Document Type

Thesis

Publication Date

Summer 7-10-2026

Abstract

The American Indian Chicago Conference (AICC) illuminates understudied elements within twentieth century Indigenous history. Post WWII policies of termination came to frame the conference, and archival evidence from the planning and establishment of regional conferences and founding documents allows for analysis of the deeper meaning the conference held. The planning phases, schedule, events, and outcomes of the conference indicate factors of a national Indigenous community and identity that have yet to be fully explored in the historiography of this period. The implications of termination policies on Indigenous peoples in North America act as a starting point for the conference’s development. The stages of planning, which included various regional and intertribal meetings that were smaller in scale than the AICC laid a foundation for a much larger national meeting. These conferences, along with the AICC itself, played a vital role in defining a pan-Indian identity in the 1960s and 70s. In analyzing the days of the conference, a narrative that connects the events of the AICC to Indigenous identity, community, and culture is clear through themes of tribal sovereignty and self-determination. The American Indian Chicago Conference and the Declaration of Indian Purpose, I argue, acted as a bridge between the era of termination and the era of self-determination for Indigenous populations in the United States, and it should be seen as such in the historical narratives of the twentieth century United States.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons 1.0 Public Domain Dedication.

Program Title

MA History

Faculty Sponsor

Michael Leroy Oberg

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