Tribal nations in the US are sovereign governments. The Supreme Court described them as "domestic dependent nations" in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia in 1831. Today the federal government recognizes more than 570 tribes, which have their own governments, courts and membership rules. That political status is the basis for treaty rights, tribal lands and federal trust responsibilities.
US policy toward Native people moved through removal, reservation confinement, forced assimilation and termination. Native Americans were not all recognized as US citizens until the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. Native children were taken to federal boarding schools designed to erase their languages and cultures.
In the 2020 census, 9.7 million people identified as American Indian or Alaska Native alone or in combination with another race. Native communities still face high rates of poverty, missing and murdered women and land disputes, alongside a strong movement for sovereignty and Land Back. Many people prefer to be named by their specific nation, such as Diné or Lakota.