Up From Obscurity: Indian Rights Activism and the Development of Tribal-State Relations in the 1970s and 1980s Deep South

Abstract

This dissertation examines tribal-state relations in Alabama and Louisiana during the 1970s and 1980s. These relationships were the outcomes of the Southern Indian Movement, which emerged just as regional and national racial politics began shifting and southern states started to recognize Indian populations through the development of Indian Affairs Commissions. Through these state agencies, Indian groups forged strong networks with local, state, and national agencies while advocating for cultural preservation and revitalization, economic development, and the implementation of community services. Commissions also brought formerly isolated groups, each with different goals and needs, together for the first time, creating an assortment of alliances and divisions. These unique relationships between tribes and states additionally served state interests by giving legislators the opportunity to wage public relations campaigns, to make racialized critiques of the Black Civil Rights Movement, to emphasize the South's indigenous identity, and to assert states' rights by assuming federal responsibilities.