Imagine that the United States government showed up at your doorstep and told you and your family that you had to walk 500 miles to a new home in a foreign land. Imagine, along the way, that your relatives and children died on your journey to your new home. Imagine that you were told you would not be able to honor your dying child's wish to be buried in their homelands. Imagine not being considered a human being. Sadly, this is the reality that Chief Standing Bear and my Ponca ancestors lived.

Chief Standing Bear was born on the banks of the Niobrara River in Nebraska where the Ponca people peaceably lived. In 1877, by federal treaty, the United States forcibly removed Chief Standing Bear and the Ponca Tribe from our homeland in Nebraska to Indian Territory. Chief Standing Bear and the Ponca people walked over 500 miles from Nebraska to Oklahoma, enduring hardships of travel, illness and the harsh conditions of Indian Territory. As a result, many members of our tribe perished during the tribe's first year in Indian Territory, including Chief Standing Bear's 16-year-old son Bear Shield. Bear Shield's dying wish to his father was to be buried back in our homelands along the Niobrara River.

Chief Standing Bear. 1877. Illustration from The Indian Dispossessed by Seth K. Humphrey, 1906.

Determined to grant his son's dying wish, Chief Standing Bear led 30 members, including women and children, on the long 500-mile walk back from Indian Territory to our home in Nebraska, where he and the returning Poncas were arrested by Brigadier General George Crook for leaving the reservation in Indian Territory.

When the Ponca story appeared in the press, attorney John L. Webster offered his services to the Ponca pro bono and was joined by Andrew J. Poppleton, chief attorney of the Union Pacific Railroad. In April 1879, with the help of these local attorneys, Chief Standing Bear sued the federal government, seeking his freedom and right to return to his homeland. As the trial drew to a close, U.S. District Judge Elmer Dundy announced that Chief Standing Bear could make a speech on his own behalf. Displaying his right hand to the courtroom, Standing Bear proceeded to speak his famous words: "That hand is not the color of yours, but if I pierce it, I shall feel pain. If you pierce your hand, you also feel pain. The blood that will flow from mine will be of the same color as yours. I am a man. The same God made us both."

On May 12, 1879, Chief Standing Bear and the Ponca people were indeed victorious when Dundy ruled for the first time in American history that "an Indian is a person within the meaning of the law." And on April 23, 2018, the state of Nebraska chose to highlight the important leadership of Chief Standing Bear and this significant chapter of U.S. history by enacting legislation to place a statue of him in the United States Capitol as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection.

Katie Brossy, senior counsel with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, stands next to the statue of Ponca Chief Standing Bear inside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Over the past 18 months, I have had the unique honor and privilege to work on this project on a pro bono basis to navigate the federal approval process, with the help of the Chief Standing Bear Statuary Hall Committee, my Akin Gump colleagues, and my mother, Judi gaiashkibos. On Sept. 13, I was present at the U.S. Capitol when the Chief Standing Bear statue was hoisted through the doors of the capitol and unboxed in Statuary Hall. I will never forget the moment that Chief Standing Bear was lifted out of the box, with his arm outreached, much like the day he was in court. As a Ponca tribal member and a mother of two young boys, it was a moment of joy, sadness and hope. Now, millions of visitors who walk through the capitol every year will be able to see the statute and reflect on Chief Standing Bear's story. On that famous day, Chief Standing Bear was not trying to be a hero, but rather was trying to keep his word to his son. In doing so, he forever changed the course of our tribe and native people everywhere.

To me, the Chief Standing Bear statue is not simply a statue. It represents all of the first Americans of this country and the many trails of tears that native people were forced to walk. To know America's history, you must know our history. The story of Chief Standing Bear and the Ponca people is a story of honor, courage, perseverance and patriotism. It is a story of freedom, spiritual resolve, love of family, and love of country. It is a story that reflects all the values that Americans cherish and hold dear.

I would like to take a moment to thank Chief Standing Bear and all of my Ponca ancestors who had the courage and fortitude to walk over 1,000 miles so that I could be here today. As my mother often says, we must strive to be "Standing Bear strong," and I have sought to do that every day in my work.

Katie Brossy is senior counsel at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, where she represents Indian tribes, tribal governmental instrumentalities and tribally owned enterprises across an array of issues.