To amend the National Trails System Act to direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study on the feasibility of designating the Chief Standing Bear National Historic Trail, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, let me thank the distinguished chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources for his leadership on this issue and for his many, many years of devoted service to this body. We will miss you. All the best in the future. Thank you so much for your service.

Let me also thank the ranking member, Mr. DeFazio, for his support on this important piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, this bill directs the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a feasibility study for the Chief Standing Bear National Historic Trail.

Why is this important? Because, as has already been mentioned, Chief Standing Bear holds a special place in Native American, as well as United States history. Establishing a trail in his name would be an outstanding way to recognize his deep contribution to the well-being of our country.

I would like to provide some additional background on this extraordinary individual who, again, prevailed in one of the most important court cases for Native Americans in our country's history.

Chief Standing Bear was a Ponca chief. In the 1800s, the Ponca tribe made its home in the Niobrara River Valley in the area of northeast Nebraska. In 1877, the United States Government pressured the Poncas from their homeland, compelling them to move to Indian territory in Oklahoma.

Not wanting to subject his people to a confrontation with the government, Standing Bear obliged and led them from their homes to their new reservation in Oklahoma. That journey was particularly harsh and the new land was inhospitable. Nearly a third of the tribe died along the way from starvation, malaria, and other illness, including Standing Bear's own daughter, Prairie Flower, and later, his son named Bear Shield.

Standing Bear had promised Bear Shield that he would bury him back home, back home in their native land in the Niobrara River Valley of northeast Nebraska. Embarking on that trip in the winter of 1878, Standing Bear led a group of Poncas. When they reached the Omaha reservation, the United States Army stopped Standing Bear and arrested him for leaving Oklahoma without permission. He was then taken to Fort Omaha and held there to stand trial.

In the meantime, Standing Bear's plight actually attracted national attention; first, in the predecessor to the current Omaha World Herald, the Omaha Daily Herald, which is our local newspaper back home, and through that, the story became well publicized.

At the conclusion of his 2-day trial, Standing Bear himself was allowed to speak. In doing so, he raised his hand, Mr. Speaker, and he had this to say:

That hand is not the color of yours, but if I pierce it, I

shall feel pain. If you pierce your hand, you will feel pain.

The blood that will flow from mine will be the same color as

yours. I am a man. God made us both.

With those profound words, Mr. Speaker, on that late spring day in 1879, I believe that Chief Standing Bear expressed the most profound of American sentiments: the belief in the inherent dignity and, therefore, rights of all persons, no matter their ethnicity, no matter their color. To the credit of Judge Elmer Dundy, he ruled then that Native Americans were full persons within the meaning of the law for the first time in that trial.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that the story of the great Ponca chief is a story of strength and grace and dignity in the protection of the most basic of human rights. I also believe it is a story that needs to be told again and again, understood, and cherished by all Americans of coming generations.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that the establishment of the Chief Standing Bear National Historic Trail would honor both his courage and legacy, the legacy of this brave individual, and his contribution to the civil liberties of our Nation.

With that, I urge my colleagues to support the bill and, again, thank the gentlemen for their support as well.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I rise in support of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5086 directs the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study on the feasibility of designating the Chief Standing Bear National Historic Trail in Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Kansas. The trail extends 550 miles following the same route taken by Chief Standing Bear and the Ponca people during Federal Indian removal in 1877 and their subsequent return to Nebraska.

Chief Standing Bear played an important role in American history. He was the first Native American recognized by the United States Government as a person under law, following his arrest

and ensuing trial for leaving his reservation in Oklahoma without permission.

Chief Standing Bear was honoring his son's dying wish to be buried in the land of his birth and traveled with his son's remains, along with 20 other members of his tribe, through harsh conditions from Oklahoma back to their ancestral lands in Nebraska.

Unfortunately, at that time, leaving the reservation was a violation of law.

At the very least, 135 years later, it is only right that we look into the feasibility of including this trail as part of the National Historic Trails system, to reflect on a not-so-proud period of American history in our country when Native Americans were treated as second- class citizens and honor the courage of Chief Standing Bear in living up to the promise he had made to his son.

I thank my colleagues on the other side of the aisle for advancing this legislation, and Representative Fortenberry for his leadership on this bill.

I support passage, and urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this legislation.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5086) to amend the National Trails System Act to direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study on the feasibility of designating the Chief Standing Bear National Historic Trail, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5086, authored by the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Fortenberry), directs the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study on the feasibility of designating the Chief Standing Bear National Historic Trail.

The proposed trail would extend approximately 550 miles between Nebraska and Oklahoma, following the route taken by Chief Standing Bear and the Ponca people during the Federal Indian removal. The trail would also commemorate the chief's return to Nebraska and subsequent trial in 1879 when he became the first Native American to be recognized as a person in a Federal court decision. It is a good piece of legislation. I urge its adoption.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Fortenberry), the author of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.