Native American rights Flashcards
Native Americans - government action
government policies managed by federal Bureau of Indian affairs (BIA) - shifted between breaking up and supporting tribal existence
Roosevelt reversed trend of assimilation under Indian New Deal (still wanted tribes to run in constitutional way)
following Roosevelt - federal policy assimilation again
BIA encouraged movement into cities (offering job training and housing) - disrupting culture
1953 - resolution passed for termination (Native Americans freed from federal control and protected and policed by state laws and tribal land once held in trust for them by government was now open for sale)
by 1970 - about 50% of all Native Americans lived in towns and cities (from these groups in which civil rights campaigners came)
didn’t have vote till 1959 (lack of legal stance added to what they were fighting for)
Issues - tribal homelands
many native Americans driven from homeland (especially during the Indian Removal act 1830)
federal government made treaties with individual tribes (many by force) for land and money for their removal
by 1960s - widely agreed that treaties had been unfair - many tribes wanted new treaties and to return to homelands where possible
issues - self-determination
tribes were independent nations under federal government
tribes ran their own affairs, only under the control of the BIA
BIA very heavily implemented regulations to break up Indian culture and damage tribal cohesion
oversaw setting up Indian boarding schools since 1893 (made them speak english, cut hair, dress in western clothing, and give up native customs)
Natives mistrustful towards BIA
wanted freedom to run their own affairs
Indian Civil rights act (1968)
banned restriction of civil rights on tribal members
didnt do anything to solve issues Natives had with federal government
AIM - 1968
American Indian movement
mostly young, urban people, taking more radical, anti-federal stance
slogan ‘red power’
by 1971 - membership 7500 (total population about 1 million)
adopted direct action approach of black American civil rights groups
specific issue with homelands - often targeted disputed land for occupation (as well as government buildings)
organised protest - Alcatraz red power movement (1969-71)
brought attention to past injustices, and contemporary issues facing the native Indians
statement on stolen land
occupation of alcatraz island until 1971
19 months
organised protest - AIM trail of broken treaties (1972)
protest in Washington outside of BIA about BIA’s management of many issues
including the renegotiations of the government treaties that originally took over native land
BIA building occupied
organised protest - AIM occupation of wounded knee (1973)
declared independence as the Oglala Sioux nation
government resorts to sending in US marshals and state police
lasted 71 days
AIM only withdraws once government agrees to an investigation of its demands and grievances
Organised protest - The longest walk (1978)
from San Francisco to Washington
protesting about the forced removal of Natives from their homelands and the unwillingness of congress to renegotiate treaties
gains of the movement
Nixon (sympathetic) brought bills through congress for Indian autonomy
1972 Indian Education Act - more funding for tribal schools
1974 Indian financing act - funding for tribes
voting rights extended 1975
Land - 1970 land at Blue lake returned to Taos Pueblo tribe
1975 Self-determination act - kept BIA away from education and health
limitations of the movement
wasnt as mainstream as black civil rights movement
no prominent leaders
No BIA reform
no negotiation about sacred land
no overall solution (e.g., Hawaii continued to evict natives when they wanted to use land)
