The article discusses the sovereignty of tribal communities in the U.S. Tribes are not simply ethnic neighborhoods but actual nations with a land base, a unique "government-to-government" relationship with the federal government, and a status. In the 1970s, the federal government gave tribal governments more responsibility to manage programs that it once administered. Suddenly even small tribes started looking after their own law enforcement, natural resource management, economic development, housing, and, of course, education. It was in this era that the first tribal colleges were founded. By taking over the work of state and federal governments, tribes began to act, at last, more like modern political institutions.