Native American Law: News (including Legal News)

• ICT
  • States it "is an independent, nonprofit, multimedia news enterprise" that "covers Indigenous peoples." "ICT is owned by IndiJ Public Media, a 501(c)(3) public charity."
• Indianz.Com
  • States it provides "Native American news, information and entertainment.  Wholly-owned and operated by Ho-Chunk Inc., the economic development corporation of the Winnebago Tribe."
• Native News Online
  • States it "delivers important daily news that affects the lives of Native Americans nationwide."  "Publisher and Editor Levi Rickert is an award-winning American Indian journalist and tribal citizen of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation."

To obtain access instructions for many current news sources available through BLS Library, click here.

• Cherokee Phoenix archives - This newspaper of the Cherokee Nation ran from Feb. 21, 1828-May 31, 1834.  Transcriptions of the English-language articles were made by Western Carolina University.  The archive states that the newspaper "included editorials which embodied the Cherokees' determination to retain their lands; news on the activities of the Cherokee government as well as relations with the federal and state governments; accounts about the Cherokees in Arkansas and other Native nations; and social and religious activities in the Nation.  Major events that warranted extended coverage included Congressional debates over the Indian Removal Act, the two U.S. Supreme Court decisions which affected Cherokee rights (Cherokee Nation v. Georgia and Worcester v. Georgia), and actions by the state of Georgia to assume title to Cherokee lands."  Search by keyword(s), or by selecting a volume and browsing by date. 

  • Scans of editions from 1828-1829 are available here in the Library of Congress's Chronicling America collection.  The current website of Cherokee Phoenix is available here.  It provides more information about the history of the newspaper on its About Us page. 

• Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers @ Library of Congress
  • Provides "select digitized newspaper pages."  Guide states scope of this historic collection of newspaper pages is: 1770-1963.  But Collection Items tab allows filtering by date from 1780-1969.
  • Tip: Use main screen search feature or search filters available in tabs: Collection Items and All Digitized Titles.
  • Library of Congress notes that cultural heritage institutions can "apply for and receive awards to select and digitize newspaper pages representing the history, geographic coverage, and events of note for their state or territory."
• Publicly accessible subset of Brooklyn-based historical newspapers in Newspapers.com:
  • ​​​​​​​Brooklyn Newsstand
    • Brooklyn Public Library has partnered with Newspapers.com to provide access to 44 digitized, Brooklyn-based, historical newspapers. Scope of coverage varies by news source. No subscription or library card is required. 
    • Search by keyword(s), or link to: "full list of newspapers" to browse through a specific news source in this collection. 
• Historical newspaper access from the New York Public Library (NYPL) - NYPL provides free access to a number of newspapers with a library card.  If you live, work, attend school, or pay property taxes in New York State you are eligible for a free digital library card. See this page for details and the online application to apply for an NYPL digital library card.  Historical newspapers in the collection include:
  • Michigan Chronicle: Historical Newspapers (1936-2010)
  • Newspapers.com (NYPL states: "Access to this resource has been temporarily expanded to NYPL cardholders working from home, courtesy of ProQuest and its partner Newspapers.com.")
  • New York Amsterdam News (1922-2010)
  • New Yorker Digital Archive (1925–present)
  • New York Herald (1840-1865)
  • New York Tribune / Herald Tribune (1841-1962)
  • Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers
  • ProQuest Historical Newspapers: U.S. Northeast Collection
    • Asbury Park Press (Asbury Park, NJ)—1905-2009, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT)—1848-2007, Courier News (Bridgewater, NJ)—1891-2010, Courier-Post (Cherry Hill, NJ)—1949-2009, The Daily Journal (Vineland, NJ)—1925-2011, Daily Record (Morristown, NJ)—1974-2012, Home News Tribune (East Brunswick, NJ)—1903-2009, The Ithaca Journal (Ithaca, NY)—1914-2011, The Journal News (Rockland: West Nyack, NY)—1889-1990, The Journal News (Yorktown: White Plains, NY)—TBD The Morning Call (Allentown, PA)—1883-2010, New York Daily News (New York, NY)—1919-2009, The News Journal (Wilmington, DE)—1871-2009, Philadelphia Daily News (Philadelphia, PA)—1960-2001, Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA)—1960-2001, Poughkeepsie Journal (Poughkeepsie, NY)—1785-2010, Press & Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, NY)—1904-2009, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY)—1871-2008, and Star-Gazette (Elmira, NY)—1891-2011.

  • Guide - Electronic Resources at The New York Public Library: Newspapers: Historical, Current, National and International. This guide from NYPL links to dozens of current and historical newspapers, including many from ProQuest Historical Newspapers. Some sources of note in the guide are:

    • American Periodicals (1740-1940), Ethnic American Newspapers from the Balch Collection, 1799-1971, and The Washington Post (1887-2005).

• Newspapers.com
  • States it "is the largest online newspaper archive consisting of 916 million+ pages of historical newspapers from 24,400+ newspapers from around the United States and beyond."  Scope of coverage varies by news source.  Tab: Papers allows a researcher to enter a title like: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle to view the dates of coverage.
  • Supports searching by keyword(s), name, date and/or location.
  • BLS Library has a single-user subscription.  For help, please email BLS reference librarians at: askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu or text: (718) 734-2432.  
  • To remotely access Newspapers.com through NYPL with a library card, see guide box: Historical News (publicly accessible).
• ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times with Index
  • Description states: "Database of digitized New York Times back issues from 1851."
  • In SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION - (PROQUEST).  To access this historical New York Times database from a remote location, implement the BLS proxy server instructions for one web browser. Librarians recommend the proxy server instructions for Firefox browser.   
    • Feel free to contact library.lab@brooklaw.edu for help implementing the BLS proxy instructions.

Key resource recommended by Professor Benally:

• Turtle Talk Blog
  • Turtle Talk's current contributors are: Matthew L.M. Fletcher, Wenona Singel, Kathryn E. Fort, Matthew Campbell, and Cassondra Church. On the main page, they describe Turtle Talk as "the leading blog on legal issues in Indian Country."
  • Highlights recent cases and links to many case documents.
  • Highlights and links to recent legal articles.
  • Provides collection: COVID-19 Tribal Documents.
  • Provides an extensive blogroll.
  • Posts job announcements and links to other sources of job postings.
    • Uses tags: jobs, judicial clerkships (for panel discussions), and clerkship.

Additional resources:

• Indian Law Bulletins @ National Indian Law Library
  • Includes eight searchable Bulletins (U.S. Supreme Court, Federal Courts, Tribal Courts, State Courts; U.S. Legislation, U.S. Regulatory Information, Law Review/Bar Journal Articles and News Bulletin) + archives.
    • Bulletins link to decisions, bills, laws, Federal Register documents and articles.  
• NARF Blog @ Native American Rights Fund
• NARF Legal Review @ Native American Rights Fund
  • Provides semi-annual updates on NARF's cases and on additional topics.
• Native Amicus Briefing Project in partnership with the Native American Rights Fund and the National Congress of American Indians’ Tribal Supreme Court Project (part of the NYU-Yale American Indian Sovereignty Project) 
  • States it "is a collaborative research effort coordinated by the Sovereignty Project to develop briefs and track ongoing cases related to Indian law in the federal courts."
• Tribal Law Journal Blog @ University of New Mexico School of Law

• Native American @ Law360.com
  • Access Law360.com on campus, in BLS housing, and elsewhere off campus if one has implemented the BLS proxy server instructions.
• Native American Law @ Law.com
  • Access Law.com on campus, in BLS housing, and elsewhere off campus if one has implemented the BLS proxy server instructions.
• Native American Law resource page in Lexis+ features current stories from Mealey's Native American Law Report and Native American @ Law360.com.

Human Rights, issue 3 (Jan. 2024)

• American Bar Association's Civil Rights and Social Justice section publishes the quarterly periodical: Human Rights.  Issue 3 (2024) is dedicated to: Native American and Alaska Native Rights and Issues.  Remote access to this issue of Human Rights in HeinOnline subscription database requires implementation of the BLS proxy server instructions for 1 web browser and use of that web browser.
  •  Heather Torres & Abby Chavez, Knowing Our Past, Envisioning Our Future, 49 HUM. RTS. [ii] (2024).Download PDF
  • John E. Echohawk, The Future of Native American Civil Rights, 49 HUM. RTS. 2 (2024).
  • Leonard R. Powell, The Supreme Court and Tribal Water Rights, 49 HUM. RTS. 4 (2024).
  • Matthew Archer-Beck, The National Native American Bar Association at 50: A Discussion with NNABA Presidents, Past and Present, 49 HUM. RTS. 6 (2024).
  • Charlene Nelson & Geoff Strommer, Seeking Higher Ground - How Congress Can Help Tribes Being Pushed to Their Limits due to Climate Change, 49 HUM. RTS. 8 (2024).
  • Emily Bergeron, The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act: Where Are We Now?, 49 HUM. RTS. 10 (2024).
  • Chia Halpern Beetso, Virginia Davis & Kelly Gaines Stoner, Empowering Tribal Nations: The Transformative Impact of VAWA 2013 and 2022 on Tribal Jurisdiction, 49 HUM. RTS. 12 (2024).
  • Virginia Davis & Jerry Gardner, Not Invisible Act Commission Submits Recommendations to Address Crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples and Human Trafficking, 49 HUM. RTS. 13 (2024).
  • Mike McBride II., Reconciling Osage Betrayal: Killers of the Flower Moon, 49 HUM. RTS. 14 (2024).
  • Amber Reano, It Is Time to Recognize Native American Lawyers, 49 HUM. RTS. 16 (2024).
  • Heather Tanana, Indigenous Science and Climate Responses, 49 HUM. RTS. 18 (2024).
  • Carrie Garrow & A. Nikki Borchardt Campbell, Creating Pathways to the Judiciary for Native Americans and Alaska Natives through Tribal Courts, 49 HUM. RTS. 19 (2024).
  • Makalika Naholowa'a, Advancing International Intellectual Property Negotiations to Protect Indigenous Cultures, 49 HUM. RTS. 21 (2024).
  • Lily Painter, Safety of Native Women: Save Our Sisters, 49 HUM. RTS. 23 (2024).
  • Grace Carson, Haaland v. Brackeen Affirms the Constitutionality of ICWA, 49 HUM. RTS. 24 (2024).
  • Jerry Gardner, Chief Judge Abby Abinanti, Yurok Tribe, 49 HUM. RTS. 26 (2024).

• American Indian Law Newsletter (vols. 1-23#1 (1968-1990)) in Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: History, Culture & Law database.
  • Access this subscription HeinOnline database on campus, in BLS housing, and elsewhere off campus if one has implemented the BLS proxy server instructions.