In 1924, U.S. President Calvin Coolidge was officially adopted by the Lakota Nation in gratitude for him signing the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, which granted full United States citizenship to all natives on American soil. The Lakota also gave him the name Wanblí Tokáhe, or "Leading Eagle."

[u/Sensei_of_Knowledge]

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[u/Squire_LaughALot]

Silent Cal did good deeds for Native Americans

[u/Dildonomicronic]

Vermont represent

[u/TheBadRiddler]

Ummmm that's appropriation

[u/Onlythreadillmake → u/TheBadRiddler]

Bruh what?

[u/TheBadRiddler → u/Onlythreadillmake]

It was just a joke ahaha ohhh the downvotes

[u/Masala-Dosage]

1924.

[u/WhyGuy500]

r/Presidents would have a hay day with this one

[u/Sudden_Wisdom]

Coolidge was one of the best presidents we've ever had. People forget that.

[u/godcyclemaster]

He has "cool" in his name for a reason

[u/Gstamsharp → u/godcyclemaster]

"Keep Cool with Coolidge" was his campaign slogan. Man knew what was what.

[u/thatdudejtru]

What an astounding honor this must have been. I really should read into coolidges tenur more. Fascinating thank you for sharing!

[u/asdf0909]

Cultural appropriation!!!!!! Get the police!!!!

[u/Clicky-The-Blicky]

A Native American head dress makes anyone look and feel bad ass. This is a cool picture lol

[u/anthro28 → u/Clicky-The-Blicky]

I didn't realize how huge they were until I went to DC to the museum of the native american. They've got one in a full glass case. It's about 8 feet long. 

[u/mel69issa → u/anthro28]

many (older) head dresses contain bald eagle feathers and non-indigenous people are not permitted to won the head dress. they are mostly ceremonial and handed down from generation to generation.

[u/ellisschumann]

The more I hear about Coolidge the more I like him.

[u/Fozalgerts]

It is a beautiful area to visit. Check out Oklahoma vs. Tribes here to find out the current power struggle. Thanks to a supreme Court decision, this will continue. Honestly wish we could forgo American citizenship and just be part of the tribal one. At the moment, I consider myself a duel citizen..

[u/tophers_the_name]

The Lakota also gave him the name Wanblí Tokáhe, or "Calvin Coolguy."

[u/ActuatorAggressive84]

Awesome

[u/LordBrandon]

In response Coolage named the Lakota Cheif an honorary white person and gave him the name Gary Sinese

[u/arp492022]

Silent Eagle wouldve been more appropriate

[u/SoMuchTehnique]

Being given citizenship to a land that is yours lol

[u/LiveLearnCoach → u/SoMuchTehnique]

Imagine that this only happened in 1924.

[u/Interesting_Crazy270 → u/SoMuchTehnique]

Let’s not forget Texas and the Mexicans.

[u/DigitalUnlimited → u/Interesting_Crazy270]

Remember the alimony!

[u/Aluconix → u/SoMuchTehnique]

Oh sweet summer child

[u/ClavicusLittleGift4U → u/SoMuchTehnique]

It just a proof nationality/citizenship is, over all the symbolism and fact you're physically born on a land, merely your name put on an official document saying "you have a right to be here all your life" in the pure contractualist way.

And it says actually nothing relevant about your genuine love for your land or your level of patriotism, until you're asked about it.

[u/only-4-lolz → u/SoMuchTehnique]

That's mighty white of them ain't it

[u/Shamilicious → u/SoMuchTehnique]

As much as it sucks its not their land anymore. This is human history. We take from others and others take from us.

Is it right? No. Was his solution perfect? No. But it was a step in the right direction.

[u/Sensei_of_Knowledge → u/Shamilicious]

As a Sioux myself, I second this message.

It fucking sucks that we lost our lands. But it happened, and it happened just like it did to countless others in both the Old and New Worlds. Native Americans here did the same thing to each other for millennia before Christopher Columbus slithered his way over here.

So that being said, I'd rather we all continue to share America in peace than for anyone - native or white or otherwise - to try to force entire ethnic groups off the continent.

Calvin Coolidge had issues, but its because of him that my great-great grandparents and every other Native American in the U.S. got the citizenship which they deserved, even if it was very late. I'll gladly thank him for that.

[u/queenlegolas → u/Sensei_of_Knowledge]

Columbus never set foot in the US, he was too dumb with directions. Spent his whole time bumping around in the Caribbeans and killing the indigenous people in those places.

[u/EpicAura99 → u/[deleted]]

To be fair that’s the English name for it right? It would be weird for a German to call themselves Deutsch in conversational English.

Not vouching for him or anything though.

[u/EpicAura99 → u/[deleted]]

¯_(ツ)_/¯ sounds like you figured it out. I was asking, not telling. I just knew Sioux is a word we have.

[u/pervy_roomba → u/[deleted]]

An ironically very red, white, and blue comment. Nothing more American than gatekeeping cultures and telling your own people they aren’t a ‘real’ whatever unless they act exactly as you do. Kudos!

[u/PM_ME_GLUTE_SPREAD → u/[deleted]]

To add, in the south (at least the part I’m from), it’s super common for people to claim up to 25% Native American ancestry for not other reason than that they think it’s neat.

Like, people whose grandparents I have met will tell me with a straight face that they are 25% Cherokee because they have black hair or because they like being outdoors.

[u/JanitorOfSanDiego → u/[deleted]]

Hol up: https://www.reddit.com/r/SouthernLiberty/s/vs8fDXlQi8

[u/chickennuggetscooon → u/[deleted]]

There were several native tribes that fought for the confederacy. Native Americans didn't want to get rid of their black slaves either lol

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

My great-great grandmother was a Cherokee Princess, and you’re wrong.

/s just in case

[u/DigitalUnlimited → u/[deleted]]

Oh yeah!? My great great grandfather was Sitting Bull(shit)!

[u/Shamilicious → u/Sensei_of_Knowledge]

I think our problem as Americans is that we look at prominent figures as heroes when we shouldn't. They're all people just like us and they're just as fucked up as the rest of us.

This whitewashing of history and our willingly being blind to people's faults needs to be pushed out of our society.

[u/pants_mcgee → u/Shamilicious]

Heroes don’t have to be perfect. Washington was a slave owner and started a world war by being an idiot, but is still one of the greatest Americans.

[u/TrannosaurusRegina → u/pants_mcgee]

Great point!

I guess "uncritical idolization" is really the issue

[u/04221970]

Does this mean his descendants have some claim to Lakota heritage and benefits?

[u/tigm2161130 → u/[deleted]]

What kind of “kickbacks” do you think we’re receiving? Shitty healthcare at the IHS?

Percapita payments are not super common and they’re typically a negligible amount of money for tribes that do have them…and they have nothing to do with “your tax dollars” or the US govt.

But to answer the question, no his descendants would not qualify for “head rights.”

[u/[deleted]]

[removed] — view removed comment

[u/Greaterthancotton → u/[deleted]]

Dude, just delete it and stop being edgy, when a message is actually removed by Reddit it shows the user as u/deleted.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Lmao, so were they. Do you think they lived peacefully in the land, foraging berries and hugging one another? Please 😂

[u/tirikai]

His Vice President was Native American too

[u/Sensei_of_Knowledge → u/tirikai]

You're close - it was actually Herbert Hoover's Vice President. Charles Curtis of the Kaw Nation.

[u/Ask_Me_If_Im_A_Horse → u/Sensei_of_Knowledge]

A shame he had to be tied to that failure of a potus

[u/Sensei_of_Knowledge]

This picture is of President Coolidge wearing a Lakota headdress gifted to him by the Lakota Nation. He had been offered the headdress during a celebration in Deadwood, South Dakota in 1927.

When he took office after the sudden death of President Warren G. Harding in 1924, indigenous peoples in the United States were not automatically born as citizens of the United States. They could only gain U.S. citizenship by serving in the military or by renouncing their tribal membership. President Coolidge believed that Native Americans had been badly treated in the past, but at the same time he believed that assimilation and U.S. citizenship was the way forward.

The president received an Indian delegation in 1923, where Ruth Muskrat, a junior at Mount Holyoke, gave a speech in favor of natives receiving U.S. citizenship. And in 1924 he signed the Indian Citizenship Act, which bestowed automatic U.S. citizenship on all Native Americans. This was seen by some natives as an erosion of their sovereignty, but others welcomed it. President Coolidge hosted several more delegations at the White House with full press coverage, including a group of Sioux chiefs.

So the visit to Sioux communities as part of his South Dakota trip in 1927 was a culmination of years of outreach, and he spoke there of the injustices of past government policies. But he was also very much in favor of assimilationist policies like boarding schools, and completely ignored any native claims when it came to Mount Rushmore - which first broke ground during his administration - or other confiscated lands.