Oct. 23, 1890: President Benjamin Harrison signed a proclamation extending Nebraska's border into the Dakotas and voiding Indian claims to the land. The proclamation brought an end to decades of conflict in Nebraska between Sioux, Fox, Omaha, and Ponca Indians — and white settlers. In 1966, federal recognition of the Ponca tribe was ended, depriving them of their status as a tribe and the small amount of land that had been granted to them by Harrison. Nearly a quarter-century later, on Oct. 31, 1990, President George H.W. Bush reinstated the Ponca tribe, giving them the right to reestablish their homeland in the state of Nebraska.
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