Native Americans

Question 0

What were the effects of reservation policy?

Answer 0

Native American traditions and cultural traditions were outlawed (1884 congress banned Sioux sun dance).
Native Americans no longer able to continue hunting buffalo - a key cultural tradition which the Indians relied on for self sufficiency.
Tribal laws replaced by US laws
Resulted in tribal violence : Battle of Little Bighorn - 1876
Reservation policy meant that native Americans retained tribal rivalry and a geographic split which prevented uniting.

Question 1

What factors affected Native Americans in the early period? (Pre reservation policy)

Answer 1

1. Impact of westwards expansion
2. Impact of the civil war
   - defined the early period for Native American s if general poverty and beginning dependence on the federal government (treaties)

Question 2

What were the quantitative effects of reservation policy on Native Americans

Answer 2

Population : 240,000 in 1860 to 100,000 in 1900
Due to the very poor quality of life on the reservations due to the lack of federal support.
Novato tribe experienced an increase in population! 8,000 in 1860 to 22,000 in 1900

Question 3

What was education like on the reservations?

Answer 3

Harsh and debilitating method of Americanisation
Due to discrimination many of those educated found it hard to get a job and returned to their reservations to be treated with suspicion and untrust.

Question 4

Was there any help for native Americans in the early period?

Answer 4

The Indian rights association was founded in 1882 by philanthropists who held the view that American Indians should be treated equally but should be assimilated into America through abandoning their beliefs and practicing Christianity.

Question 5

How did the federal policy towards native Americans develop in the early period?

Answer 5

1887 Dawes act - the allotment policy. The reservations were divided into small allotments in order to attempt to assimilate American Indians through them becoming small time farmers.

Question 6

What were the effecst of the Allotment policy?

Answer 6

The Dawes act 1887 destroyed tribal identity and culture due to being split away from their traditional large tribes.
The policy cut away large swathes of land from the native Americans
1887: 150 million acres
1900: 78 million acres
Land was often unfarmable and Indians often had no skills to farm the land effectively so fell into debt and sold the land to white Americans.

Question 7

How did the Dawes act develop?

Answer 7

Curtis act 1898 extended the Dawes act to the 5 civilised tribes
The Muskogee convention 1905 (tribal land to become a separate state not Oklahoma) was rejected and federal policy did not let up.
Rejection of the Muskogee convention and the formation of Oklahoma freed up 2 million acres of land for white settlers.

Question 8

How did the Native American situation develop in the early 20th century?

Answer 8

Lone wolf v. Hitchcock - 1903 confirmed the right of the federal government to revoke any treaties with NAs. Enforced the Indian appropriations act 1887
The society of American Indians (SAI) 1911 - first tribal pressure group.

Question 9

Why did the first tribal pressure group fail?

Answer 9

The Society of American Indians (SAI) 1911 failed due to a lack of funding, lack of support from native Americans themselves and internal divisions due to being unsure of aims.
Collapsed in 1920s

Question 10

How did the First World War develop the positions of Native Americans?

Answer 10

Some Native Americans began to work in factories and some joined the armed forces which resulted in an exposure to assimilation and discrimination for the first time.

Question 11

What happened to Native Americans in the post war period?

Answer 11

Those who joined the armed forces and those who worked in factories for a shirt amount of time were essentially forced back to the reservations.
The Indian citizenship act - 1924 acted as a ‘reward for honourable service’

Question 12

Why was the impact of the 1924 Indian citizenship act limited?

Answer 12

Many Indians did not want to be granted citizenship but rather aimed for the opposite, to be recognised as being autonomous.
About two thirds of Native Americans were already citizens in the eyes if the law due to the land ownership of the Dawes policy.
Extending the vote was not that significant as many Native Americans did not want to participate in the American political system and many were blocked from voting in southern states especially due to discrimination.

Question 13

Did the voting problems ever become less intrusive for Native Americans?

Answer 13

1947-Harrison v. Lateen reversed blocking of the Native American vote to some extent. First major legal victory for native Americans, but the case was ignored to some extent p.

Question 14

How did the position of native Americans develop in the 1920s?

Answer 14

The deteriorating nature of native Americans on the reservations became starkly apparent which attracted new white American reformers who sought to form a new understanding and to preserve the culture and traditions of Native Americans.
This culminated in the work of John Collier and the formation of the American Indian Defense Association (AIDA) in 1923 which ended up blocking the Leavitt bill which would have banned cultural traditions of the pueblo Indians.

Question 15

Why did the position of the federal government in Native American rights begin to change in the 1930s?

Answer 15

The Meriam report - 1928 highlighted the hugely detrimental effects of the allotment policy on the Native Americans to the federal government.

Question 16

What was the first major positive government action for Native Americans and what did it do?

Answer 16

1934-Indian Reorganization Act (IRA)
Although John Collier did not achieve a full change in federal government pouch away from Americanisation and assimilation the IRA was still significant as the dramatic loss of land was curtailed, funds provided from the government assisted the development of some Native American communities, health provision had benefits (1938 census suggested NAs were the fastest growing population), tribal councils returned some degree of tribal autonomy, loyalties and culture. Moreover the involvement of native Americans in the Indian bureau also gave Native Americans themselves some input into government policy.

Question 17

Why was the long term impact of the 1934 Indian reorganisation act (1934) limited?

Answer 17

The Second World War cut resources from the reservations provided by the IRA.
Termination policy (1953) removed any sort of independent recognition or autonomy.

Question 18

What was the impact of the Second World War on Native Americans?

Answer 18

Huge immigration out of reservations to join the armed forces or to work in industry. (100,000 left. 75,000 to factories, 25,000 to armed forces)
Reservations experienced hardship as funds were cut to fuel the war effort.
At the end of the war Indian soldiers were effectively forced to return to the poverty stricken reservations as they were not offered the same support as white veterans.
Those who worked in factories experienced discrimination on a wide scale for the first time which led to the formation of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) in 1944.

Question 19

Why was the National Congress of American Indians 1944 significant.

Answer 19

It demonstrated for the first time a realisation amongst Native Americans that to bring about real improvement Native Americans had to unite in protest.
NCAI worked through courts much like the NAACP

Question 20

What happened in the post war period?

Answer 20

Most Indians after the war were forced back to the reservations as a result of discrimination and competition for jobs as white Americans returned.
Those who did not faced discrimination and were assisted to some extent by the Bureau of Indian Affairs who set up job placements in some western cities.
The federal government set up the Indian Claims Commission in 1946.

Question 21

What was the significance of the ICC?

Answer 21

The Indian Claims Commission 1946 did compensate some Indian tribes such as with the Sioux nations claim to the black hills in Dakota.
However often the ICC worked very slowly and compensation was often a monetary sum which was not true compensation for loss of land.
The ICC can be seen as a method of continuing assimilation of Native Americans to reduce their reliance on the state as wards of the government.

Question 22

What was the most significant change in government policy after the Second World War?

Answer 22

Termination policy 1953
Ended tribal autonomy.
State no longer recognised Indians as separate entities, they were all considered fully independent self supporting Americans.
Federal funding to reservations was cut and voluntary relocation programmes to urban areas were set up to lure native Americans away from reservations.
1956 - Indian vocational training act - intended to improve employment opportunities for native Americans.

Question 23

What were the effects of termination policy?

Answer 23

Termination policy which begun in 1953 had a considerable negative impact on the majority of the Native American population.
The mass urbanisation of Indians (60,0000 to cities near reservations in 1960) had a huge cultural shock in store for many Native Americans, discrimination and hostility manifested itself and living conditions were poor and unemployment was rife : 25% classified as poor, 18% unemployment, 20 year less life expectancy than the 66 year average.
Conditions were poor for many but some had success, particularly women who found work in the growing service sector and women who married white men.
However the most profound effect of the mass urbanisation for those who did not return to the reservations (up to 70% returned) was a newfound appreciation of their traditional Indian culture, values and traditions amongst the ghettos which formed and the beginning of the pan-Indian identity which would set the scene for the rise of red power in the late 60s and early 70s.

Question 24

What was a result of the gradual formation of the pan Indian identity?

Answer 24

The National Indian Youth Council (NIYC) was founded in 1961 to combat the discrimination experienced by the Native Americans in urbanised areas. Inspired by African American civil rights movement.
1964-large gathering to recognise LBJs war on poverty.
NCAI garnered some success during this time by securing a pledge form Kennedy to develop the human and natural resources of the reservations in 1961 however the NCAI was criticised for being out of touch with the majority of the Native American population during this time.

Question 25

How did the pan Indian identity manifest itself in the late 1960s?

Answer 25

As a response to black power the red power movement began.
The red power movement resulted in a new cultural assertion and assertion - (1970 bury my heart at wounded knee - Dee Brown).

Question 26

How did red power influence government policy?

Answer 26

Red power influenced government policy through several key successful activism ventures.
This included: 1968 fish ins, the 1969 siege of Alcatraz in which the media fully covered the occupation of the highly emotive Native American site, 1971 occupation of Mt.Rushmore, 1972 occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs including the caravan of broken treaties, 1973 occupation of wounded knee and the formation of the militant American Indian Movement in 1968 (pursued national sovereignty).

Question 27

What was the federal response to the red power movement?

Answer 27

Nixon had some level of appreciation: ordered an end to termination policy, appointed Louis r Bruce. Jnr to commissioner of Indian affairs 1969, restored land to the pueblo Indians in 1970, some tribes regained recognition lost as part of termination policy and finally managed to pass the Indian Education Act (1972) which closed boarding schools and increased federal funding to Native American schools.
However the key swing in governmental policy came after Nixon through President Ford. Ford managed to pass the Indian Self Determination and Education Assistance Act in 1975.

Question 28

What was the effect of the swing in governmental policy to native Americans?

Answer 28

The Indian Self Determination and Education Assistance Act marked the official abandonment of assimilation and termination policy. The act recognised Native American rights to self determination for education, health and social care and general control over their own welfare.

Question 29

What was government policy like after the Indian Self Determination and Education Assistance Act 1975?

Answer 29

The act marked a general shift towards a more progressive federal policy as shown by: the Native American Freedom Act (1978) which supported the right to believe, express and exercise traditional religions, the Native American graves protection act (1990) and the Indian child welfare act (1978)

Question 30

Was any progress made using the Supreme Court at the end of the period?

Answer 30

Yes, the founding of the Native American Rights Fund (1970) led to several high profile successful Supreme Court cases including:

1. Oneida v. Oneida and Madison counties New York 1974 - establish the right of Oneida tribe to sue for the return of their lands.
2. Fisher v. Montana 1976 - right of tribal courts to handle cases of the adoption of Indian children
3. United States v. Sioux nation 1980 - Sioux nation win $106 million for compensation for the loss of their land (rejected they preferred land).
4. Seminole tribe v. Butterworth 1979 - right to establish gambling enterprises on reservation land.
5. Charrier v. Bell 1986 - over 30 state laws passed which asserted that remains dug from the ground belonged to the NA community.