12 students outside state public systems.

Early Native Americans shifted from nomadic life to permanent settlements around 8500 B.C.E.

Around 8500-7900 B.C.E., many Indigenous groups began settling near rivers and lakes to harvest fish and hunt bison, moving away from a fully nomadic lifestyle. This shift toward semipermanent communities marks one of the earliest signs of organized settlement in North America.

The 1924 Immigration Act established national-origin quotas favoring certain regions

The Johnson-Reed Act established stringent national-origin quotas favoring northern and Western Europeans while restricting immigration from other regions. This article chronicles the act's origins, its implications, and subsequent efforts to overturn these restrictions.