An Osage headright is a type of

headright A headright refers to a legal grant of land given to settlers during the period of European colonization in the Americas. Headrights are most notable for their role in the expansion of the Thirteen Colonies; the Virginia Company gave headrights to s ...

in the United States. There are 2,229 Osage headrights, one for each member of the

Osage Nation The Osage Nation ( ) ( Osage: 𐓁𐒻 𐓂𐒼𐒰𐓇𐒼𐒰͘ ('), "People of the Middle Waters") is a Midwestern Native American tribe of the Great Plains. The tribe developed in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys around 700 BC along ...

enrolled in 1906. Osage headrights entitle the owner to a quarterly share of the Osage Mineral Estate. Osage headrights are known for motivating some of the killers in the

Osage Indian murders The Osage Indian murders were a series of murders of Osage Native Americans in Osage County, Oklahoma, during the 1910s–1930s; newspapers described the increasing number of unsolved murders as the Reign of Terror, lasting from 1921 to 1926. So ...

and for contemporary issues surrounding continued non-Osage ownership.

Description

Osage headrights are property rights, protected under federal law, that entitle their owner to receive a quarterly payment from the Osage Mineral Estate. They also entitle their Osage owners to vote for members of the Osage Mineral Council. Historically, Osage headrights were linked to citizenship and voting in the

. In 2006, a new Osage constitution eliminated headright requirements for voting in all Osage elections except for the mineral council.

Background

In 1887, the United States passed the Dawes Act to begin the allotment of Indian reservations. Since the

owned their land, their reservation was not initially allotted. The Osage Nation signed its first oil lease in 1896 when Chief

James Bigheart James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

leased the entire reservation to Henry and Edwin B. Foster for a period of ten years. The Fosters founded the Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Company. In 1906, a statute allotting the Osage Reservation was passed that included two unique clauses. First, the reservation was allotted only to citizens of the Osage Nation and second, the mineral rights (including coal, natural gas, and oil) for the reservation would continue to be owned collectively by the Osage Nation. In 1907 every member of the Osage Nation was given one headright; a total of 2,229 headrights were created. Each headright was entitled to an equal share (1/2,229th) of the income from the Osage Mineral Estate. Private companies would negotiate leases with the Osage Nation and then pay the

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...

(BIA) according to the terms of those leases. The BIA would then hold the funds in a

trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another * Trust (bus ...

and distribute payments quarterly. The headright system was accompanied by federal laws creating guardianships for many Osage people.

History

Initially, Osage headrights could be inherited by non-Osage people. In 1925, the United States banned the transfer of Osage headrights to non-Osage from Osage citizens with a blood quantum over 1/2. In 1978, the 1925 legislation was amended, eliminating the blood quantum language and extending the inheritance of Osage mineral headrights to legally adopted children of Osage people (Osage or non-Osage) and the descendants of those adopted children, in addition to lineal heirs of the Osage people.''An Act: To amend certain laws relating to the Osage Tribe of Oklahoma, and for other purposes.'', In 1984, Congress passed legislation that, according to the Osage Nation, effectively prohibits non-Osage headright owners from returning their headrights to the Osage Nation. The legislation bars the transfer of Osage headrights by non-Osage headright holders and requires they return the headrights under a tiered preference system. The preferences require the non-Osage headright holder to first attempt to sell the headright to the linear descendants of its original owner, then the purchase by "any other Osage," and only if the other two preferences cannot be fulfilled can the headrights then be returned to the Osage Nation. Since 2021, the Osage Nation Minerals Council has been advocating changing federal law to make it easier for non-Osage citizens to return their Osage headrights to the Osage Nation. A bill to do so was sponsored by

Frank Lucas Frank Lucas (September 9, 1930 – May 30, 2019) was an American drug trafficker who operated in Harlem, New York City, during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was known for cutting out middlemen in the drug trade and buying heroin directly ...

, but as of 2023 has not passed.

Headrights and voting in the Osage Nation

Between 1907 and 1942, only male Osage Nation citizens over 21 years old with a headright on the original roll were eligible to vote in elections for the Osage Tribal Council. In 1942, the

Office of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and ...

changed the election rules to allow women and any descendant of an original enrollee who owned a headright to vote. This rule effectively limited Osage Nation citizenship to Osage people who had retained their headrights during the period when headrights were allowed to be willed to non-Osage people and institutions. By 2004, only 4,000 of the 16,000 descendants of the original enrollees were eligible to vote in elections. Osage law also equated votes for tribal government elections with headright shares. This led to some tribal members having fractional votes while others possessed multiple votes in Osage elections. The 2006 Osage Nation Constitution opened up citizenship to all descendants of the original enrollees and removed the headright requirement for voting in Osage Nations elections. However, while the Osage Principal Chief, Assistant Principal Chief, and Tribal Council are elected by all Osage tribal citizens, the Osage Mineral Council is still elected solely by headright holders.

Contemporary non-Osage ownership

As of 2023, about a quarter of the 2,229 Osage headrights are held by non-Osage citizens. Non-Osage owners include the

Oklahoma Historical Society The Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) is an agency of the government of Oklahoma dedicated to promotion and preservation of Oklahoma's history and its people by collecting, interpreting, and disseminating knowledge and artifacts of Oklahoma. ...

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

(including the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa, St. Mary's in

Barnsdall {{Infobox settlement , official_name = Barnsdall, Oklahoma , settlement_type = City , nickname = Bigheart , motto = , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_se ...

, and the Immaculate Conception Church of Pawhuska), various other churches, companies, the estate of

Daniel J. Boorstin Daniel Joseph Boorstin (October 1, 1914 – February 28, 2004) was an American historian at the University of Chicago who wrote on many topics in American and world history. He was appointed the twelfth Librarian of the United States Congress in ...

, the Frank Phillips Foundation, and the Drummond family. Some of these entities, such as the Oklahoma Historical Society, have sought to return the headrights to the

, but the process is slowed due to complex laws passed in 1984.

Notes

References

{{reflist 1907 establishments in Oklahoma Osage Nation Oil and gas law Osage Indian murders