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Native Americans and the White House: 1924 to Present

From President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Indian Reorganization Act in 1934 to the codification of termination policy in the 1950s to President Nixon’s era of self-determination, major shifts in federal Indian policy took shape throughout the 1900s. Although Indigenous peoples are often portrayed as people of the past, by protesting, having important conversations, and holding positions of power in the Whit

Native Americans and the White House: Prehistory to 1924

For thousands of years before construction of the White House began in 1792, Native Americans, including the Nacotchtank (also referred to as the Anacostan) and Piscataway people, lived in the region that is now Washington, D.C. As the United States expanded westward throughout the 1800s, thousands of Native Americans were forced from their ancestral lands. Presidents played a significant role