Jamie Stuck, Chairperson of the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi (NHBP) Tribe, joined a list of historical leaders as he was welcomed as a visiting dignitary by Harvard University and invited to sign the university’s guest book. The book contains hand-written signatures and messages from numerous distinguished leaders of many different nationalities, backgrounds, and beliefs including South African President Nelson Mandela, German President Angela Merkel, and Congressman John Lewis.

Eric discusses honouring First Nations people, communities and stewardship in the United States and how tribal governance can help reimagine what's possible when addressing systemic social issues.

The Maine legislature is once again considering a bill that would restore the sovereignty of Maine’s Indigenous tribes.

House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland) introduced bill L.D. 2007 on Monday to the state’s Judiciary Committee. The 41-page bill proposes implementing recommendations from a 2020 task force report that called for updating the Maine Indian Claims...

Read more about 'It is time to heal old wounds' | Sovereignty is once again on the table for Maine's Tribes

The protection of Indigenous peoples’ knowledge has become increasingly significant in recent decades. According to Angela R. Riley ’98, who spoke at Harvard Law School on Feb. 15, there has been a philosophical shift “from lands to brands”: Native American tribes have come to regard the preservation of traditional knowledge and genetic resources as just as crucial as the preservation of sacred lands. [...] In a panel on “Legal, Ethical, and Economic Foundations for Indigenous Intangible Property,” moderated by Olufunmilayo B. Arewa ’94, Kennedy School Professor Joseph Kalt addressed a...

Read more about Protecting Indigenous peoples' knowledge

A new study on American Indian economic and social change describes a growing middle class on the rural Winnebago reservation in Nebraska, despite Great Plains tribes being among the poorest in the nation.

The Winnebago Tribe’s progress also eclipses the middle classes of Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota, largely because of the tribe’s self-determined economic development through a federal contracting program for minority and disadvantaged businesses.

Federal contracting is vital to the Winnebago and other tribes. The Winnebago...

Read more about New study reflects growing middle class on Winnebago Reservation

A panel discussion at Harvard University addressed the dark history of the Osage Nation’s struggle for sovereignty with the American federal government, with the panel calling attention to modern Osage progress in light of Martin Scorsese’s 2023 film, “Killers of the Flower Moon.” 

“We were victims then, but we don’t live like victims today,” said panelist Jim Gray, Chief of the Osage Nation from 2002 to 2010.

It's been almost 400 years since Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck graduated, and there have been few Unversity-led initiatives to redress or reconcile Harvard's role in the persecution of Native Americans. Today, few Indigenous students benefit from a Harvard education.

The tribe first met with Scorsese in July 2019, hoping he would hear them out and try to ensure an accurate depiction of their culture. They got more than they expected.

Maine legislators on Thursday failed to override a veto by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills that would have applied federal law to the state's tribes following a final push by supporters of the overwhelmingly popular, bipartisan bill.

Nebraska's Winnebago Tribe is considered a mid-sized tribe, but it's a big award winner. The tribe's Ho-Chunk Village housing development is one of nine recipients of a 2023 Honoring Nations All-Star award from the Harvard Kennedy School Project on Indigenous Governance and Development. The winners were chosen from 142 prior Honoring Nations winners. The Village is a project of the tribe's economic development corporation, Ho-Chunk, Inc.

A legislative committee voted Thursday to advance a bill to put Maine’s tribes on equal footing with other tribal nations across the country, despite continued opposition from Gov. Janet Mills. The Judiciary Committee voted 10-4 on an amended version of LD 2004, with all Democrats and one Republican voting in favor of the bill. Maine’s four tribes are often ineligible for federal programs and benefits that help all other Indigenous people — 574 tribes — across the country. That’s because of Maine’s unique 1980 settlement that states no federal laws will apply to the tribes if they might...

Read more about Despite continued opposition from the Mills administration, Maine committee passes bill to give Wabanaki Nations access to federal laws

The Harvard Kennedy School received more than $15 million to fund an expansion of the Harvard Project on Indigenous Governance and Development, the school announced in a Tuesday press release.