AIAF Indigenous Film Vault

Over 100 years ago, the U.S. Government broke up Indian Reservations and allotted millions of acres of land to 300,000 Native Americans. The government promised to manage  their land, establishing the Indian Trust Fund to disburse revenues generated by mining, oil, gas, and timber leases. 

The federal government was supposed to manage the Indian Trust...what it really managed was to cheat Indian families out of billions of dollars.

In 1996, Elouise Cobell, a Blackfeet Warrior, filed the largest class action lawsuit ever filed against the Federal Government. This is the story of how she prevailed and made history.