This week, Washington D.C. marks the 50th
anniversary of one of the greatest demonstrations for freedom held in our
nation’s capital. People from all over the United States gathered together to
speak of civil liberty, civil rights and economic freedom for all. 1963 was a big year for not only the
civil rights movement, but for many minority groups looking to Washington for
new and better representation. As I wrote in a post
for the National Museum of the American
Indian blog, the election of John F. Kennedy represented a new hope for the
blazing of new frontier of cooperation between the U.S. government and Native
American tribes.
Earlier in 1963 leaders from the National Congress of
American Indians (NCAI) converged on Washington, DC as well for a meeting with
President John F. Kennedy. The
group of tribal leaders, headed by NCAI President Walter Wetzel (Blackfeet),
was in DC trying to persuade Congress to enact legislation that would require
the consent tribal leadership before states could assume jurisdiction over
reservations.
NCAI President Walter Wetzel (Blackfeet), second from the
right, meets with JFK March 5, 1963.
National Congress of American Indian Records (NMAI.AC.010) [P34169] |
You can read President Kennedy’s remarks that day on the UC
Santa Barbara American
Presidency Project website.
NCAI President Walter Wetzel (Blackfeet) speaks in the Rose
Garden, March 5, 1963.
National Congress of American Indian Records (NMAI.AC.010) |
These photographs, from the records of the National
Congress of American Indians, represent just one moment in the long history
of Native American organizations coming to Washington, DC to stand up for their
rights.
Rachel Menyuk
Archives Technician, NMAI Archive Center
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