The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has announced plans to honor Chief Standing Bear, the Native American leader who successfully campaigned to have the nation”™s indigenous population recognized as persons under the law.
In 1877, the U.S. Army had forcibly relocated some 700 members of the Ponca tribe to Indian Territory (today”™s Oklahoma) after the federal government gave away the tribe’s homeland in northeastern Nebraska. Chief Standing Bear and 29 other Ponca tribal members were arrested when they attempted to return to their homeland in 1879 and sued the government. The case, Standing Bear v. Crook, involved the chief suing the government for his freedom after being arrested. Lawyers filed a writ of habeas corpus to challenge the legality of the chief”™s arrest and detention, and on May 12, 1879, Judge Elmer S. Dundy ruled that “an Indian is a person” within the meaning of habeas corpus.
While Native Americans were not granted the full rights of citizenship until 1924, Chief Standing Bear”™s was a landmark moment in the pursuit of civil rights for indigenous people.
The USPS will issue a Forever stamp featuring a portrait of Chief Standing Bear by illustrator Thomas Blackshear II. A dedication ceremony unveiling the stamp will take place May 12 in Lincoln, Nebraska, and the new stamp will go on sale afterwards.
