Stories

Short guided walks through the record. Each one ends in the present.

• A fishing right that still holds

  What does "in common with" mean today? A clause in the 1854 and 1855 Washington treaties, and the court cases that made it law.

• Blue Lake comes home

  What has a land return looked like? A sacred lake taken in 1906 and returned by Congress in 1970 after decades of advocacy.

• Fort Laramie and the Black Hills

  What happens to a promise over time? Two treaties, a seizure, a Supreme Court ruling, a refusal to sell, and land bought back.

• From Johnson to McGirt

  How did American law decide whose rights count, and how has it changed? Seven court decisions, from the doctrine of discovery to a reservation affirmed in 2020.