Native American Issues
Follow the latest Native American Issues news, videos, and analysis from ABC News.
October 29, 2024 at 3:50 PM

Native Americans' vote could swing some of the most hotly contested counties

In the waning days of the presidential campaign, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are courting Native American voters in states where their vote could swing some of the most hotly contested counties in the country
October 29, 2024 at 3:50 PM
FILE - Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, on the Gila River Indian Community reservation in Chandler, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
October 21, 2024 at 4:06 AM

One of the last Navajo Code Talkers from World War II dies at 107

One of the last remaining Navajo Code Talkers who transmitted messages during World War II using the tribe's native language has died
October 21, 2024 at 4:06 AM
FILE - Navajo Code Talker John Kinsel Sr., of Lukachukai, Ariz., listens as his comrades speak of their WWII experiences Tuesday Aug. 14, 2007, in Window Rock, Ariz. (AP Photo/Donovan Quintero, File)
October 17, 2024 at 8:43 PM

Nearly $75M in federal grants to help Alaska Native communities with climate impacts

Nearly $75 million in federal grant funds over the next five years will be aimed at helping Alaska Native communities as they grapple with the impacts of climate change
October 17, 2024 at 8:43 PM
October 15, 2024 at 6:36 PM

'The Indian Card' reveals the complexities of claiming Native identity

Author Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz dives into the challenges of Tribal enrollment in her debut book "The Indian Card: Who Gets to Be Native in America."
October 15, 2024 at 6:36 PM
"The Indian Card: Who Gets to Be Native in America," 2024.
5 months ago

46 medical students graduate from 1st tribally affiliated medical school

The Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Cherokee Nation opened its doors in 2020.
5 months ago
VIDEO: 46 medical students graduate from 1st tribally affiliated medical school
8 months ago

Educators say they fear Oklahoma law restricts 'Killers of the Flower Moon' lesson

Some teachers in Oklahoma say they are afraid to teach a book that is the foundation of "Killers of the Flower Moon," because of state law HB 1775
8 months ago
Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone in "Killers of the Flower Moon," coming soon to Apple TV+.
8 months ago

Indigenous basketball league harnesses Native talent, gives hope to community

DeShawn and Sharmane Joseph started the Indigenous HOOPS league after a mass shooting impacted their community.
8 months ago
VIDEO: Indigenous basketball league harnesses Native talent, gives hope to community
8 months ago

Indigenous basketball team seeks to uplift mental health

Indigenous HOOPS basketball team in Washington State aims to raise awareness about mental health after a school shooting that impacted loved ones.
8 months ago
VIDEO: Indigenous basketball team seeks to uplift mental health
1 year ago

Teacher wants to preserve Navajo language for future generations

ABC News' Linsey Davis spoke with Elfrieda Begay, a Navajo school teacher on a mission to teach students their native language.
1 year ago
Elfrieda Begay speaks with ABC News Live.
1 year ago

Native American Heritage Month

A look at the numbers behind the contributions of Native American people and the distinct cultures and identities of Native American sovereign nations.
1 year ago
VIDEO: Native American Heritage Month
1 year ago

Members of Congress seek clemency for Native American leader convicted of murder

Nearly three dozen members of Congress are asking President Joe Biden to grant indigenous activist Leonard Peltier clemency after 46 years of imprisonment.
1 year ago
Leonard Peltier, who is serving two life sentences for the 1975 murder of two FBI agents, is shown in prison, in Feb. 1986.
1 year ago

Biden announces new national monument to 'help right the wrongs of the past'

President Joe Biden visited Arizona on Tuesday to tout climate investments and designate a new national monument.
1 year ago
President Joe Biden visited Arizona on Tuesday to tout climate investments and designate a new national monument.
1 year ago

Filmmaker chronicles Lakota fight to regain Black Hills

A new documentary, “Lakota Nation vs. United States,” chronicles the promises broken by the U.S. and the Lakota fight to regain their sacred lands.
1 year ago
Needles Highway and Needles Eye are seen along South Dakota Highway 87, July 9, 2018, in southwest South Dakota.
1 year ago

Water crisis in the Navajo Nation

Nearly a third of Navajo Nation lacks running water. ABC News' Rachel Scott takes us inside everyday life for thousands living without running water.
1 year ago
VIDEO: Water crisis in the Navajo nation
1 year ago

Supreme Court upholds law giving Native American families priority in adoption

A white couple seeking to adopt Native American children had challenged the law.
1 year ago
The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to decide the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. Tribes say the ruling has potential to upend more than 40 years of settled law.
1 year ago

In Native American adoption case, Supreme Court explores race and tribal sovereignty

The Supreme Court will decide the future of the Indian Child Welfare Act, which dictates who can adopt Native children, after a Texas family called it unconstitutional
1 year ago
The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to decide the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. Tribes say the ruling has potential to upend more than 40 years of settled law.
1 year ago

Searching for missing Indigenous women, tribes seek to raise awareness

Hundreds of Native American tribal members held a vigil to commemorate the “Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People.”
1 year ago
Capitol candlelight vigil in memory of Missing or Murdered Indigenous People
2 years ago

Native American advocates protest Kansas City Chiefs name ahead of Super Bowl LVII

“There’s no respectful way to mascot us or belittle us and use us for profit,” said Amanda Blackhorse, founder of Arizona to Rally Against Native Mascots.
2 years ago
A detailed view of the Kansas City Chiefs logo on a fan prior to the AFC Championship Game against the Cincinnati Bengals at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on Jan. 29, 2023 in Kansas City, Mo.
2 years ago

Biden announces 'long overdue' investments in Indian Country

President Joe Biden said his administration is ushering in a "new era" as he spoke at the White House Tribal Nations Summit.
2 years ago
President Joe Biden speaks at the White House Tribal Nations Summit at the US Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 30, 2022.
2 years ago

Cherokees ask US to make good on promise: a seat in Congress

The country’s largest Native American tribe, the Cherokee Nation, wants the U.S. government to fulfill a near 200-year-old promise and seat a delegate to Congress.
2 years ago
Cherokee Nation delegate Kim Teehee and principal chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr., outside the U.S. Capitol in November 2022. The tribal leaders are lobbying Congress to fulfill a nearly 200-year-old treaty.
2 years ago

Native American model brings representation to fashion world

Quannah Chasinghorse is one of the most in-demand models and also advocates for Native American rights.
2 years ago
VIDEO: Native American model brings representation to fashion world
2 years ago

Indigenous groups fight to preserve native language

Indigenous groups say there is more work to be done to rectify the pain caused by boarding schools that erased their culture.
2 years ago
Dorothy McLane reflects on her traumatic experiences at the Rosebud Boarding school, which abused indigenous students.
2 years ago

Native families seek justice for boarding school abuse as remains of children found

Hundreds of thousands of Indigenous children over the span of 150 years were taken from their families and made to live in U.S. boarding schools. Some never came home.
2 years ago
Shylee Brave visits the graves of the six children from the Rosebud Sioux tribe after their remains were brought back to the reservation in South Dakota from the Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, Penn.
2 years ago

Native American creators expand breadth of Indigenous Hollywood representation

Hollywood has seen a proliferation of authentic, Indigenous stories, ushering in a new age of Native American representation both on screen and behind the camera. 
2 years ago
In this Dec. 1, 2021, file photo, Marc Maron, Sterlin Harjo, Devery Jacobs, Paulina Alexis, Dallas Goldtooth, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, and Lane Factor are shown during the screening of FX's "Reservation Dogs" in Los Angeles.
2 years ago

Report outlines federal 'abuse' of Native children at boarding schools

More than 500 American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children died in federal Indigenous boarding schools across the country, a report finds.
2 years ago
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland speaks on the North Lawn of the White House on Oct. 8, 2021 in Washington.
3 years ago

Native Americans facing disenrollment fight to remain with tribe

After being disenrolled from the Nooksack tribe in 2016 after a former tribal chair questioned their ancestral lineage, the Rabang family fights to preserve their family history.
3 years ago
VIDEO: Native Americans facing disenrollment fight to remain with tribe
3 years ago

Sacred land returned to Native tribe

Sacred land in Virginia will be returned to the Rappahannock Tribe. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland will be in attendance at the celebration.
3 years ago
The shoreline of the Rappahannock river at Fones Cliff in Richmond County, Va., Nov. 17, 2015.
3 years ago

Biden signs executive order to improve safety, justice for Native Americans

The president also announced new initiatives to protect tribal lands at the tribal nations summit.
3 years ago
President Joe Biden speaks at a Tribal Nations Summit in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House, in Washington, D.C.. Nov. 15, 2021.
3 years ago

The story behind a Native American dance and its power of spiritual healing

A Navajo photographer and his daughters took the "jingle dress" dance on a journey across the country to bring spiritual healing and bring attention to indigenous issues.
3 years ago
From left, Erin Tapahe, JoAnni Begay, Dion Tapahe and Sunni Begay at Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, July 2020. The native land of the Shoshone-Bannock, Gros Ventre and Nez Perce people.
3 years ago

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland runs Boston Marathon to mark Indigenous Peoples Day

"I run because my ancestors gave me this ability," Haaland wrote.
3 years ago
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland speaks during a welcome ceremony for a totem pole carved by the House of Tears Carvers of the Lummi Nation, on the National Mall, July 29, 2021, in Washington, D.C.
3 years ago

215 bodies discovered at former residential school for Indigenous children

A 2015 report said the schools were a component of "cultural genocide."
3 years ago
The former Kamloops Indian Residential School is seen on Tk'emlups te Secwépemc  First Nation in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, May 27, 2021. The remains of 215 children have been found buried on the site of the former residential school in Kamloops.  (Andrew Snucins/The Canadian Press via AP)
4 years ago

Why Native American children have higher rates of disability

More than 3 million children in the U.S. had a disability in 2019.
4 years ago
Students walk between buildings at the Little Singer Community School in Birdsprings, Ariz. on the Navajo Nation, Sept. 25, 2014.
4 years ago

Deb Haaland to create unit to investigate missing and murdered Native Americans

As Deb Haaland creates a unit to investigate missing and murdered Native Americans, a look at why it's necessary.
4 years ago
Rep. Deb Haaland attends a news conference at the Capitol, Sept. 27, 2019.
4 years ago

For Native Americans, the fight against mascots is much bigger than sports

The changing names of the Cleveland Indians and the Washington Redskins is a win for Native Americans, but there's still much more to be done, leaders say.
4 years ago
A group of protesters demonstrate against the Cleveland Indians mascot prior to the Opening Day game between the Cleveland Indians and the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field, July 24, 2020, in Cleveland.
4 years ago

Haaland makes history as Department of the Interior nominee

Haaland would be the first Native American to serve in the Cabinet if confirmed.
4 years ago
Nominee for Secretary of Interior, Congresswoman Deb Haaland, speaks after President-elect Joe Biden announced his climate and energy appointments at the Queen theater, Dec. 19, 2020, in Wilmington, Delaware.