Grand Ronde Restoration Hearing

Kathryn, Karen, and Frank Harrison, seated in the front row, testify for Congressional restoration of the Grand Ronde tribe. Elizabeth Furse, an Indian-rights advocate who later became a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, is seated second from right in the second row.

On September 14, 1983, Representative Les AuCoin introduced the Grand Ronde Restoration Bill to Congress. After Congress had passed the Termination Act in 1954, the federal government terminated 109 tribes or bands, meaning that the people who were members of those tribes or bands lost any reservation land they had and all legal status as Indian people. Sixty-two of the terminated tribes were native to Oregon. During the 1970s, however, many tribal people regained legal control over their education and futures. Congress restored federal recognition to the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin in 1973 and passed the Indian Self-Determination Act in 1975.