languages in institutions operated by the Bureau of
Indian Affairs.
November 16
The Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act is passed.
Despite opposition from the Society of American
Archaeology, Congress passes the Native Ameri-
can Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The
legislation is a response to Indians’ demands for
repatriation—the return to Indian tribes of Native
American remains and artifacts collected by non-
Indians from grave sites.
The act increases legal protection of Indian
burial grounds by citing penalties for tampering
with graves and selling objects collected from them.
It also requires all federal agencies and institutions
that receive funds from the U.S. government to in-
ventory the Indian remains, funerary objects, sacred
objects, and items of central ceremonial significance
in their collections. These institutions are also re-
sponsible for contacting the appropriate Indian
groups about the objects held. The groups may
then submit applications requesting that any or all
of these items be returned.
November 29
The Indian Arts and Crafts Act criminalizes
nonauthentic Indian art.
With the rapid growth of the Indian art industry,
many non-Indian craftspeople have tried to in-
crease sales by marketing their work as Indian art.
Responding to pressure from Indian leaders to
stop this practice, Congress passes a revision of the
Indian Arts and Crafts Act (see entry for AU-
GUST 27, 1935), establishing means to punish
impostor Indian artists. The act allows the Indian
Arts and Crafts Board to bring civil and criminal
suits against artists not enrolled in a federally rec-
ognized Indian tribe who represent themselves as
Indians to their customers. (Indian artists belong-
ing to tribes not formally recognized by the federal
government can obtain special certification.) It also
prohibits galleries from selling nonenrolled artists’
works as Indian art.December 23 to 29The Big Foot Memorial Riders
commemorate the Wounded Knee Massacre.
In recognition of the hundred-year anniversary of
the massacre at Wounded Knee (see entry for DE-
CEMBER 29, 1890), 200 Lakota horsemen calling
themselves the Big Foot Memorial Riders retrace
the 150-mile route taken by Chief Big Foot’s band
from their Cheyenne River Reservation to the
massacre site. Throughout the ride, participants
say prayers to ensure the survival of the Lakota and
their culture. Describing the event’s purpose, one
participant later explains, “The Lakota Nation’s
greatest tragedy was used to build the people’s
strength.”1991Author Forrest Carter is revealed to be an
Indian impostor.
The Education of Little Tree is exposed as the work
of a non-Indian who had been a speechwriter for
Alabama governor George Wallace and a member
of the Ku Klux Klan. The author, Asa Earl Carter
(a.k.a. Forrest Carter), who died in 1979, presented
himself as a Cherokee and his book as the true story
of how he learned the traditions of his tribe from
his traditional grandparents.
First published in 1976 and reissued 1986, the
book was embraced by teachers faced with develop-
ing multicultural curricula in the late 1980s. The
book became an unlikely best-seller and in 1990
was awarded the American Booksellers Award, an
honor annually bestowed on the favorite book of
booksellers across the United States.The Supreme Court grants states the right
to tax Indian cigarette sales to non-Indians.
In the case of Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Citi-
zen Band Potawatomi Indian Tribe, the state of