Native American land status can be of significant legal importance when researching Native American law. The federal government removed many Native Americans from their ancestral home lands, creating Reservations delineated by treaty or federal law. In some areas, the federal government allotted Reservation land to individual Native Americans, opening up portions of former Indian land for non-Indian settlement. The history of Oklahoma Indian Country is more complex. The Dawes Act allotted land to members of the Five Civilized Tribes (the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole) while its earlier version, the General Allotment Act, allotted land to members of other tribes, including many in Oklahoma. Under the Dawes Act, the 5 Civilized Tribes received allotments in Restricted status, whereas under the General Allotment Act, all of the other tribes received allotments under Trust status. See AIPRA Link.
Unearthing Indian Land by 
The Oneida Indians in the Age of Allotment, 1860-1920 by 
A History of Indian Policy by 
