They are one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy in the area of upstate New York, particularly near the Great Lakes.

The people have a matrilineal kinship system, and children are considered to be born into the mother's clan, through which descent and inheritance passes.

During the early 17th century, the Oneidas occupied and maintained roughly 6 million acres of land in what is modern day central New York State.

[4] The Oneida, along with the five other tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy, initially maintained a policy of neutrality in the American Revolution.

For some time, the Oneidas continued advocating neutrality and attempted to restore consensus among the six tribes of the Confederacy.

In 1777 at the Battle of Oriskany, about fifty Oneida fought alongside the colonial militia, this included Tyonajanegen and her husband Han Yerry.

Many Oneida formed friendships with Philip Schuyler, George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, and other prominent rebel leaders.

[5] Under Chief Skenandon's leadership, the Oneidas brought bushels of maize to General George Washington's starving Patriot army.

Washington's intentions were to pay cash to Cooper for her generosity, but she refused to accept compensation because she said it was her duty to serve her country.

Although leaders of the tribe had taken the colonists' side, individuals within the decentralized nation could make their own decisions about alliances.

After the war, the Oneida were displaced by retaliatory and other raids by American settlers, who did not always distinguish between Iroquois who had been allies or foes.

They were granted six million acres (24,000 km2) of lands, primarily in New York; this was effectively the first Indian reservation in the United States.

Subsequent treaties and actions by the State of New York drastically reduced their land to 32 acres (13 ha).

In 1838 Daniel Bread (1800–1873) helped negotiate a treaty for the Oneida in Wisconsin by which they asserted their intention to hold their piece of land communally.

Cornelius Hill succeeded Daniel Bread as Chief after his death in 1873, and for decades fought further relocation of the Oneida, as well as privatization of common lands pursuant to the Dawes Act of 1887, which allowed such after a 25-year trust period.

[9] Particularly after the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, Winder and her sister reached out to the Oneida of Wisconsin, and both American branches of the nation pushed jointly for their land claim.

[10] The Defendants moved for summary judgment based on the U. S. Supreme Court's decision in City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation[11] and the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals' decision in Cayuga Indian Nation v. New York[12] On May 21, 2007, Judge Kahn dismissed the Oneida's possessory land claims and allowed the non-possessory claims to proceed.

The Oneida of Wisconsin have brought suit to reacquire lands in their ancestral homelands as part of the settlement of the aforementioned litigation.

With a lack of fresh foods in the winter, during the autumn months, the Oneidas dried fruits and vegetables which they had harvested.

When spring rolled around, the snow began to melt and the region became warm, the Oneidas' diet would change.

Also during the spring months, maple trees provided sap that would be collected, then boiled down to make syrup and hard candy.

During the summer months the Oneidas would consume various fruits such as strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, pears, plums, peaches, apples, and grapes.

For the men, they would wear traditional Iroquois headdresses called kastoweh[17] which would consist of feathers and insignia representing their tribe.