This story originally appeared on Underscore Native News.
The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 stands as a pivotal thread in the tapestry of Indigenous civil rights in the United States. Before its enactment, Native Americans confronted a bewildering legal landscape that systematically withheld citizenship and its accompanying rights.
Propelled by the advocacy of U.S. Rep. Homer P. Snyder and endorsed with presidential signature by Calvin Coolidge on June 2, 1924, the Act swept aside barriers that had long relegated Indigenous peoples to the fringes of citizenship, extending its mantle to 40% of Native Americans previously denied this fundamental status, as recorded by the Library of Congress.
President Calvin Coolidge with Ruth Muskrat, Cherokee, and others on December 13, 1923.
Courtesy of the National Archive
Native people were once barred from voting; today, they are the decisive factor in some races.
“I think it was a step by the U.S. government to make amends for generations of mistreatment. Native people have always had the will to prevail in the face of hardship and we have always had resiliency in our blood,” said O’Shay Birdinground, 21, Crow. Birdinground is a student at the University of Montana majoring in political science, with a minor in economics. Birdinground was voted Rocky Mountain Representative for Montana and Wyoming at this summer’s national gathering of UNITY, or United National Indian Tribal Youth in Portland.
The 15th amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects against voter discrimination based on race, color, or previous servitude. This citizenship-granting legislation symbolized a watershed moment in the quest for equality. Yet, amidst this hundred-year-late legislative triumph lay the shadows of ongoing struggles for full recognition and tribal autonomy, setting the stage for future battles over voting rights and the broader movement towards self-determination for Native nations.
Youth from Crow Nation wore shirts designed by Choke Cherry Creek for the UNITY Gala on July 2. O’shay Birdinground wore a traditional headdress.
Nika Bartoo-Smith / Underscore Native News / ICT
Elections decided by the Native vote
Today, with voting access across Indian Country being targeted, Birdinground thinks Native youth need to be involved in all aspects of voting in their state, whether the issue on the ballot is voting rights, health care, economic development or reproductive rights.
“In Montana, for instance, many of our elections have been decided by the Native vote, and it’s because of young Indigenous people who want to advocate for their communities that make it happen,” said Birdinground.
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat from Montana, is aiming for his fourth term, and Birdinground believes the reason Tester has been reelected repeatedly is because of the outreach and resources he pours into Indigenous communities in Montana.
“The Jon Tester campaign will help Indigenous people get to the polls because the Republican state government has been working to make it harder for Indigenous people to vote, and actually push polling stations further and further away from the reservation,” said Birdinground, noting that some Native voters along the state’s Hi-Line have to drive over 100 miles to the nearest polling station.
Kevin Simmons, president of the Native American Caucus of the Democratic Party of Oregon and a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde with roots in the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe.
courtesy of Kevin Simmons
Kevin Simmons, president of the Native American Caucus of the Democratic Party of Oregon and a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde with roots in the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, brings a dual perspective to his roles. Alongside his political activism, Simmons is a fourth-year doctoral student at Oregon State University, where his research centers on integrating Indigenous cultural practices into strategies that positively impact American Indians and Alaska Native communities.
Reflecting on the complexities of historical injustice, Simmons critiques the historical narrative surrounding governmental actions: “It’s ambiguous, this idea that these government entities have come over and seized control of our lands and then many years later, they’re now going to provide citizenship for us.”
In the 1950s and 1960s, Congress initiated policies aimed at terminating tribes across the nation. In 1964, Simmons’ tribe, Grand Ronde, was terminated — a federal-led effort, mirrored in other regions, aimed at forcibly assimilating tribes into mainstream American culture. These policies, Simmons argues, stripped Indigenous peoples of their identity, culture and land.
“It’s tough for me not to make a connection with voting rights and termination,” Simmons said. “We were still fighting for land, for recognition as Native people. How does that accurately depict the right to vote if we struggled even to be recognized as Native people?”
The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 ostensibly granted voting rights to all Indigenous people, yet, in practice, many faced obstacles due to inconsistent state implementations.
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William Miller, government affairs manager for the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA) Action Fund, Blackfeet and Cherokee, underscores the enduring impact on Native communities. “The intentional historical erasure and racial integration of our people demand a collective voice for positive systems change,” Miller said.
Miller advocates for community empowerment through initiatives such as leadership development and civic education. In June, he hosted a webinar to broaden perspectives on the Indian Citizenship Act, encouraging open dialogue on its intersectionality with tribal sovereignty and contemporary Native voting rights.
Generations before and after
Corinne Sams, an elected member of the Board of Trustees for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and an appointee to Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek’s tribal consultation task force, offered insights during Miller’s webinar, highlighting Indigenous governance systems that predate European contact.
“We have our order and roles that manage how we function as a people and in our way of life,” Sams said.
Sams critiqued the Act’s implementation, noting it needed to be executed in good faith, and emphasized the ongoing complexities of Indigenous sovereignty within the U.S. legal framework.
“We were treated like wards of the federal and state governments,” she said.
Robert Miller, Eastern Shawnee, is a professor of law at Arizona State University, former Chief Justice for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe Court of Appeals and author of books including “Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis & Clark, and Manifest Destiny.” Miller reflects on historical contexts where Indigenous peoples’ rights were tied to their service in American wars. He points to post-World War I federal legislation granting citizenship to Indigenous veterans but notes ongoing disparities in citizenship status and rights.
“I think there’s a low voting rate among American Indians, which may be for many minority groups and poverty-stricken groups, you know, is your vote worth the time? Is your vote even counted? And does the state make it too much trouble,” said Miller.
Birdinground says his generation has a critical responsibility when it comes to voting rights, just as generations before him did and generations after him will.
“Generations have come before us and generations will come after us because of the work that our ancestors and us as generations have done to make it,” said Birdinground.
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