Chronology of American Indian History

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1980

April 15

Cherokee’s Tellico Dam suit is dismissed.
To stop the Tennessee Valley Authority’s construction
of the Tellico Dam on the Tennessee River, the East-
ern Branch of the Cherokee file a lawsuit charging
that the dam will flood sites sacred to them and there-
fore violate their freedom of religion. The U.S. Court
of Appeals will dismiss the suit, ruling that the sites
are not essential to the Cherokee’s religious practices.

June 22

Mohawk nun Kateri Tekakwitha is beatified.
The Catholic Church beatifies Kateri Tekakwitha
(see entry for APRIL 17, 1680), the second step to-
ward canonization. Tekakwitha, an early Mohawk
convert who was known for her intense piety, is
an important symbol to Native American Catho-
lics. Many are involved in the Kateri Tekakwitha
Movement, which embraces an integration of Ca-
tholicism and Indian religious traditions. (See also
entries for 1939 and 1977.)

June 30

The U.S. Supreme Court settles the Sioux’s
Black Hills case.
Beginning in 1923, the Lakota Sioux have repeat-
edly attempted to sue the United States for its
illegal seizure of the sacred Black Hills (see entry for
1877). The Supreme Court finally gives its decision
on the dispute, ruling in favor of the Lakota in the
United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians. It upholds
the Court of Claims’s earlier decision to award
the Indians $17.5 million plus interest (see entry
for 1974)—the largest Indian lands–claim settle-
ment to date. (Held in trust by the federal Treasury,
the amount will total more than $600 million by
2005.) Although much of the Lakota population
lives in poverty, all tribal groups will decide to reject
the award and instead continue to fight for the re-
turn of the Black Hills.

“How much is your mother

worth? You wouldn’t sell your

mother for all the money in the

United States, and that’s how

we feel about the Black Hills.”

—Doris Leader Charge on the

Lakota Sioux’s rejection of a cash

settlement for the Black Hills

July 8

The Hopi-Navajo Relocation Act is passed.

Through the Hopi-Navajo Relocation Act, Congress

allocates funds to purchase new lands for Navajo

families living on the Hopi reservation. An earlier

law (see entry for DECEMBER 22, 1974) required

the relocation of these families in order to resolve

a Hopi-Navajo land dispute dating from the for-

mation of the Hopi Indian Reservation nearly 100

years before (see entry for DECEMBER 16, 1882).

October 10

Maine awards the Penobscot and

Passamaquoddy $81 million.

With the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act, the

Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribes agree to give

up their claim to 12.5 million acres of land in the

state. The law is the culmination of a protracted

legal battle, in which the tribes maintained that

Maine had illegally confiscated two-thirds of the

state’s lands from these Indian groups, in violation

of the Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790 (see entry

for 1975).

In exchange for relinquishing their land claims,

the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy receive a cash

payment of $81 million. Part of the award is to be

set aside for the purchase of 300,000 acres of land.

The act also gives the tribes’ reservations the powers

granted municipalities. In the words of the Native