Cultures of NACA Members

Alaska Natives

When Alaska became part of the United States in 1867, there was no provision for private ownership in the new territory, except for the private individual property holders who had obtained written title to the land under the Russians. The U.S. Organic Act of 1884 allowed non-Alaska Natives to own mining sites, as long as they were not in areas of use or occupation by indigenous Alaskan’s. Subsequent law enacted in the 1900’s allowed for Alaska Natives to obtain restricted title to some ancestral lands. One example of the restrictions placed on the title was that Alaska Native owners did not have the right to sell the land without permission of the Federal Government. Various other laws allowed new settlers to homestead large areas of land, provided they surveyed and worked it.

By the time of statehood in 1959, most of the land in Alaska was claimed by the Federal Government, with a small amount -- centered around the cities -- owned by individuals, almost all of whom were new settlers. Yet, the rights of Alaska Natives to their ancestral lands had been acknowledged in a number of legal documents from the time of Alaska’s purchase. The message in all the documents was that Alaska Natives owned their own land, but that it is up to future generations to decide how they would get title to it. Exactly which lands were the ancestral lands had not been addressed until the 1900s, when bit by bit, Natives began to lay claim to portions of the land in the territory. Because of a growing non-Native population in Alaska, the discovery of a vast oil field on the North Slope of Alaska, and increasing demands for that oil in the lower 48, the question of “who owns Alaska” became a national issue in the 1960’s.

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) [ANCSA Background document] of 1971 settled the land claims of Alaska Native people in exchange for approximately 44 million acres of land plus $962.5 million to start ANCSA corporations. To participate under the claims act you had to be of at least one-fourth Native ancestry. Of the approximately 80,000 Natives enrolled under ANCSA, those living in villages (approximately two-thirds of the total) would receive 100 shares in both a village and a regional corporation. The remaining one-third would be “at-large” shareholders with 100 shares in a regional corporation plus additional rights to regional mineral and timber resources. Twelve regional corporations set up within the state would administer the settlement. A thirteenth corporation composed of Alaska Natives who had left the state would receive money, but not land. The settlement act created corporations as an alternative to the reservation system set up for Native Americans in the lower 48 states.

Native Hawaiians

In 1810 the kingdom of Hawaii was established creating a unified, independent constitutional monarchy, ending the reign of chiefdoms. The traditional Native Hawaiian political system, individual chiefdoms, involved a highly complex social structure and feudal system. In 1840, the Kingdom of Hawaii adopted its first of four constitutions. The constitution of 1840 instituted a House of Representatives, House of Nobles and a Judiciary system.

Hawaii was recognized by the United States as a strategic location for trade, military protection and economic development. In 1893, with assistance from American troops from the U.S.S. Boston, American businessmen illegally overthrew the Kingdom. Queen Lili’uokalani was removed from power and the Republic of Hawaii was declared. In 1897, Hawaii was annexed to the U.S., creating the territory of Hawaii on July 7, 1898. The Admission Act of 1959 created the State of Hawaii, ceding all of the lands from the Kingdom to the U.S. and stated that the U.S. would in return create a trust to better the conditions of Native Hawaiians. In 1960, the State of Hawaii created the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to manage 200,000 acres of trust lands established in 1920 by the federal government.

In 1974, the Native American Programs Act was amended to include Native Hawaiians as a category of indigenous people of the U.S. This allowed Native Hawaiians to become eligible for some of the federal assistance programs designed for Native American tribes. Over the course of the last 30 years, more than 160 pieces of federal legislation have been implemented on a variety of issues, including affordable housing, healthcare and education, which reaffirm the indigenous status of Native Hawaiians. During the 1978 State Constitutional Convention, in an effort to study and preserve Hawaiian culture, history and language, the Hawaiian State Government established the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

In 1993, former President Clinton signed an Apology Resolution for the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and use of the American troops against Queen Lili’uokalani. In 1996, Native Hawaiians voted to create an interim Native Hawaiian government to reestablish self determination. In the early 2000s, Senator Daniel Akaka and Senator Daniel Inouye introduced the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act which is currently pending before the Congress. If passed, this legislation would establish a process for the reorganization of a Native Hawaiian government similar to that of Native American tribes. Native Hawaiians still await the passage of this bill as well as the return of their lands from both the federal and state governments.

Native American Tribal Groups

Prior to European contact there were approximately seven to ten million Native Americans residing in the borders of the present day United States. Today, there are 567 recognized Indian tribes with a total membership of approximately 1.7 million in the U.S. The U.S. government, recognizing the independence of these tribes, created a means of interacting with them. The U.S. Constitution (1787) recognized a special relationship between tribes and the Federal Government, and has been reinforced and strengthened through treaties, laws, Supreme Court decisions, and Executive Orders.

Between 1778 and 1868, there were 367 treaties ratified between the U.S. government and various Native American tribes. These treaties acknowledged the sovereignty of tribes as independent political communities to be self-governed. At the same time, they acknowledged tribes as domestic dependent nations of the U.S., reliant on the U.S. for protection and economic development.

The U.S. government’s policy toward Native Americans has varied over time and has brought with it drastic changes to tribes’ way of life and economic self-sufficiency. In 1824, the U.S. Indian Office was established and changed federal Indian policy from one of friendly co-existence with Natives to physical removal and assimilation. Later, the 1830 Indian Removal Act forced the eviction of Native Americans from east of the Mississippi River. After the Civil War, tribes were relocated to reservations where they remained until the General Allotment (Dawes) Act of 1887. The General Allotment Act was an attempt to end tribes’ collective ownership of land. Tribal members were given smaller, individually owned lots. The remaining 90,000 “surplus” acres of land were purchased by new western settlers. In response to the devastating effects of the Allotment Act, in 1934 the Indian Reorganization Act ended the allotment process and restored some of the reservations.

In the 1950s, the Federal Government again changed its Native American policy. Coined the termination policy, tribal lands were dissolved as Native Americans were relocated from their reservations to urban centers. The 1970s brought an end to the termination policy.

The 1980s and 1990s led to a resurgence of Indian self-determination and pride. Today, the Federal Government is continuing to work and support its constitutional and treaty obligations to provide protection and to promote economic development, through programs like the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program.

Native American 8(a) Contracting

Economic self-sufficiency is an important goal for the ANCSA and Tribal corporations. One of the more successful initiatives in helping Native Americans achieve this goal was to qualify ANCSA and Tribal corporations for the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program by including them in the definition of “socially and economically disadvantaged” individuals. Under this program, Native Americans qualify to receive government contracts on a sole-source basis. Unlike other individuals or firms that qualify under the 8(a) program, ANCSA corporations and Tribal organizations and Native Hawaiian Organizations are able to receive a sole-source government contract regardless of the amount.

The 8(a) provisions have opened the doors for the shareholders of ANCSA corporations who receive numerous benefits from financially successful government contracts. These benefits are distributed among all of the shareholders through dividends, job opportunities, education and training, scholarships and cultural programs. ANCSA corporation shares cannot be sold, traded or levied, making the ANCSA corporations success an important factor in the lives of shareholders.

ANSCA corporations are for-profit businesses, but they also have social and cultural responsibilities, including the management of large land holdings and supporting of their peoples’ cultural traditions and subsistence way of life.

Native American contractors provide services to the Federal Government in every conceivable capacity, throughout the world. They supply logistic support to navy ships, electronic security services to the Department of Defense, construction services, oil field services, and Information Technology, just to name a few. The Federal Government and contractors within the Native American community are forging a new relationship to the betterment of both. The Government is able to expeditiously obtain services, meet its small business contracting goals, and receive exceptional contract performance from a progressive contractor pool. Native American contractors benefit through the broadening of their economic base which directly enhances the lives of individuals within Native American communities.