Tribal Regalia

Tribal regalia are culturally and religiously significant items of dress that are worn by some Indigenous people during traditional ceremonies, activities and important life events, including rites of passage like graduation. Tribal regalia can include a broad range of clothing items, accessories, and adornments. In the context of high school graduations, some Indigenous students have sought to wear beadwork or an eagle feather on their graduation caps. Others have worn traditional moccasins and leggings, sealskin caps, or leis. Tribal regalia can also include hairstyles such as hair worn long or in braids.

Since 2025, Nebraska law has required that our state's public schools permit Indigenous students (of the United States or other countries) to wear tribal regalia in any public or private location where a student is otherwise authorized to be and at any school function. Statute defines tribal regalia as "traditional garments, jewelry, other adornments, or similar objects of cultural significance worn by members of an [I]ndigenous tribe of the United States or another country." A section of state law focused on dress codes also protects students' rights to wear regalia.

Tribal regalia, such as eagle feathers and the beading of mortar boards, play an important role for Indigenous youth that many non-Native people do not understand. These items are typically gifted to graduating students by their families or tribal elders to recognize the students’ success and academic achievements. Graduation ceremonies are particularly significant events for Indigenous students because they have long faced structural barriers and discrimination in the educational context and are less likely to graduate from high school than their peers. Indeed, Indigenous students have suffered horrific persecution by the government and education system. For example, thousands of Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families and communities to distant, government-run boarding schools, including Nebraska's Genoa Boarding School, where their Indigenous languages, beliefs, and identities were suppressed. Denying Indigenous students the right to wear tribal regalia does not only violate state law — it further deprives students of their cultural and religious heritage in the name of assimilation.