Lyda Conley

Eliza Burton Conley
Died	May 28, 1946(1946-05-28)
Alma mater	Kansas City School of Law
Occupation	lawyer

Eliza Burton “Lyda” Conley (ca. 1869 – 1946) was an Wyandot-American lawyer of Native American and European descent, the first woman admitted to the Kansas bar. She was notable for her campaign to prevent the sale and development of the Huron Cemetery in Kansas City, now known as the Wyandot National Burying Ground. She challenged the government in court, and in 1909 she was the first Native American woman admitted to argue a case before the Supreme Court of the United States.

Her case appears to be the first in which "a plaintiff argued that the burying grounds of Native Americans were entitled to federal protection." Conley gained the support of Kansas Senator Charles Curtis, who proposed and led passage of legislation in 1916 to prevent the sale and establish the Huron Cemetery as a federal park. In 1971 the Huron Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and in 2016 it was designated a National Historic Landmark.

From the late 19th century, the cemetery was at the heart of a struggle between the present-day Wyandot Nation of Kansas and the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma. In 1998 the two groups finally came to agreement to preserve the Wyandot National Burying Ground only for religious, cultural and related purposes in keeping with its sacred history.

Lyda Conley was the youngest of four daughters born to Elizabeth Burton Zane Conley (1838–1879), a multi-racial member of the Wyandot Nation. Their father was Andrew Syrenus Conley (about 1830-1885), a Yankee of Scots-Irish and English descent, who migrated west from New Canaan, Connecticut to Ohio and Kansas. Her family history was typical of the Wyandot nation then, as over the years many members had married European Americans, and members were increasingly multiracial. Her family's moves west were also typical of the Wyandots' need to have a place outside of European-American encroachment.

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