Native Threads Profile: Tex G. Hall
President, National Congress of American Indians
Tex G. Hall, “Ihbudah Hishi” (“Red Tipped Arrow”) grew up on his family’s cattle ranch in Mandaree, located in the heart of the Mandan, Hidatsa & Arikara Nation in North Dakota. President Hall followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, both ranchers, who told him to “pay attention and learn as much as you can, because someday you may have to lead your people.”
President Hall was elected Chairman of his tribe in November 1998, 40 years to the date that his grandfather was elected Chairman of the Tribal Council in 1958. President Hall was overwhelmingly re-elected Chairman for a second term – the first time that has ever happened – in 2002.
While he was growing up, President Hall’s parents made it clear that schooling is important and that they were committed to making sure their children were well educated. After graduating from the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota he went on to earn his master’s degree from the University of South Dakota, President Hall became school principal and later school superintendent at the Mandaree School on his reservation, a position he held for 11 years. In 1995, while he was serving as superintendent, his peers named him North Dakota Educator of the year. In 2002, President Hall received the University of Mary Leadership Award, his alma mater’s highest award of distinction, for his dedication to education.
Hall was elected President of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) in 2001. In that capacity, President Hall has led the fight for the protection of Tribal Sovereignty and has been the most active voice for Tribal rights in Washington, DC, where he has testified a record 60 times in front of Congress. He was re-elected President of NCAI in November 2003, by an overwhelmingly 60% of the vote.
In 2003, President Hall, as President of NCAI, delivered the first ever “State of the Indian Nations Address,” in which he challenged Congress and the Administration to live up to the United States trust responsibility to Tribes. In that historic address, President Hall also announced an initiative to create 100,000 new jobs in Indian Country by 2008. In early 2003, President Hall also appeared on C-SPAN to defend Native gaming and to refute the unfair and inaccurate charges leveled against Tribes.
President Hall has expanded the presence of NCAI politically, not only in Washington, but also in state capitols across the nation. He also has worked hard to get state and federal officials to work together on a bipartisan basis for Indian Country. President Hall has been closely identified with the national fight for Trust Reform, Sovereignty Protection, Economic Development, Homeland Security, and Cultural Protection. He also has helped lead the fight against the historic discrimination of Native American farmers in the Keepseagle class action lawsuit filed against the United States Department of Agriculture.
In addition, President Hall has also continued to fight domestic violence by lobbying for the reauthorization of the Violence against Women Act, increasing Tribal criminal authority to prosecute domestic and sexual violence offenders, and creating a federal tribal grant program to provide services to Native American women survivors.
Upon his election as Chairman of his Tribe, Hall went to work on his announced priorities for his people – education, healthcare, and economic development. Through his leadership, he brought back more than $230 million to the reservation in new funding. Funded projects included a new bridge ($60 million), Dakota water project ($70 million), cultural center ($11.5 million), juvenile justice center ($6 million), Inter Tribal Economic Alliance ($56 million) and $250,000 for the Health Technology Task Force. Hall’s leadership resulted in an economic turnaround for his Tribe, cutting the unemployment rate from 50% to just under 15%, and creating more than 300 new jobs on the reservation.
In 1999, President Hall chaired an historic meeting with President Clinton and Great Plain Tribes at the White House; and created a new Head Start initiative to increase positions at Tribal schools. In the 108th Congress Chairman Hall advocated and won congressional appropriations of $20 million for a 24-hour healthcare facility; $4 million for Twin Buttes school located on the Ft. Berthold Indian Reservation; $350,000 for Cultural Interpretive Center; and $121,250 for construction of Cultural Interpretive Center.
President Hall has shown his dedication to Native American rights, serving as Chairman of the Inter-Tribal Economic Alliance, which he founded. He has also served as Chairman of the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association; Chairman of the Native American Bank Corporation; President of the NCAI President’s Health Technology Task Force; Co-Chairman of the National Tribal Leaders Task Force on Trust Reform and as President of the 1999 North American Indigenous Games.
In 1999, Tex G. Hall was inducted into the North Dakota Sports Hall of Fame for his accomplishments, first as a basketball player and then for his work for Native youth in setting up basketball camps across the United States and Canada. In 2004, President Hall was inducted into the North Dakota Amateur Basketball Hall of Fame, as well as the National Indian Athletic Association Hall of Fame. At the same time, his entire team, the North Dakota Warriors, were also voted into the National Indian Athletic Association Hall of Fame.
For years, Tex Hall has been a supporter and believer in Native Threads, and the company’s unique contributions to Indian Country. In between stops on a nationwide tour to rally Native voters, Hall took time out to appear in Native Threads’ 2004 Fall/ Holiday catalog, which was dedicated to empowering the Native Vote. In the fall of 2003, Hall worked with Rudy Rojas on a fundraising concert, organized by Native Threads to benefit the National Congress of American Indians. Hall will be featured in Native Threads’ 2005 Fall /Holiday catalog, and he looks forward to collaborating with Native Threads on future projects that will promote social and economic improvements in Native America.
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