in 1970, the new policy was intended as a complete
reversal of Termination, through which the govern-
ment had attempted to dismantle the reservation
system in the 1950s and 1960s. Rather than trying
to get out of the “Indian business,” the Bureau of
Indian Affairs was now charged with administer-
ing more programs to improve Indian health care,
housing, and education and to stimulate economic
development in reservation communities. Integral
to Self-determination was the idea that Indians
should be more active participants in deciding what
programs they needed and how they should be op-
erated. As Nixon told Congress, “It is long past time
that the Indian policies of the Federal government
began to recognize and build upon the capacities
and insights of the Indian people.”
The Self-determination policy had perhaps
its most immediate effect on Indian education. In
1969, a report on Senate hearings titled Indian Ed-
ucation: A National Tragedy–A National Challenge
revealed to the nation what had long been clear to
Indian parents—that the Indian education system
did not serve their children well. The report’s con-
clusions were put into action three years later with
the passage of the Indian Education Act. In addi-
tion to provide extra funding for Indian schools, it
helped reverse a 100-year legacy of paternalism by
calling for Indians themselves to determine what
and how their children should be taught. Another
crucial improvement in education opportunities
open to Indians began with the opening of the
Navajo Community College (now Diné College)
in 1968. With the subsequent development of the
tribal community college system, Indian students
for the first time were given the chance to obtain
advanced degrees while still living in a Native
American community.
In the 1970s, Indians also seized on the court
system as another important vehicle for change.
Through landmark decisions such as United States
v. State of Washington (1974), courts confirmed In-
dian hunting, fishing, and mineral rights. Many
Indian tribes also pursued lawsuits to resolve
long-standing land claims disputes. For instance,
in Passamaquoddy v. Morton (1975), the Passa-
maquoddy and the Penobscot successfully sued
the U.S. government for allowing their aboriginal
lands to be overrun by whites, and in United States
v. Sioux Nation (1980), the Lakota were awarded a
judgment of more than $100 million in compen-
sation for the United States’s illegal seizure of the
Black Hills. Monetary awards won in court, how-
ever, were far from satisfying to many tribes seeking
redress to past wrongs. The Lakota, for instance, re-
fused the court’s award, deciding instead to continue
their battle for the return of their sacred lands.1969 to 1979