The phrase spread on social media in the late 2010s and became an organized campaign when NDN Collective, a Native-led group in South Dakota, launched its LANDBACK campaign in 2020. The movement draws on centuries of Native resistance to land theft, including the occupation of Alcatraz from 1969 to 1971 and the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016.
Land has been returned in several ways. In 2020, the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County regained about 1,200 acres near Big Sur, California, with help from a land trust and state funds. Also in 2020, Congress passed a law returning the National Bison Range in Montana to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. In McGirt v. Oklahoma in 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that much of eastern Oklahoma remains a reservation for purposes of federal criminal law.
Supporters argue that tribal stewardship can protect ecosystems and that returning public land is a concrete form of repair. The movement also asks private owners, churches and cities to return land voluntarily.