Tillie Hardwick (née Myers; 1 August 1924 – 15 July 1999) was a Pomo Indian woman who was instrumental in reversing the California Indian Rancheria termination policy of the U.S. government.

Early life

Tillie Myers was born 1 August 1924 to Joe Myers and Elisabeth Posh and grew up in

Mendocino County, California Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish language, Spanish for "of Antonio de Mendoza, Mendoza) is a County (United States), county located on the North Coast (California), North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United Sta ...

on the Pinoleville Indian Rancheria, just north of

Ukiah, California Ukiah ( ; Pomo: ''Yokaya'', meaning "deep valley") is the county seat and largest city of Mendocino County, California, with a population of 16,607 at the 2020 census. With its accessible location along the U.S. Route 101 corridor, Ukiah serves ...

. Hardwick's family had lived in the Clear Lake drainage basin for many generations and she remembered stories told by her mother and aunt about her grandparents involvement in the Bloody Island Massacre of 1850. When Congress passed a law in 1958 to terminate her tribe’s reservation lands, under the

Indian termination policy Indian termination is a phrase describing United States policies relating to Native Americans from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s. It was shaped by a series of laws and practices with the intent of assimilating Native Americans into mainstream ...

, tribal members agreed in exchange for private land ownership and improvements including sewers, running water, streets and fire hydrants. The government also promised to provide a special program of education and training designed to help the Indians to earn a livelihood. Hardwick and other tribal members were led to believe that termination was mandatory and they were unprepared for state and county taxation requirements of privately held lands. The government failed to provide plumbing for Hardwick's home and when she attempted to secure a loan to make repairs, she was unable to do so. No title company would issue a policy stating that she had marketable title. When Hardwick’s son, Joe, was denied educational benefits, she decided to take action for the failure of the government to live up to its promises to the tribe.

California Rancheria termination litigation

In 1979, on the basis that termination was illegal since the improvements had not been done, Hardwick filed suit with the assistance of California Indian Legal Services, who decided to make the case a class action. In a decision dated 19 July 1983 a US District Court restored the status of 17 California rancherias: The United States agreed to restore the status of the individual members of the Rancherias as Indians and acknowledged that the federal government would recognize as Indian entities the "Indian Tribes, Bands, Communities or groups" of these 17 Rancherias with the same status as they possessed prior to termination. The United States also agreed that tribal members could elect to restore their fee simple lands which had been former trust allotments to trust status, to be held by the United States for their benefit. The first Hardwick decision (''Tillie Hardwick, et al. v. United States of America, et al.'' Case #C-79-1710-SW) did not determine whether or to what extent the boundaries of the 17 Rancherias were restored, but it did establish the basis that the BIA was to ensure that those who formed the ''initial'' tribal governments and re-organized them were the individuals who properly had the right to do so. On 31 January 1986 the Hardwick plaintiffs amended their complaint (often cited as Hardwick II) and added a number of tribes that had reconstituted their former federally recognized governments to be able to intervene in the litigation and dropped as defendants those counties that had voluntarily resolved their issues with tribes in their jurisdictions. The decisions issued throughout 1986 and 1987 established the boundaries of various Rancherias and settled taxation disputes with some of the California counties involved.

Family and personal life

Hardwick was the mother of four children. Three sons: Robert Hopper, who predeceased Hardwick; Joseph A. Myers attorney and founder of the National Indian Justice Center; and Larry Myers (youngest son) of Sacramento who served as Executive Secretary of the California Native American Heritage Commission from 1987–2011; and one daughter, Joyce A. Britton, of Willits, California.

Legacy

On the basis of her suit’s success, other tribes throughout California began fighting for recognition and restoration by the federal government. There had been 6 termination reversals prior to ''Tillie Hardwick v. United States''. The

Robinson Rancheria The Robinson Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California is a Federally recognized tribes, federally recognized tribe of Eastern Pomo people in Lake County, California.

was restored 22 March 1977; the Hopland Rancheria was restored 29 March 1978; the

Upper Lake Rancheria The Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake is a federally recognized tribe of Pomo Indians in Lake County, California.

was restored 15 May 1979; the

Table Bluff Rancheria The Wiyot Tribe is a federally recognized tribe of Wiyot people. They are the aboriginal people of Humboldt Bay, Mad River and lower Eel River. ''Four Directions Institute.'' Retrieved 29 Sept 2013.Big Sandy Rancheria was restored 28 March 1983; and the

Table Mountain Rancheria The Table Mountain Rancheria is a federally recognized tribe of Native American people from the Chukchansi band of Yokuts and the Monache tribe. It is also the tribe's ranchería, located in Fresno County, California. Reservation Founded in 191 ...

was restored in June, 1983. Each of these decisions only pertained to one reservation. The Hardwick decision restored more terminated tribes than any other single case in California. The impact of the Hardwick decisions is immeasurable. The native peoples whose tribes were restored through the class-action lawsuit she instituted continue to be referred to as "Hardwick Indians." The decision has been cited as jurisprudence for countless state and federal tribal litigation cases since it was originally rendered. The policy that the Bureau of Indian Affairs established to confirm that the initial members reinstating a tribe are the historical tribal members has been used in litigation in many states outside of California. The boundaries established in the 1987 Hardwick II decision have been reviewed as the basis for California gambling establishments on tribal lands since the inception of the

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (, ''et seq.'') is a 1988 United States federal law that establishes the jurisdictional framework that governs Indian gaming. There was no federal gaming structure before this act. The stated purposes of the ac ...

(IGRA).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardwick, Tillie 1924 births 1999 deaths Pomo people United States federal Indian policy Assimilation of indigenous peoples of North America Aboriginal title in the United States History of California Native American history of California Native American people from California Native American history Native American activists 20th-century Native Americans 20th-century Native American women Activists from California