Native America - Obama Presidency Oral History

In his public statements, Obama regularly acknowledged historical crimes committed against Native Americans by the United States, and his administration settled major longstanding class action lawsuits from Native Americans seeking damages for actions committed by federal departments. The first of these, Cobell v. Salazar, concerned the mismanagement of Indian trust funds and other federally-managed assets. In late-2010, Obama signed legislation to appropriate $3.4 billion for the Cobell settlement, which made direct payments to class members; returned tracts of Native-owned land to communal, tribal ownership; and established a scholarship fund to support Native students in postgraduate education. In 2011, the government settled a similar suit, Keapseagle v. Vilsack, which awarded $760 million to Native American farmers and ranchers who had faced discrimination in USDA loan programs. 

Obama also signed criminal justice reforms that enhanced tribal sovereignty. The Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 funded crime prevention programs on reservations, but also strengthened tribal law enforcement, and empowered tribal courts to prosecute more crimes and issue more severe sentences. In 2013, Obama signed a reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Until then, prevailing law held that tribes lack jurisdiction over crimes committed on tribal lands by non-Indians, but the 2013 reauthorization granted tribes a “special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction” that allowed them to prosecute non-Indians who committed domestic or dating violence on tribal lands. In their interviews, tribal court judges, as well as narrators from across the federal government, recount legal and legislative negotiations and reflect on the significance of settlements and reforms on relations between the government and Native communities. 

Land and environmental issues were also central to the Obama administration’s relations with tribal governments and Native activists. Over the course of both terms, the White House used the Antiquities Act of 1906 to protect tens of millions of acres of public lands from development and industrial degradation. At times, the administration worked closely with tribal coalitions to protect sites of cultural and historical significance to Native communities. The most notable process of this kind concerned the Bears Ears buttes on Utah’s Colorado Plateau. An intertribal coalition petitioned the government to protect the sacred land, and after extensive engagement, Obama designated the 1.35-million-acre Bears Ears National Monument in the final months of his presidency. 

Environmental issues were also a source of conflict between the administration, tribal governments, and Native activists, however. Major protests emerged in opposition to the proposed construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, both of which threatened Native lands and tribal water sources. The administration ultimately delayed construction of both pipelines, but the extended process caused considerable bitterness. In their oral histories, narrators speak widely about the administration’s approach to environmental issues in Indian Country. 

Healthcare and education were also areas of policy focus for the administration. The administration’s marquee healthcare reform initiative, the Affordable Care Act, worked to redress health disparities between Native and non-Native Americans, and its expansion of Medicaid made many Native Americans eligible for the program for the first time. The ACA also permanently authorized the Indian Health Care Improvement Act—a priority among advocates and tribal leaders since its expiration in 2000—creating new Indian Health Service programs, and expanding support for many health services inaccessible on tribal lands. In 2010, the Department of Education released a major report on the inadequacies of educational resources available to Native children, and in response, Obama established a White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education, and launched a pilot series of State-Tribal Education Partnerships to award grants to state tribal education agencies. Across the project archive, narrators outline these efforts and programs, and they are discussed further on the topic pages for Healthcare and Education.