Historical cinematic illustration of Native American slaveholding, Confederate participation, African American Freedmen, the 1866 treaties, land rights, and Dawes Commission enrollment.

The Other Slaveholders: Native Nations, the Confederacy, and the Unfinished Promises of 1866

Five Native American nations entered treaties with the Confederacy during the Civil War, while some of their citizens held African Americans in slavery. The Reconstruction treaties of 1866 established freedom and varying citizenship, land, and financial protections for Freedmen. More than 160 years later, the consequences of those agreements continue to shape legal disputes and questions of historical accountability.