Jim James

Niobrara High School graduate, Henry “Jim” James, formerly of Santee, now of Lincoln, ha  been featured in a three-part series article in the Native Sun News Today of Rapid City. He was credited with being a “Santee Construction Giant.” Clara Caufield, a correspondent with the Native Sun News Today, interviewed James, about how he came to be one of the largest Indian housing contractors in the United States for two decades spanning the 1980’s and 1990’s. James, who is now in his 70’s, is retired, and had a goal in mind, when he contacted the Native Sun News Today for an interview. He wanted to give some advice to young Native Americans with similar goals. James was a good friend to the paper’s owner and publisher, Tim Giago, and a long-time subscriber and supporter of the paper since the 1970’s.

Giago picked a writer to interview James to help tell his story and relay his advice, which James
wished to share with Niobrara Tribune readers as well. James was born on the Santee Sioux Reservation. According to the article, his great-great Grandfather, Red Legs, was a leader in the Santee Sioux uprising of 1862, imprisoned afterward at Fort Snelling. While there Red Legs was baptized and confirmed by Bishop Whipple. Whipple personally intervened with President Lincoln on behalf of the 333 Santee who were to be hung telling the President, “You can’t do it.” President Lincoln then commuted the sentence of all but 38. Red Legs being one of the reprieved took Whipple’s name and became a devout Christian.

James said the Santee paid dearly for the uprising, and were allotted a tiny reservation in Santee. His father was a farmer and his mother a school cook, and both were devout members of the Episcopalian church, one of the oldest missions in Lakota territory. His mother was the church organist and his father, a leading choir member. While his father served on the tribal council as secretary for decades with no pay, there was little opportunity, and great poverty. The James family placed their confidence in the church and became assimilated, James said. He recalls his grandmother ever counseling, “If you cannot feed your family, you are not free.”

After high school graduation, he was on his own, fortified by a strong work ethic. He and three other Santee young men went to Wayne State College, but after the first year, he dropped out. “I wasn’t prepared. People called me Chief and I was very insecure,” he remembered. In 1967, he enlisted in the Army, served in Vietnam, and during his four-year tour was often a squad leader, and gained the rank of Staff Sergeant.

He returned to the reservation after he was honorably discharge from the Army. He was quickly called upon for tribal leadership, serving as tribal secretary and also during that time, was involved in helping change the Santee school system to gain Santee leadership on the school board and in 1976, a new school was built. At the same time, Johnson’s War on Poverty was in effect and in 1971, James recalled, the Tribe received a first federal grant of $25,000 to employ three people in the Community Action Program (CAP). That was largely due to James Wilson, Oglala, the D.C. - OEO Director, who by coincidence was married to a cousin of James’ mother. 

Wilson personally recruited James to serve as Assistant CAP Program director at Santee,  position he held for six years. Ever enterprising, he saw the potential, helping to form an EDA industrial park on the reservation and even a pharmaceutical plant, eventually employing 55 workers, the fourth such operation in Nebraska and the only on a reservation. Local tribal people all received on the job training, providing an excellent work force. However, the plant was reduced in 1990 due to consolidation, leaving a skeletal crew. The world of enterprise beckoned to him.

Along the way he made many valuable contacts in federal and state agencies. During the time, several agencies such as Housing and Urban Development (HUD) the Indian Health Service, (IHS) Dept. of Education (DOE), and Economic Development Administration (EDA) were in a mini-construction boom. Money was suddenly available to address the critical housing shortages on reservations, hospitals, clinics and schools were also being built and there were many contacts for BIA roads, IHS utilities, office buildings and community structures. More critically, Indian preference for contracting was instituted and was being used-the goal of which was to provide opportunity to Indian businesses. Rightfully so, for the projects were for the benefit of Indian people and on the reservations where they lived, he said.


Observing this, James said he was disappointed to see the development of “front” companies, where a white construction company would take an Indian person into partnership, creating 51 percent Indian and 49 percent white ownership of companies (on paper that is) in order to take advantage of Indian preference and gain jobs and what were often very lucrative profits on Indian reservations. “I’m not saying there weren’t some good companies like that, and I don’t blame people who got caught up in it. But overall in these “front” operations, the Indian was only a liason to get the contracts, had little to do with the actual day-to-day work, and in the end walked away with only a few coins in their pockets. I always thought there was a way to do it legitamately. “

“Every reservation has a skilled workforce, especially in the trades: carpenters, electricians, roofers, plumbers, masons, etc. It’s just that many don’t like to travel for work and leave their families,” he pointed out.


At Santee James said he also had first-hand problems with non- Indian contractors who would not hire local tribal help. Then he decided a better job could be done by hiring local people, even training if necessary. James said he always had good luck with the Tribal Employment Rights Offices (TERO), who work for hiring local people. They know the local work force on their reservations. Big white contractors usually only want to fill a “quota,” but I wanted the whole crew to be local, except for my superintendents, who were Indian, too,” he said.

Later, with many construction projects under his belt. James received an award from TERO for
consistently hiring and using Indian subcontractors. After years of working with federal agencies, James said he used his contacts. He became well regarded in his field, once invited as keynote speaker at a national EDA conference to share the Santee success story. The main point of his speech was “Indians can do this kind of work just as good as anybody. All they need is a leg up.”

So with that, in 1977, he plunged into the world of construction contracting. He named his new company Isanti Construction, in honor of the Santee Sioux. Though it was a major and somewhat risky move with no guarantee, his wife Elaine and family backed him to the hilt, he said. A barrier to many would-be minority contractors is financing. He solved that by getting a bank loan for startup, putting all of his personal assets on the line. He then secured a BIA 90 percent loan guarantee inching toward the financial capacity to get sizeable contracts.

His first big contract was on the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana, a HUD 25-unit housing development scattered across the large tribal territory. He developed a close working relationship with the Tribal Chairman Norman Hollow, and with tribal and HUD approval built Boise Cascade modular units. The Fort Peck Tribes were generous with recommendations which greatly helped Isanti leapfrog to numerous other projects clear across Indian Country.

Over the years, Isanti had projects in Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Florida, Wyoming, Nevada, California and Arizona. Along the way, the company was committed to local labor. At one Pine Ridge project Isanti utilized 100 percent local labor, completing 284 roofings in 100 days. For that, Isanti received the HUD Minority Contractor Utilization Award, and was featured in many newspaper articles for participating in local training programs.

Though now retired, James sees much opportunity for enterprising young Native American people. His advice for aspiring Native American business people is: *Develop
skills to make choices. “You don’t have to stay on the reservation. If you do decide that, it is fine, but then you should work to make it a better place for you and your family, more homes, better jobs, etc. In order to leave, skills and education are necessary, and you must pay your own way. It’s not always easy.

*Take advantage of Indian/minority preference: Indian preference programs still exist, and a first step is to gain certification with one’s own tribe and then other federal and even State agencies. That will get you the lists of jobs and it is possible to be 100 per cent Indian owned and operated.
* Promote your business. While developing a good working relationship with your own tribe is essential, contractors must also generally travel to other locations for jobs. The quality of your work will speak for itself and word-of mouth is powerful, but advertising is also necessary.
*Network and develop working relationships.
*Creative financing: He recommends BIA and SBA loan guarantee programs, which he said he
used to good effect.
*Give Back: The easiest way to give back is to provide well-paying jobs to tribal members. “It is also critical for the owner or the boss to work right alongside of his crew,” he said. He also urges contractors to actively support and use Tribal Employment Rights programs. “They know who the good workers are. And remember that every tribe has an annual celebration where donations are very much appreciated. “