The survival of the Chickasaw Nation as a thriving sovereign nation is a true testament of leadership, determination and cultural identity. Assimilation policies, allotment of tribal lands and attempts to dissolve tribal governments all took a devastating toll. In the 1950s, new federal policies regarding tribes began inspiring grassroots activism in urban America. At the same time in rural Oklahoma, the Chickasaw Nation continued its grassroots efforts to fulfill its own destiny with new challenges, but the same unconquerable spirit.