Native Nations

This is a brief overview of Native Americans in Wisconsin. It is not meant to be comprehensive, rather it is a snapshot to provide some basic information on Native American history in Wisconsin and the status of tribes in Wisconsin. While this covers some information about tribal nations’ relationships with the United States, it focuses mostly on tribal nations and Native Americans in the state of Wisconsin.

GOVERNANCE

Number of Tribal Communities in Wisconsin: 12

  1. Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians of the Bad River Reservation, Wisconsin
  2. Brothertown Indian Nation*
  3. Forest County Potawatomi Community, Wisconsin
  4. Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin
  5. Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin
  6. Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of the Lac du Flambeau Reservation of Wisconsin
  7. Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin
  8. Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin
  9. Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin
  10. Sokaogon Chippewa Community, Wisconsin
  11. St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin
  12. Stockbridge Munsee Community, Wisconsin

* Not federally recognized

There currently are twelve tribal communities in the state of Wisconsin and eleven of them are federally recognized as tribal nations. Tribal nations within the United States’ borders are nations within a nation. The U.S. government recognizes a total of 573 Indian Nations variously referred to as tribes, pueblos, bands, nations, and native villages.1 Almost half of these nations are located in Alaska and the others are in 35 other states.1 There are 11 federally-recognized tribal nations in the state of Wisconsin. Tribal nations’ authority of self-governance, known as sovereignty, was recognized by European colonizers pre-dating the establishment of the United States. This political status signifies the federal government recognizes each tribe’s sovereignty to govern their members.

The sovereignty of tribal nations has been affirmed and reaffirmed using treaties between tribes and the federal government. Treaties between these two parties are equivalent to international agreements between the United States and any foreign country, and they supersede any conflicting state law. Treaties are an acknowledgement of the rights tribes and tribal members have, and they often include1:

  • Guarantee of peace
  • A provision of land boundaries
  • Hunting and fishing rights
  • U.S. protection
  • Tribal recognition of U.S. authority

According to the National Congress of American Indians, tribal sovereignty amounts to “ability to govern and to protect and enhance the health, safety, and welfare of tribal citizens within tribal territory.”1

Tribal Government Roles and Responsibilities

  • Enforce laws through police departments and tribal courts
  • Determine citizenship
  • Establish Civil and Criminal laws
  • Taxing
  • Licensing

Tribal nations assume many of the responsibilities federal and state governments have for activities on tribal land, like education, health care, infrastructure management, waste treatment, and utilities. Tribal sovereignty can also be recognized by state governments. The state of Wisconsin does not specifically recognize any tribes not already recognized by the federal government. Some states have recognized tribes that are not recognized by the federal government in order to provide the resources and autonomy tribal nations are owed.1 Neither the federal government nor the state of Wisconsin recognize the tribal sovereignty of the Brothertown Nation.

TRIBAL LANDS

Land holds a strong significance for Native communities and many communities’ livelihoods depend on natural resources. Currently, Native communities hold only 2% of land in the United States following the United States’ seizure of land and forcible removal of Native communities from their land. There are currently 326 Indian land areas, sometimes called reservations, in the United States. Eleven of those land areas are in Wisconsin. Many tribal members live outside of tribal lands and throughout the state. See more information on tribal lands at https://theways.org/map and https://wisconsinfirstnations.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Current-Tribal-Lands-Map-and-Facts-Poster_PDF.pdf

Tribal Lands in the Midwest

Source: Finn Ryan, Alex Kendrick, Bobby Marshment-Howell, Bobbie Malone. Map | The Ways. Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

Number of Indian Reservations in Wisconsin: 10

  1. Bad River Tribe Reservation
  2. Forest County Potawatomi Reservation
  3. Lac Courte Oreilles’ Reservation
  4. Lac du Flambeau Reservation
  5. Menominee Reservation
  6. Oneida Nation Reservation
  7. Red Cliff Tribe Reservation
  8. St. Croix Reservation
  9. Sokaogon Chippewa Community at Mole Lake Reservation
  10. Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation

 

Source: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Wisconsin Public Television, School of Education University of Wisconsin – Madison. Current Tribal Land Maps and Native Facts. Wisconsin First Nations.

TERMINOLOGY

This is a list of important terminology that includes political, cultural, and social definitions. Each of these terms are important in understanding basic information of Native American history and culture in the United States. This list is not meant to be a complete overview of all terminology nor is each definition comprehensive.

Tribal Sovereignty: Sovereignty means the right to govern. The 562 federally-recognized tribes have sovereignty over their lands, resources, and tribal members. Recognition of tribal sovereignty stems from Treaties between tribal nations and the federal government and the U.S. Constitution.1

Trust Responsibility: the legal obligation under which the United States “has charged itself with moral obligations of the highest responsibility and trust” towards Indian tribes established by Seminole Nation v United States in 1942. The federal Indian trust responsibility is also a legally enforceable fiduciary obligation on the part of the United States to protect tribal treaty rights, lands, assets, and resources, as well as a duty to carry out the mandates of federal law with respect to American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages.2

Treaty Rights: From 1778 to 1871, the United States’ relations with individual American Indian nations indigenous to what is now the U.S. were defined and conducted largely through the treaty-making process. These contracts between nations recognized and established unique sets of rights, benefits, and conditions for the treaty-making tribes who agreed to cede of millions of acres of their homelands to the United States and accept its protection. Like other treaty obligations of the United States, Indian treaties are considered to be the supreme law of the land, and they are the foundation upon which federal Indian law and the federal Indian trust relationship is based.2

Self-Determination: The ability of the tribes to determine their own political, economic, and social development independent from outside influence.1

Indian Reservation: In the United States there are three types of reserved federal lands: military, public, and Indian. A federal Indian reservation is an area of land reserved for a tribe or tribes under treaty or other agreement with the United States, executive order, or federal statute or administrative action as permanent tribal homelands, and where the federal government holds title to the land in trust on behalf of the tribe.2

Trust Land: Land owned either by an individual Indian or a tribe, the title to which is held in trust by the federal government. Most trust land is within reservation boundaries, but trust land can also be off-reservation, or outside the boundaries of an Indian reservation.3

Ceded Land: In many treaties with American Indians, the United States asked the treaty tribes to acknowledge the boundaries of the land the Indian nations claimed. After certifying their own land, the Indians would say what lands they did not claim. The land not claimed by treaty-holding tribes was called ceded land. Often American Indians who lived on ceded lands were not consulted nor gave their consent to the treaty making process.4

Gaming Rights: Gaming rights were established by passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988 that established legal and regulatory structures for gaming on reservations and tribal lands.5

Gaming Compact: Tribes also are required to hold gaming compacts within the states they operate gaming. This gives states more power and authority over tribes’ rights to gaming. In some states, in order to be granted the rights to operate gaming on reservations, treaty rights were withheld. In the 1990s, Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson sought to withhold hunting and fishing rights in negotiations for a gaming compacts for Wisconsin tribes. Currently, each of the 11 federally-recognized tribes in Wisconsin hold gaming compact(s) with the state of Wisconsin.6(p172)

Gaming Revenue: Tribes are required to keep detailed reports on gaming revenue and report that revenue to the state of Wisconsin. Based on revenue tribes get through gaming operation, tribes must pay a portion of that revenue to the state. The Division of Gaming is funded entirely through tribal gaming revenue. Tribal gaming revenue paid to the state also supports economic development initiatives, tourism, and community support programs.5

Tribal Council: Associations of Native American tribes and/or governing bodies specific to a tribe. Typically, Tribal Councils function as a legislative bodies for the tribes they represent and make governing decisions within their council structure. The Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council (GLITC) currently supplements the governance structures of the 11 federally-recognized tribes in Wisconsin and the Lac Vieux Desert Band in Michigan.7

Indian Country: A defined legal term for the area over which tribes and the federal government exercise primary jurisdiction rather than the states. Indian Country also broadly refers to the people, lands, and cultures of Native people in the United States.1(p46)

Hunting and Gathering Rights: Tribal nation’s rights to gather and hunt food from the land (including land outside reservation boundaries). Formal acknowledgements of these rights are usually in treaties between tribal nations and the federal government.1

Removal: Tribes were forcibly removed from their homelands and reservations by the federal government. Tribes were required to give up huge areas of their land in exchange for their right to continue self-governance and moved to reservations, which were established and defined in treaties. Much of the land was taken without compensation to tribes and given to Euro-American settlers.1

Relocation: When tribes were forced out of their homelands, they had to relocate to reservations established by the federal government. During the period of removal and relocation, many American Indians belonging to the same tribal nations were separated and forced onto land they had never called home.1

Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA): Enacted in 1978, the purpose of ICWA is to protect Native children and preserve community integrity by strengthening the judicial oversight tribal courts have on civil proceedings of child welfare cases. Historically, one out of three Native children were removed from their families and communities and deliberately placed in non-Native homes and away from American Indian cultures. Before ICWA, the proportion of Native children in foster care was 16 times higher than the rate for non-Native children. While ICWA has some flaws, it was an important piece of legislation to keep Native communities together.8

Boarding Schools: Native American boarding schools also known as Indian Residential Schools were operated in the late 19th and early 20th century with the goal of removing Native children from their communities to forcibly assimilate them into Euro-American society. Native language, dress, and spiritual practices were prohibited and students were forced to abandon their Native identities. Many children faced abuse and violence from school authorities. Students had a difficult time returning to their tribal communities because they could no longer speak their native language, faced new cultural barriers, and experienced a legacy of trauma as a result of forced assimilation.9,10

Wisconsin Act 31: State requirement enacted in 1991 that all public school districts and pre-service education programs in the state of Wisconsin provide education on the culture, history, and tribal sovereignty of Wisconsin’s tribal nations and communities as part of social studies curriculum.11

Burial Mounds/Effigy Mounds: Often constructed in the shape of animals like birds or bears, effigy mounds are sacred sites that often mark burial sites. These mounds were constructed thousands of years ago in the Mississippi Basin Region, which includes Wisconsin.12 Native American mound builders in this region built more effigy mounds than in any other region in North America. There were an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 effigy and burial mounds in Wisconsin, but less than 4,000 remain today. There have been recent efforts from state officials to remove protections around effigy and burial mounds, but the proposed changes were not put into effect.13

Race Based Mascots: There is a history of sports teams using racist caricatures for their mascots. While many of these teams were established during a time when racism was accepted as a part of dominant culture, the continued use of racist mascots and names have real and harmful consequences for Native people. ­These mascots do not honor Native people and their culture, instead they perpetuate racist stereotypes. The support to end this racism is now stronger than ever. While many sports teams in professional, recreational, and school leagues have dropped racist mascot and names, major professional teams have failed to recognize their role in upholding racism by refusing to change.14

Spearfishing: Fish have been important in Native Americans’ diets because fish can be caught year-round. Fishing practices continue to be important to the social, cultural, spiritual, and economic wellbeing of many Native people. Hunting and gathering rights of tribal nations include the right to fish on land ceded to the U.S without being restricted by state regulations. This right has been misunderstood by non-Native people and sometimes resulted in aggression and violence directed at Native Americans by Wisconsin residents and elected officials. In the 1960s through the 1980s, there were organized protests and actions taken to prevent Native Americans in Wisconsin from exercising their right to fish. After a 1994 lawsuit filed by the ACLU against one protest group, Stop Treaty Abuse, actions against tribal communities’ fishing slowed.15,16

Wild Rice: Northern wild rice is a native plant to the Great Lakes region and has significant cultural importance to Ojibwe people. Known as manoomin in Ojibwe, wild rice is more nutritious than brown rice and has served as a staple in the Ojibwe diet for centuries.17 True wild rice grows naturally in lakes and rivers and is harvested by hand. This wild rice does not resemble the wild rice variety found at grocery stores and has a distinctly different taste and texture. The wild rice harvest is threatened by instances of states’ disregard for treaty rights, water pollution, and climate change.18

Pow Wow: These are gatherings organized by tribes or multiple tribes and provide an opportunity for members to come together to dance, sing, and celebrate shared culture.19 Until the 1940s, large gatherings of Native Americans, including pow wows, were banned by the federal government. Many cultural traditions were lost due to these restrictions. As a result, a large purpose of pow wows is to preserve cultural traditions.20

Fry Bread: A food with complex significance, fry bread is made from dough fried in oil without the use of yeast. During the era of removal and relocation the federal government forcibly removed Native Americans from their tribal lands to reservations. The land often could not support traditional food staples so the government gave Native communities rations including canned goods, lard, white flour, and sugar. With these rations, tribal communities found a way to survive by making fry bread.21

Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA): Founded in 1824, the BIA is a federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior. The Bureau was created to assist the federal government in treaty and trade negotiation between tribal nations with the ultimate goal of assimilating Native Americans. The Bureau has a history of enacting harmful policies meant to erase the cultural traditions of Native Americans. Through extensive transformation, the majority of the 8,000 current employees at the BIA are tribal members. Its current mission is to act in more of an advisory role to promote tribal self-determination rather than take an overly paternalistic role.22

Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council (GLITC): Incorporated in 1965, GLITC was created to bring tribal leaders in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan together to manage the challenges of governing and delivering services to tribal members. GLITC represents twelve tribes from six nations with the mission of enhancing the quality of life for Native people. Through intergovernmental relationships, GLITC aids in developing programs to serve tribal members and manage relationships with federal, state, and local governments.7

Midwest Alliance of Sovereign Tribes (MAST): Founded in 1996, MAST represents the 35 tribal nations in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Michigan. MAST’s mission is to “advance, protect, preserve, and enhance the mutual interests, treaty rights, sovereignty, and cultural way of life of the sovereign nations of the Midwest throughout the 21st century.” MAST works to address important policy areas that impact tribal nations, including tribal sovereignty, trust responsibility, taxes, health, and housing.23

National Congress of American Indians (NCAI): NCAI is an American Indian and Alaska Native indigenous rights organization founded in 1944 to protect the treaty rights and culture of tribal nations. Initially created to resist federal tribal rights termination and cultural assimilation, the organization continues to advocate for rights recognition and the well-being of all federal and state recognized tribes in the United States.24

Indian Health Services (IHS): IHS is a federal agency with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that provides health services to American Indians and Alaska Natives. IHS is intended to provide comprehensive health care to Native Americans as established by treaties, statute, and federal doctrine. However, IHS is chronically underfunded (spending is $2,849 per person, lower than the national average of $7117 in 2016). Coupled with the health disparities American Indians and Alaska Natives face as a result of disproportionate poverty, inadequate access to education, and historical trauma, IHS is far from adequately addressing the health care needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives.25

 

REFERENCES

  1. National Congress of American Indians. United States Tribal Nations.; 2014. http://www.ncai.org/tribalnations/introduction/Tribal_Nations_and_the_United_States_An_Introduction-web-.pdf. Accessed September 6, 2018.
  2. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Frequently Asked Questions | Indian Affairs. https://www.bia.gov/frequently-asked-questions. Accessed September 21, 2018.
  3. Indian Land Tenure Foundation. Land Tenure Glossary. https://iltf.org/resources/other-resources/. Accessed September 25, 2018.
  4. Champagne D. Treaties, Ceded Lands, and Recognition. Indian Country Today. https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/treaties-ceded-lands-and-recognition-lzxeNpMTWkyPqVjwlbHlQg/. Published 2014. Accessed October 5, 2018.
  5. Johnson R. Tribal Gaming in Wisconsin. http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb. Accessed October 11, 2018.
  6. Hansen KN, Skopek TA. The New Politics of Indian Gaming : The Rise of Reservation Interest Groups. University of Nevada Press; 2011. https://books.google.com/books?id=fPzm0POIUSEC&dq=hunting+gaming+contract+governor+thompson+wisconsin&source=gbs_navlinks_s. Accessed October 11, 2018.
  7. Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council. Annual Report.; 2016. http://www.glitc.org/forms/Admin/glitc-annual-report-fy2016-final.pdf. Accessed October 11, 2018.
  8. Jones BJ, Richardson JG. The Indian Child Welfare Act: A Cultural and Legal Education Program. Williamsburg, VA; 1997. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/173731NCJRS.pdf. Accessed October 12, 2018.
  9. Becky Little. How Boarding Schools Tried to ‘Kill the Indian’ Through Assimilation – HISTORY. https://www.history.com/news/how-boarding-schools-tried-to-kill-the-indian-through-assimilation. Published 2017. Accessed October 16, 2018.
  10. Andrea Smith. Soul Wound: The Legacy of Native American Schools. https://www.manataka.org/page2290.html. Accessed October 16, 2018.
  11. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. State Statutes for American Indian Studies in Wisconsin | Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. https://dpi.wi.gov/amind/state-statues. Accessed October 16, 2018.
  12. National Park Service. Effigy Moundbuilders – Effigy Mounds National Monument (U.S. National Park Service). https://www.nps.gov/efmo/learn/historyculture/effigy-moundbuilders.htm. Accessed October 23, 2018.
  13. Jason Stein. Bill would lift protections on some historic effigy mounds. Journal Sentinel. http://archive.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/bill-would-lift-protections-on-some-historic-effigy-mounds-b99638851z1-364038161.html/. Published 2016. Accessed October 23, 2018.
  14. National Congress of American Indians. Ending the Era of Harmful “Indian” Mascots | NCAI. http://www.ncai.org/proudtobe. Accessed October 23, 2018.
  15. Milwaukee Public Museum. Spearfishing Treaty Controversy – Indian Country Wisconsin. http://www.mpm.edu/content/wirp/ICW-112.html. Accessed October 23, 2018.
  16. Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission. Protests. http://www.glifwc.org/TreatyRights/protest.html. Accessed October 23, 2018.
  17. Great Lakes Fishing and Wildlife Commission. Manoomin: The Good Berry. https://www.glifwc.org/publications/pdf/Goodberry_Brochure.pdf. Accessed November 9, 2018.
  18. LaDuke W. The Long and Honorable Battle of the Ojibwe to Keep Their Wild Rice Wild – IndianCountryToday.com. Indian Ctry Today. 2011. https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/the-long-and-honorable-battle-of-the-ojibwe-to-keep-their-wild-rice-wild-_dXm7kHqx0-l82Fu2arYLg/. Accessed November 9, 2018.
  19. Nanticoke Indian Association. What is a Powwow? http://www.nanticokeindians.org/page/what-powwow. Published 2011. Accessed November 9, 2018.
  20. American Indian Center. A Brief History of Powwows. https://www.aicchicago.org/about-powwows/. Published 2018. Accessed November 9, 2018.
  21. Miller J. Frybread | Arts & Culture | Smithsonian. Smithson Mag. 2008. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/frybread-79191/. Accessed October 30, 2018.
  22. Smith A. Westerner Explainers: What is the Bureau of Indian Affairs? High County News . https://www.hcn.org/articles/what-is-the-bureau-of-indian-affairs-bia. Published 2017. Accessed November 13, 2018.
  23. Midwest Alliance of Sovereign Tribes. What is MAST? http://m-a-s-t.org/what-is-mast/. Accessed November 13, 2018.
  24. National Congress of American Indians. Mission & History. http://www.ncai.org/about-ncai/mission-history. Published 2018. Accessed November 13, 2018.
  25. National Congress of American Indians. Reducing Disparities in the Federal Health Care Budget.; 2016. http://www.ncai.org/policy-issues/tribal-governance/budget-and-approprations/07_FY2016_Health_NCAI_Budget.pdf. Accessed November 13, 2018.