The Tribal Sovereignty Project (TSP, Norman grantee 1977–1994) was founded in 1977 following the White Roots of Peace Caravan, a cross-country cultural and political gathering of Indigenous leaders. Founded in the era of the American Indian Movement, the Tribal Sovereignty Project emerged in direct response to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 — landmark federal legislation that recognized tribes’ right to govern their own affairs — along with the urgent need to help Indigenous communities put those newly recognized rights into practice.

Coordinated by an intertribal board of leaders, TSP focused on three priority areas: land and natural resources, self-sufficiency and community-controlled economic development, and the restoration of traditional Indigenous governments. It provided small seed grants averaging $2,000 and technical assistance to emerging Native American groups across the country. Early projects included: a Paiute farming cooperative reclaiming reservation land leased to non-Indian cattlemen; a Pueblo land reclamation strategy in New Mexico challenging the federal government’s original taking of ancestral lands; and support for the Creek Nation of Oklahoma as they restored their traditional form of government following a successful lawsuit against the Bureau of Indian Affairs, one of the first returns to traditional governance by a major tribe.

The Tribal Sovereignty Project eventually became the Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples, which today provides support to Native-led projects, including those that protect sacred sites, resist fossil fuel development on Indigenous lands, and advance the Land Back movement’s goal of returning ancestral lands to Indigenous peoples.