Rebecca Nagle at The Harvard Bookstore: Historical and Legal Intricacies of Contemporary Native American Activism

On Friday, Sep. 13, writer Rebecca Nagle visited the Harvard Bookstore for a discussion of her debut book, “By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land.”

Well known for creating and hosting Crooked Media’s “This Land” podcast, Nagle is an award-winning reporter and writer has been featured in “The Atlantic,” the “Washington Post,” “Teen Vogue,” and beyond. Nagle is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, a part of her identity that greatly influences her work.

“By the Fire We Carry” chronicles nearly two centuries of Indigenous activism for tribal land sovereignty in Oklahoma. Nagle follows the resilience of the Muscogee people, beginning with the tribal community’s forceful relocation to present-day Oklahoma in the 1830s.

In this narrative, Nagle zooms in on the seemingly unrelated “Sharp v. Murphy” decision of 2000, in which a Muscogee citizen is found guilty of murdering another Muscogee citizen by an Oklahoma court. The defense argued that because the murder occurred on a tribal reservation, the state lacked criminal jurisdiction over the case. In turn, Oklahoma contended that the reservation did not exist, executing the defendant and disestablishing the Muscogee reservation.

During the Harvard Bookstore event, Nagle acknowledged the personal significance of the “Sharp v. Murphy” decision, which was decided per curiam with the historic “McGirt” case of 2020, in which the court supported the sovereignty of reservations across Oklahoma and, in doing so, brought about the largest restoration of tribal land in U.S. history. This included the Cherokee Nation, which is located within the state’s boundaries.

In doing so, she discussed the history of Cherokee-U.S. interaction, citing a treaty between the two parties that promised the Cherokee Nation a Congressional Delegate. This provision has evidently been left unfulfilled. Nagle described the provision’s fate as “one of the many examples of treaty obligations that are not yet being met.”

While there is renewed hope for a Congressional Delegate in the wake of the ‘McGirt’ decision and recent efforts by the Cherokee Nation, the issue of broken promises still remains. Throughout the discussion, Nagle returned frequently to the pattern of the U.S. government’s failing to uphold legally-binding measures that involve Indigenous tribal communities.

In doing so, she turned to a passage of “By the Fire We Carry”: “The historic status of ‘McGirt’ is ironic when you understand what happened legally. The Supreme Court didn’t overturn anything, strike anything down, or change its own precedent. All it did was follow the law. But still, that’s radical. When it comes to tribal sovereignty, the U.S. government is spineless,” said Nagle, reading aloud.

Subsequently, Nagle made it clear that Native resistance existed far before the ‘McGirt’ case.

“We think of the treatment of Indigenous people as inevitable, or people will say things like, ‘Oh we can’t judge history by today’s standards.’ But when you look at the opposition, it was people in places like Boston who created this huge movement to try and stop it. And I think it’s this chapter of history that is really forgotten” said Nagle.

Nagle’s visit to the Harvard Bookstore came on the heels of the Harvard Admission Office’s release of racial demographic data for the Class of 2028, revealing a startling 50% increase in admitted Native American students.

When asked about the admissions data report in an interview with The Crimson, Nagle said that “so much of our higher education system was built on native land, but because of systemic racism, Native youth haven’t had access to those opportunities in this really disproportionate way.”

In attendance was Jean-Luc Pierite, a member of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana and President of the North American Indian Center of Boston. In an interview with The Crimson, Pierite — who is currently a MLK Visiting Scholar at MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Finance — expressed the deep importance of Nagle’s work.

“One really important thing that Rebecca left us with tonight is the call for the expansion of jurisdiction on tribal lands, especially to protect our women who are disproportionately impacted by domestic violence and sexual assault,” he said. “We absolutely need to do everything that we can to support tribes in developing self-determination and self governance.”

Rebecca Nagle’s visit to the Harvard Bookstore not only highlighted the historical and legal intricacies of Indigenous land rights, but also underscored the significance of ongoing challenges that Indigenous communities still face today. Her historical analysis, combined with her commentary on the endurance of contemporary Native American activism, provided a unique and fresh perspective on the issue of trivial sovereignty, leaving a powerful message of hope and determination.

—Staff writer Lola J. DeAscentiis can be reached at lola.deascentiis@thecrimson.com.