Chronology of American Indian History

(Marvins-Underground-K-12) #1
tribe. Over the next week, more than 100,000
people will visit the new museum, which includes
display space for more than 8,000 objects—approx-
imately 1 percent of the institution’s holdings.

September 29

Senate committee begins hearings on
lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s ties to tribal
governments.
After a seven-month-long investigation, the Sen-
ate Indian Affairs Committee concludes that
Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his partner,
Michael Scanlon, charged six tribes $66 million
over the course of four years, providing little to the
tribes while pocketing $21 million of their fees and

funneling millions more into Republican political
organizations. Subpoenaed documents also sug-
gest that they manipulated the tribal elections of
the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and
the Saginaw Chippewa. Emails between Abramoff
and Scanlon read before the committee underscore
the lobbyists’ contempt for their clients, whom they
refer to as “monkeys,” “idiots,” and “troglodytes.”
Scanlon refuses to appear before the committee.
Abramoff makes an appearance during the hear-
ings, but refuses to answer questions, citing his
Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
(See also entry for JANUARY 3, 2006.)

October

The National Congress of American Indians
(NCAI) begins a campaign for an Indian
embassy.
At its winter meeting, the National Congress of
American Indians (see entry for NOVEMBER 1944)
initiates the Capital Campaign with the aim of rais-
ing $12 million in three years. The money will be
used to buy a building in Washington, D.C., which
will house the NCAI and other organizations de-
voted to championing tribal rights. The building
will be called the Embassy of Tribal Nations. By
referring to the facility as an embassy, the NCAI
hopes to reinforce to lawmakers that tribal gov-
ernments should be accorded the same respect as
foreign governments.

October 26

Court confirms the land rights of “loyal
Mdewakanton” descendants.
Judge Charles Lettow finds that the federal gov-
ernment breached its trust responsibilities to the
descendants of the “loyal Mdewakanton”—the Da-
kota who stayed out of the tribe’s 1862 conflict with
Minnesota settlers (see entry for AUGUST 18 TO
SEPTEMBER 23, 1862). In 1980, the government al-
lowed lands specifically set aside for them and their
descendants to be absorbed into the tribe’s property.
The new ruling will allow about 1,200 descendants

Museum Director W. Richard West, Jr., speaks before
a crowd of thousands at the opening of the National
Museum of the American Indian in Washington,
D.C. (Courtesy, National Museum of the American In-
dian, Smithsonian Institution. Photo by John Harrington.)

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