Celebrating Tribal Sovereignty and Identity This Native American Heritage Month

Ada Deer was just four years old when she attended the first general council meetings for her tribe, the Menominee Nation, which has been rooted in the Great Lakes region for more than 10,000 years. She was committed from her earliest years to advocating for her people, but when she was a young woman, in 1961, the Federal Government terminated the Menominee Nation’s recognition, halting all federal services to the tribe and placing all tribal property and assets in the hands of a private corporation. This resulted in a drastic decline in employment and the decimation of basic services, including health care, for the Menominee people, as the reservation hospital closed due to lack of funding. 

Inspired by the civil rights movements happening around the country, Deer helped to form a new group demanding that the U.S. government recognize the rights of her tribe. The group mobilized in opposition to federal policies, especially those related to land sales, and argued for restoring the Menominee Nation’s legal right to exist. Their efforts ultimately resulted in President Nixon signing legislation in 1973, restoring federal recognition to the Menominee Tribe. That year, when asked about her advocacy in an interview, Deer said, “Mainly, I want to show people who say nothing can be done in this society that it just isn’t so. You don’t have to collapse just because there’s federal law in your way. Change it!” 

Ada Deer went on to become the first woman to chair the Menominee Tribe in Wisconsin, and then the first woman to serve as the Assistant Secretary For Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior. During her confirmation hearing before Congress, Deer recounted, “At Menominee, we collectively discovered the kind of determination that human beings only find in times of impending destruction… Against all odds, we invented a new policy, restoration.” While in office, she helped set federal policy for more than 550 federally recognized tribes, guided by this policy of restoration.

Each November at USAID, we recognize Native American Heritage Month. This month is a time to celebrate the rich culture and the vast contributions of Native American and Indigenous persons like Deer, who have helped push to make our nation’s core values of liberty and justice for all a lived reality, for their own communities, and for others in the United States and beyond. 

These values are core to what we do at USAID as well. We are working across our teams to create more pathways for people from Indigenous communities, at home and abroad, to work with USAID. The Office of Civil Rights is continuing its work to break down barriers to employment for Indigenous Peoples. And USAID’s Policy on Promoting the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (PRO-IP) promotes thoughtful and direct engagement with Indigenous Peoples throughout our programming.

This Native American Heritage Month, USAID proudly celebrates the remarkable resilience, courage, and contributions of Native cultures, present and past, in this country.