Native American Heritage Month

“That hand is not the color of yours, but if I prick it, the blood will flow, and I shall feel pain. The blood is of the same color as yours. God made me, and I am a Man.” – Chief Standing Bear, Poncha (1829-1908)1

States and school districts have been banning books in schools that share alternate perspectives of Indigenous voices, immigrant authors, and histories that challenge the narrative of an innocuous manifest destiny and its long-ranging impacts. One story that should not be lost, is the story of Chief Standing Bear (Ma-chú-nu-zhe), an early civil rights hero. Chief Standing Bear of the Ponca, challenged the government of the United States in 1879 to recognize Native Americans as persons with rights when their rights had been stripped away. 2

The efforts by President Andrew Jackson and lawmakers in the early and mid-nineteenth century were primarily focused on moving tribes and bands from the existing states and territories to open them up for western settlement. Ostensibly, in an effort towards fairness, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 required the U.S. to set aside lands west of the Mississippi River for Indigenous tribes followed by the Indian Trade and Intercourse Act of 1834, which established the boundaries of Indian Territory and regulated relations between Native Americans and non-Native Americans.3 These laws were meant to create balance for the lands, communities, and livelihoods lost. They did not.  

Between the 1830s and 1850s, the well-known Trail of Tears followed the forced relocation of Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole, and other tribes from their homelands over distances as long as 1,000 miles to the newly established Indian Territory. The legislative efforts to implement manifest destiny resulted in loss, misery and death for the tribes. 4 Decades later, in 1877, the Ponca were asked to leave their land. They found the substitute land unacceptable and refused. Like many other Indigenous groups before them, the Ponca were also forced to relocate by the U.S. military. The new land was difficult to cultivate and many in their community died. Chief Standing Bear and others were refused the right to leave the Territory to bury their dead or visit their ancestral homeland and were arrested when they did.5   

General George Crook, once an enforcer of federal policy, disagreed with the lack of humanity in Chief Standing Bear’s treatment and journalist Thomas Tibbles publicized his cause. Further, Tibbles outlined Chief Standing Bear’s non-existent civil rights in newspapers, using the newish Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to argue Native Americans also had the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness under the law.6 

The government’s case posited that a Native American was not a person nor a citizen in the eyes of the law. Therefore, they could not sue the government for their freedom or release from the Indian Territory reservations or anything else. Chief Standing Bear established his case eloquently through an interpreter.

“That hand is not the color of yours, but if I pierce it, I shall feel pain. If you pierce your hand, you also feel pain. The blood that will flow from mine will be the same color as yours. I am a man. God made us both.” – Chief Standing Bear, 18797

The trial judge, Judge Elmer Dundy, surprised the country with his ruling establishing not only that “an Indian is a person” but that Chief Standing Bear was being detained illegally and issued a writ of habeas corpus to have him released from custody.8  While this victory freed him and other members of the Ponca tribe from custody, it did not alter that their lands and traditional livelihood had been lost and their community devasted by disease and death from the forced relocation efforts. And after establishing personhood, the decision was limited in its scope and also placed limits on where Ponca members could travel, such as visiting other Indian territories assigned to other tribes.  

While the Standing Bear vs. Crook case was a critical moment in civil rights history, it only applied to the specific tribe of the Ponca people and it did not address the bigger question of citizenship and the rights that automatically come with it. The court victory also was not honored by military authorities. When Chief Standing Bear’s brother, Big Snake, attempted to leave the Ponca Indian Territory as should have been his right, he was shot and killed.

Later agreements and rulings stated the Ponca still had ownership of the lands they were forced to leave.9 “Scholars have compared the case in its civil rights impact to the Dred Scott decision and to Brown v. Board of Education.”10 While it was a milestone in the complicated relations between Indigenous people and the government of what has become the United States of America, Chief Standing Bear’s courage standing up on principle and the case were an early test of the U.S. Constitution and the 14th Amendment. 

  1. “Standing Bear’s Courtroom Speech – Native American Heritage Month.” | Administrative Office of the United States Courts. https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/annual-observances/standing-bears-courtroom-speech-native, October 27, 2024.
  1. Jennifer (J.) Davis. “Chief Standing Bear and His Landmark Civil Rights Case” | In Custodia Legis. November 19, 2019. The Library of Congress.  https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2019/11/chief-standing-bear-and-his-landmark-civil-rights-case/, October 27, 2024.
  1. “Indian Treaties and the Removal Act of 1830.” Office of the Historian. Department of State. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/indian-treaties#:~:text=, October 27, 2024.
  1. Trailwide Research. | National Park Service. August 3, 2023. https://www.nps.gov/trte/learn/historyculture/trailwide-research.htm, October 27, 2024.
  1. “Marker Monday: Ponca Trail of Tears – White Buffalo Girl.” Nebraska State Historical Society. https://history.nebraska.gov/marker-monday-ponca-trail-of-tears-white-buffalo-girl/, October 28, 2024.
  1. “Chief Standing Bear: A Person Under the Law.”| US Courts Library, 8th Circuit. https://www.lb8.uscourts.gov/pubsandservices/histsociety/neb-chief-standing-bear-text.pdf, October 27, 2024.
  1. “Standing Bear’s Courtroom Speech – Native American Heritage Month.” | Administrative Office of the United States Courts. https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/annual-observances/standing-bears-courtroom-speech-native, October 27, 2024.
  1. “Chief Standing Bear: A Person Under the Law.”| US Courts Library, 8th Circuit. https://www.lb8.uscourts.gov/pubsandservices/histsociety/neb-chief-standing-bear-text.pdf, October 27, 2024.
  1. Jennifer (J.) Davis. “Chief Standing Bear and His Landmark Civil Rights Case” | In Custodia Legis. November 19, 2019. The Library of Congress.  https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2019/11/chief-standing-bear-and-his-landmark-civil-rights-case/, October 27, 2024.
  1. “Chief Standing Bear: A Person Under the Law.”| US Courts Library, 8th Circuit. https://www.lb8.uscourts.gov/pubsandservices/histsociety/neb-chief-standing-bear-text.pdf, October 27, 2024.

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