Association on American Indian Affairs

The Eastern Association on Indian Affairs was started in New York in 1922 to assist a group of Pueblo people seeking to protect their land rights. The following decades saw it growing and merging with other like-minded organizations and it became the Association on American Indian Affairs (AAIA) in 1946. Over the years AAIA has played an integral part in drafting a number of important laws, including the Indian Child Welfare Act, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and the Tribal Governmental Tax Status Act. We have established organizations like the Medicine Wheel Coalition for the Protection of Sacred Sites and negotiated landmark agreements to protect sacred lands such as the Bighorn Medicine Wheel/Medicine Mountain in Wyoming. We have awarded scholarships to Native American college and graduate students from both federally recognized and non-federally recognized tribes. AAIA is a national Indian organization with offices in Maryland and Rhode Island. We are governed by an all-Native American Board of Directors from across the country. Our programs fall into three main categories: youth/education, cultural preservation and sovereignty.