President Calvin Coolidge poses with tribal citizens at the White House after signing Indian Citizenship Act. Photo from Library of Congress
The Indian Citizenship Act celebrated its 90th anniversary this week. President Calvin Coolidge signed the bill into law on June 2, 1924. It extended U.S. citizenship to all "Indians" who were born within U.S. territorial limits. Despite the law, Indian Country Today notes that Indian citizens were routinely denied the same rights afforded to other U.S. citizens. The right to vote, for example, was denied regularly up until the 1950s and 1960s. Ten years after the Indian Citizenship Act, the Indian Reorganization Act became law in 1934. The law ended the allotment era and sought to restore self-determination to tribal nations. Get the Story:
Native History: Citizenship Thrust Upon Natives by U.S. Congress (Indian Country Today 6/2)
Native American Life, 90 Years After ‘Official Citizenship’ (Time 6/2)
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