2A. Minority Rights

Question 1

How was tribal homelands an issue for Native Americans?

Answer 1

Many Native Americans had been driven from their homelands in the forced relocation of the 1830s following the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

They had been forced to make treaties with the government which legalised their removal in exchange for land and money. In the 1960s, even the government reognised these treaties had been unfair.

Many Native Americans wanted to return to their homelands and sacred sites where possible

Question 2

How was self-determination an issue for Native Americans?

Answer 2

The tribes had long had an unusual position in the USA. Their reservations were individual nations where they were able to run their own affairs, but only under the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).

The BIA had tried, since the establishment of Indian Boarding Schools in 1893 to break up Indian culture and damage tribal cohesion.

Naturally, many Native Americans were unhappy with this and wanted greater freedom to run their own affairs and a change of BIA personnel.

Question 3

What was the National Congress of American Indians?

Answer 3

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) was a civil rights group that worked with the system to protest against federal government.

Question 4

What was the American Indian Movement?

Answer 4

The American Indian Movement (AIM) was an organisation of young people which took a more radical, anti-federal stance under the slogan ‘Red Power’. It consciously adopted the direct action techniques of black American groups including sit-ins, demonstrations and occupations.

It had a specific issue with homelands and so groups targeted disputed land for occupation, as well as the demeaning of Native American culture by white people in their ‘Red Indians’ pastiches of culture.

Question 5

How did Nixon react to the civil rights campaigns of Native Americans?

Answer 5

President Nixon sympathised with Native American campaigners and felt it should be possible to make changes for the 830,000 Native Americans in the USA.

He rejected termination (the removal of reservations) and assimilation (encouragement to move to towns/cities) and his advisors contacted tribal leaders for support.

Question 6

What notable Acts were passed in favour of Native Americans?

Answer 6

Acts passed in favour of Native Americans included:

1972 Indian Education Act (funds for tribal schools).

1974 Indian Financing Act (lent tribes funding).

1975 Indian Self-Determination Act (which kept the BIA but contracted out services such as health / education).

1975 Voting Rights Act extended to cover minority groups including Native Americans, and to provide language assistance when voting.

1978 Indian Child Welfare Act (gave Native Americans more control over the adoption of Native American children)

Question 7

What major areas of land were restored to Native Americans?

Answer 7

• In 1970, Congress returned land at Blue Lake to the Taos Pueblo tribe.
• In 1971 the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act transferred 40 million acres of land and $462,500,000 to Native Alaskans.

Question 8

What were the main limitations to land restoration?

Answer 8

Some land was only restored once Native Americans owned it in their own right anyway.

Nixon did not renegotiate over Native American sacred sites, or reform the BIA.

Native peoples continued to be evicted in some places if the state wanted the land for building or other use e.g. Hawaii in 1971.

Question 9

What does the term ‘Hispanic’ mean and who was the first to use it consistently?

Answer 9

‘Hispanic’ - Americans with a Spanish-speaking background, namely Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba.

Nixon was the first to use the term consistently

Question 10

What was the Bracero programme?

Answer 10

The Bracero programme was a programme that guaranteed Mexican workers seasonal work in the USA on short-term labour contracts, as well as the same wages as their American counterparts.

Question 11

How was land an issue for Hispanics?

Answer 11

The 1846-48 Mexican-American war was ended by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, settling the border between the USA and Mexico. Mexicans living in annexed US areas could either choose to become Americans or move to Mexico.

The issue of land rights in what became New Mexico became a focus of protest.

Question 12

How was worker’s rights an issue for Hispanics?

Answer 12

Hispanic farm workers, typically those in the Bracero programme often had appalling living and working conditions. When workers returned after WW2 farmers took a ‘take it or leave it’ attitude to worker complaints.

Workers found it difficult to campaign for rights as there were no unions and a large pool of illegal migrants to call on.

Question 13

How was discrimination an issue for Hispanics?

Answer 13

Hispanics faced the same problems of racial discrimination as black Americans. In towns and cities, they lived in Spanish-speaking areas (barrios) in the worst parts of town with poor government provision.

Racial tensions between Hispanics and white Americans became an issue as they would not always live side by side peacefully.

Question 14

How was deportation an issue for Hispanics?

Answer 14

The US immigration services deported 3.8 million Hispanic people during Operation Wetback during 1953-58.

Question 15

How did Cesar Chavez campaign for civil rights?

Answer 15

Cesar Chavez fought a non-violent campaign for the rights of farm workers, focusing on working conditions. He spoke to rallies to mobilise Hispanic voters, set up a farm worker’s union and organised strikes, marches and protests.
He also gained publicity by fasting publicly.

Question 16

How did Reies López Tijerina campaign for civil rights?

Answer 16

Reies López Tijerina organised protests about land rights in New Mexico. He started with legal protests but turned to marches, mass demonstrations and camp-ins on National Forest Land. He and Black Power Leaders signed an agreement to work together.

Question 17

How did Reies López Tijerina become involved with gun violence?

Answer 17

Reies López Tijerina and others went into a county courthouse in 1967 to make a citizen’s arrest of an abusive district attorney. Things went wrong, they took hotages and a gun battle followed.

Question 18

How did Rodolfo Gonzales campaign for civil rights?

Answer 18

Rodolfo Gonzales focused on race. At first, he worked for Hispanic rights within the system - he was director of the Denver War on Poverty campaign - but he came to favour more radical methods.

His Crusade for Justice offered a version of black pride to Hispanics, stressing the importance of racial identity.

This campaign influenced a student walkout in LA in 1966 and much of the direct action by urban youth that followed, including the Young Citizens for Community Action (YCCA) which had contacts with the black power movement.

Question 19

What was the La Raza Unida party?

Answer 19

La Raza Unida was a party that encouraged Hispanic people to register to vote, and then to provide them with party candidates to vote for.

It campaigned for better work, housing and education for Hispanics. It began in Texas and spread to California and Colorado.

Question 20

Who were the Brown Berets?

Answer 20

The Brown Berets were a militant organisation set up in 1967 in East LA. Members wore uniform and campaigned against police brutality and led school walk-outs. By 1968 there were Brown Beret members in most urban centres with a Hispanic population.

Question 21

What did the US government pass to improve the rights og Hispanics?

Answer 21

By 1954 the Supreme Court had ruled that Hispanics were equal citizens.

Congress’ 1966 Cuban American Adjustment Act said that all Cubans that had lived in the US for a year were permanent residents.

In 1968 the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund was set up to pursue civil rights in the courts.

1974 Equal Opportunities Act provided for more bilingual teaching in schools.

1975 Voting Rights Act extension was made to provide language assistance at polling stations and extended rights to all Hispanic groups.

Question 22

How had everyday life for Hispanics improved?

Answer 22

Chavez’s campaign had made a significant difference to the conditions of farm workers.

Local campaigns had improved schools and housing similar to black Americans, but enforcement of these legal rights varied from place to place, as it did for black Americans.

Question 23

What were the limitations of the Hispanic civil rights movement?

Answer 23

Land issues raised by protesters remain unsolved to this day.

Question 24

What challenges existed for homosexuals before 1969?

Answer 24

• Gay Americans could not easily be identified, which led many Americans to be fearful
• Homosexuality was labeled as ‘an invisible disease’ and was considered a mental illness.
• This prompted the ‘Lavender Scare’ of the 1950s in which attempts were made to root out gay people - thousands lost their jobs.
• When gay people were discovered, they faced discrimination similar to other minority groups.

Question 25

How did the gay rights movement form?

Answer 25

On 28th June 1969 police raided the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich village, ostensibly for liquor licensing but actually because it was a gay bar.

One policeman was too rough with a customer and 400 people began to fight back, throwing things and yelling at the police (who were forced to barricade themselves in the bar for safety)

For several nights running, protests and clashes continued causing the gay rights movement to form.

Question 26

What were the early stages of the gay rights movement?

Answer 26

Several weeks after the 1969 Stonewall Riots the Gay Liberation Front was established and a number of large, peaceful protests were established.

Gay pride marches were held in several cities on 28th August 1970, the largest in New York having over 10,000 marchers.

Question 27

What were the main factors for the expansion of the gay rights movement?

Answer 27

Large numbers of support for gay rights, as well as a large number of gay groups.

Predominantely liberal climate of the 60’s and 70’s allowed ideas of gay equality to spread, and gay communities tended to spring up around counter-culture communities.

Many people discovered acquaintances whom they knew and liked were gay, this knowledge of how gay people actually were dissolved prejudice against them.

Question 28

What were the successes of the gay rights movement?

Answer 28

By 1973 the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses.

In 1974 Kathy Kozachenko became the first openly gay candidate elected to public office.

In 1977, Harvey Milk was elected to office.

• He was openly gay and supported many types of minority rights.
• He also took a stand against Proposition 6 (a law proposed allowing gay teachers and teachers who spoke in favour of gay rights to be fired).
• Milk was the first gay official who made it clear that his homosexuality affected his political activities and private life.

Milk and the pro-gay mayor of San Francisco were assasinated on 27th November 1979

Question 29

What were the limitations of the gay rights movement?

Answer 29

In the 1970s, a conservative backlash formed, mostly around states in the South and in the ‘bible belt’.

In 1977 in Dade County, Florida, a law was proposed to stop discrimination in housing, public facilities and employment, Anita Bryan set up Save Our Children (SOC) and collected petitions, saying that gay intergration meant that ‘normal’ children would be corrupted.

The law was rejected, as were similar laws in other states with the SOC.