Under the shamefully misguided idea of “Kill the Indian and Save the Man,” federal laws and policies prohibited tribes from practicing their religion and ceremonies, laws that were not fully repealed until the 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act, later amended to protect the Native American Church’s ceremonial use of peyote in 1994. Tribes lacked control of their own ceremonial items and even their human remains until the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act required federal agencies and institutions that receive federal funding to return Native American "cultural items" to their descendants and tribes.
The trauma and persecution endured by elder Native generations led to a breakdown of the Native family and tribal structure and a weakening of spiritual ties. Many Natives who attended boarding schools lost their sense of self through enforced shaming of their cultural identity. As a result, their children were raised with little awareness of their Native heritage and became disconnected from their tribal ways of knowing.
Today, many tribes in the United States are reviving their traditions and cultures. Central to this cultural renaissance is the importance of language and ceremony. A number of tribes have created language learning programs to preserve and pass on their tribal dialects to future generations. Ceremonies returned into practice, local radio stations began broadcasting in Native languages, pow-wows became an inter-tribal gathering space, and a new native generation is taught to live with dignity, character and pride. Running Strong supports several Native communities that are part of this movement, which brings strength and healing, and hope to today’s American Indian youth.
