While Native Americans enjoy the rights of United States citizens, they also have rights as members of indigenous communities. In many instances, Native Americans have privileged access to natural resources, operate businesses that are exempt from local regulation, and organize govern-ment and social welfare organizations that serve and protect their communities. All of these activities take place in a nation whose Constitution’s opening phrase, “We the people,” was not originally written to encompass the needs and desires of Native peoples. How did this happen? Dr. Hoxie will describe how a succession of Native American leaders— lawyers, diplomats, writers and politicians—forged a vision of American citizenship that could accommodate indigenous people and recognize their unique place in the nation’s history and political life. Their victory—the creation of a legal space for Indian people within the legal framework of the United States—saved democracy, both for Native Americans and for everyone else and has implications for other indigenous peoples in the world.

This talk is the keynote lecture for the Cultures of Law in Global Contexts (INTERSECT) Annual Symposium.

Hosted by the INTERSECT program, Graduate College