Indian Citizenship Act also known as Snyder Act

 On this day September 4 in 1924, Tribes across Arizona voted for the first time after the enactment of the Indian Citizenship Act, also known as the Snyder Act. This photo is available on our #ArizonaMemoryProject, courtesy of the Arizona Historical Society.

The Snyder Act granted U.S. citizenship to those born to tribal communities. Although indigenous peoples lived on the continent long before the colonization of the Americas and the creation of the U.S. Constitution, legal interpretations such as the Elk v. Wilkins (1884) Supreme Court ruling excluded Native Americans from citizenship, even if they were born on U.S. soil. The Snyder Act reads in part: "...that all non citizen Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States be, and they are hereby, declared to be citizens of the United States..."