The Sentinel signals a rebirth of NCAI’s oldest and most continuously published membership newsletter, The NCAI Sentinel. Published for the first time in the 1940s, The Sentinel focused on NCAI membership matters, events, people and policy issues. This newly conceived version will, instead, take a look backwards with a nod to the present. Each post will feature stories about past events, programs, and people, as well as articles on NCAI leaders throughout the years and new developments and discoveries in the archival collections.
Drawing on NCAI’s rich digital and physical archival collections, it is our hope that you will return each month to learn more about the organization’s 80 years of advocacy for Indian Country and, as a result, will also remain informed about what is happening at NCAI today.
The Native American Graves Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) addresses the treatment and repatriation of cultural items, objects of cultural patrimony, sacred objects, and human remains. Passed into law in 1990 as a result of decades of NCAI advocacy, this legislation goes a long way towards recognizing and respecting the sacred, religious, and cultural rights of American…
The Native American Graves Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) addresses the treatment and repatriation of cultural items, objects of cultural patrimony, sacred objects, and human remains. Passed into law in 1990 as a result of decades of NCAI advocacy, this legislation goes a long way towards recognizing and respecting the sacred, religious, and cultural rights of American…
This legislation has gone a long way to support pay equity for women but there is still a persistent and pervasive gap across all demographic sectors of women. For example, recent research has shown that the pay gap has been closing for White women; however, for Native women, it remains at the lowest of any…
Every year, the NCAI President delivers the State of Indian Nations address to members of Congress, government officials, tribal leaders and the public. Frequently, the address is appropriately given during the same week as the U.S. President’s State of the Union address. The purpose of the State of Indian Nations address is to lay out…
The Executive Council Winter Session (ECWS) brings together representatives from member tribes to Washington, DC, for the purpose of planning strategy for the coming year. Although the ECWS is required by the NCAI Constitution today, this wasn’t always the case. For the first 11 years of the organization’s existence, the Council did meet, but not…
For this month’s blog post, we travel back in time to the Fourth Annual NCAI Convention held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in December 1947 to share an inspirational story of unity and cooperation. The theme of this convention was “One for All, All for One, United We Endure”, an appropriate message carefully chosen by…
In 1924, The Indian Citizenship Act was passed into law, extending citizenship to all Native people. However, even after the passage of this law, states still used a variety of means to disenfranchise American Indian and Alaska Native people. In 1928, Peter Porter and Rudolph Johnson, citizens of the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona,…
On August 8, 2023, President Biden took a significant step by designating Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni in Northern Arizona as a national monument. The name is a combination of the Havasupai “Baaj Nwaavjo,” meaning where Indigenous people roam, and the Hopi phrase “I’tah Kukveni,” meaning our ancestral footprints. This designation, located near the Grand Canyon,…
While today there are 37 Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) across the country, they are a relatively recent development in the higher education landscape, emerging as an outgrowth of the American Indian self-determination movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The first tribal college was founded in 1968, just 55 years ago, to serve the Navajo…
Advocating for the elimination of derogatory and racist mascots and images has been a part of NCAI’s mission throughout most of the organization’s history. While some critics of these efforts claim recent efforts are a result of a fad or fall into the recent “cancel culture” ideology, the reality is that NCAI’s work in this…
As many of our readers may be aware, the Colorado River has been a focus in recent news after a major multi-state agreement announced in May 2023 indicated that the federal government will compensate $1.2 Billion to municipalities, water districts and Tribal Nations in Arizona, California and Nevada in exchange for reducing water consumption. Although…
Although NCAI was founded in 1944, a new chapter in the organization’s history began 33 years later at the first Mid Year Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in June 1977. This conference was developed at the Executive Council Winter Session held earlier that year. During that session, NCAI leaders adopted a plan calling for an…
The Sentinel 