The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is an American Indigenous rights organization. It was founded in 1944 to represent the tribes and resist U.S. federal government pressure for termination of tribal rights and forced assimilation of Native Americans (including Alaska Natives). These were in contradiction of their treaty rights and status as sovereign entities. The organization continues to be an association of federally recognized and state-recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes.
NCAI was founded in 1944 and incorporated as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., in 1962. The organizational structure of the National Congress of American Indians includes a General Assembly, an Executive Council, and seven committees.
In addition to the four executive positions, the NCAI executive board also consists of 12 area vice presidents and 12 alternative area vice presidents.
Chuck Trimble was the former chief executive.
Native Americans in the United States have independent governments and distinct cultures, histories, and territories. However, the need to create a unified voice in dealing with the U.S. federal government led to an intertribal coalition.
In the 20th century, a generation of Native Americans came of age who were educated in intertribal boarding schools. They began thinking with a broad pan-Native American vision and learned to form alliances across tribes. They increasingly felt the need to work together politically to exert their power in dealing with the United States federal government. In addition, with the efforts after 1934 to reorganize tribal governments, activists believed that Indians had to work together to strengthen their political position. Activists formed the National Congress of American Indians to find ways to organize the tribes to deal in a more unified way with the US government. They wanted to challenge the government on its failure to implement treaties, to work against the tribal termination policy, and to improve public opinion of and appreciation for Indian cultures.
The NCAI's initial organization was largely created by Native American men who worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and represented many tribes. Among this group was D'Arcy McNickle of the BIA. At the second national convention, Indian women attended as representatives in numbers equal to the men. The convention decided that BIA employees should be excluded from serving as general officers or members of the executive committee. The first president of the NCAI was Napoleon B. Johnson, a judge in Oklahoma. Dan Madrano (Caddo) was the first secretary-treasurer; he also had been serving as an elected member of the Oklahoma State Legislature. From 1945 to 1952, the executive secretary of the NCAI was Ruth Muskrat Bronson (Cherokee), who established the organization's legislative news service. Bronson's work was largely voluntary, as the organization could not afford to pay her to act as its executive secretary.
In 1950, John Rainer became the first paid executive director of NCAI. He was replaced by Bronson in 1951, who resigned in 1952. Frank George, a Nez Perce from the Colville Indian Reservation, briefly held the post before Helen Peterson (Cheyenne-Lakota) took over the post as the executive director of the organization in 1953. That same year, W. W. Short replaced Johnson as president of NCAI. In 1954, Short was replaced by Joseph Garry (Coeur d'Alene), a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War. Garry significantly enlarged the organizational direction away from its focus on issues of Native Americans in the Great Plains and the Southwest, making it more inclusive of tribes in the Midwest and Northwest.
In 1966, the NCAI mustered nearly 80 tribal leaders from 62 tribes to protest their exclusion from a US-Congress sponsored conference on reorganizing the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs). The congressional event was organized by Morris Udall, chairman of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, to discuss the reorganization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Udall eventually allowed the NCAI representatives to attend. He confirmed that the Tribal Advisory Commission, composed of tribe members, would be created to advise him.
During the late 20th century, NCAI contributed to gaining legislation to protect and preserve Indian culture, including NAGPRA. They worked with the tribes to assert their sovereignty in dealing with the federal government.
In the early 21st century, key goals of the NCAI are:
Enforce for Indians all rights under the Constitution and laws in the United States;
Expand and improve educational opportunities provided for Indians;
Improve methods for finding productive employment and developing tribal and individual resources;
Increase number and quality of health facilities;
Settle Indian claims equitably; and
Preserve Indian cultural values.
On November 3, 2009, the Embassy of Tribal Nations was opened in Washington, D.C. The building serves as a headquarters and central meeting place for the NCAI.