Chronology of American Indian History

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During the conference, the IITC is named a
nongovernmental organization (NGO), the first
group to be given this designation by the UN. NGO
status makes the IITC an official consultant of the
Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

August 15

The Native American Public Broadcasting
Consortium is founded.
Located in Lincoln, Nebraska, the Native American
Public Broadcasting Consortium is established to
fund and produce public television programs about
American Indians. The organization also offers to
review PBS-produced shows with Native American
content for accuracy and begins building a library
of Indian-related films and videos.

September

The Alaskan Eskimo Whaling Commission is
founded.
In response to a ban placed on subsistence hunting
of bowhead whales by the International Whaling
Commission, (INC) eight Iñupiat communities in
northern Alaska form the Alaskan Eskimo Whal-
ing Commission. The commission is charged with
educating the IWC about the bowhead population
and their whaling traditions. To convince the IWC
that the number of bowheads is far larger than their
estimates, the Iñupiat group initiates an ambitious
census of the whale population. Their evidence will
eventually convince the IWC to replace the ban on
whaling with a quota on the number of bowhead
that can be hunted.

October 13

The Bureau of Indian Affairs head becomes
an assistant secretary.
Since 1832, the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
has been referred to as a “commissioner.” With the
appointment of Forrest J. Gerard, President Jimmy
Carter symbolically elevates this position by renam-
ing it “assistant secretary,” the same title given to

the administrators of other agencies in the Depart-

ment of the Interior.

1978

February to July

Indian activists stage the “Longest

Walk” protest.

Reminiscent of the Trail of Broken Treaties (see

entry for NOVEMBER 2 TO 8, 1972), a group of

Indian activists, led by the American Indian Move-

ment leader Dennis Banks, marches on the “Longest

Walk”—a 3,000-mile trek from San Francisco to

Washington, D.C.—to draw attention to Indian

issues. The protest is in part inspired by the gov-

ernment’s removal of Navajo (Dineh) traditionalists

from their lands on the Hopi Reservation (see entry

for DECEMBER 22, 1974). After the group reaches

“We ask each and every one

of you to pray with us for

the next four days. We want

to meet your community, we

want to talk to your people,

and we want to change the

image that has been portrayed

by John Wayne, the media, and

the history books. We want

to portray the truth. We the

Indian people, the Red Man

of the Western Hemisphere,

are the truth of the Western

Hemisphere!”

—activist Clyde Bellecourt,

in a speech given in Washington,

D.C., during the “Longest Walk”

protest