National Museum of the American Indian Displays Unratified Treaty in D.C.
O. M. Wozencraft, center front, negotiated 18 tribal treaties in California that were never ratified and were instead ordered to be kept secret. Image from George Eastman House
For the first time in history, a copy of an unratified tribal treaty will go on display to the public.
Tribal nations and the United States negotiated 18 treaties in the mid-1800s to address land rights and other issues in present-day California. But the agreements were never ratified and were instead ordered to be kept secret by the U.S. Senate. What followed was decades of land and population loss among the original nations.
"Without the protections provided by ratified treaties, California's Indian Tribes and their peoples were in a legal 'no-man's land,'" the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, whose ancestors signed one of the agreements, state on its website.
"The application of state laws regarding land claims, without the clear legal claims to Native homelands that were ordered hidden in the '18 Lost Treaties,' made it possible for individuals and businesses to apply for and gain title to Native American lands without having to address issues of Tribal sovereignty and claim," the tribe continues.
The painful history will come to light as Treaty K, also known as the Treaty of Temecula, goes on display at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. Representatives of the Pechanga Band, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, the Ramona Band of Cahuilla Indians and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians are expected to be on hand on Thursday morning to unveil the document.
"By displaying Treaty K, the museum recognizes not only the treaties that were broken, but also the power imbalance that existed to allow treaties to be dismissed and their memory to be locked away in secrecy," NMAI Director Kevin Gover said in a press release.
The unratified treaty is part of the Nation to Nation exhibit at the museum. The exhibit opened on September 21, 2014, marking the 10th anniversary of the facility, and this week's unveiling comes on the 12th anniversary.