Native Americans Flashcards
What does BERTWHIP stand for in terms of the organisation of Native American culture?
Buffalo Exposure Roles Tipis Warfare Horses Indian medicine/religion Polygamy
What was the impact of the Civil War on NAs?
- Uneasy relationship with army
- Treaties led to loss of land
- Loss of food supply (buffalo)
- Treatise between the Indians and the army
- Govt treaties promised aid but it was not forthcoming
- Corrupt Indian agents sold food destined for Indians = starvation
What were the attempts used to assimilate NAs prior to 1900?
- Reservation Policy
- Education
- Dawes Act
What did the reservation policy do? How effective was it?
- Housed Indians on small areas of enclosed land
- Aimed to prevent conflict, teach Indians the American way of life and make Indians dependent on US govt.
- It removed the nomadic lifestyle
- Quite a lot of compliance but lead to reluctance to following American lifestyle
- NAs didn’t know how to farm
- More hostility between fed govt and NAs
What did the education policies prior to 1900 do? How effective were they?
- Took away NA identity
- Focus on children- they are the future
- Children given ‘white name’ and ‘white man’s clothing’ with hair cuts
- Stripped of culture
- Young people wouldn’t have inherited old traditions - they’d eventually die out
- Children wouldn’t have fought back
- Forcibly made to fit in with white culture
What did The Dawes Severalty Act do? How effective was it?
- Parcel up reservations
- Gave groups/families allotted land
- Forced Indians to own land and become homesteaders
- Broke up tribal structure
- NAs didn’t want to be split up
- No longer dependent on US govt.
- Lost some of the best land - given to whites
What are the conclusions that can be made by 1900?
- Removal of self determination
- Reservations were miserable, deprived and ridden with disease
- By 1900 - 140,000 of the NAs who had lived on the Plains in 1865 had left
- No identity
- Land taken
- Widespread prejudice
When/What was the Indian Appropriation Act?
1871
- Determined how NA tribes were organised on the reservations
- Made them wards of the state
- Treaties removed - stops ownership of land
When/What was the Dawes Act?
1887
- The allotment policy
- Now homesteaders
How were NA’s used in WW1?
- Fought in the army
- Integrated with whites
- First stage of urbanisation of NA
When/What was the Leavitt Bill?
1926
- Dance Order
- NAs were banned from traditional rituals/dances
- Act was prevented buy American Indian Defense Association
When/What was the Indian Reorganisation Act?
1934
- Known as Wheeler-Howard Act
- ‘Indian New Deal’
- Allowed NA more control over the administration of reservations
- Rights to practise own religion, assert cultural heritage and overturned ban on ceremonial dances
- Curtailed sale of unallocated Indian land
How were NAs used in WW2?
- Used as messengers due to native language
- 75,000 moved to urban areas and 25,000 served in army
- NA war veterans weren’t granted the same privileges as white soldiers and were forced back to reservations
When/What was the Indian Claims Commission?
1946-78
- Recognised the achievements of the NA war veterans
- Opportunity to claim land that had been lost by treaties in the 19th century
- Most recieved financial compensation rather than land
When/What was the Policy of Termination?
1953
- Attempt to fast track assimilation
- Forced citizenship onto NAs
- Govt. no longer responsible for NAs so funding could go elsewhere
When/What was the End of Termination?
1968
- Negative affects of policy clear
- NAs had highest illiteracy, disease and unemployment
- LBJ proposed National Council on Indian Opportunity to promote education opportunities
When/What was the Siege of Alcatraz?
1969
- Red Power movement led 14 men and women to seize control of island prison
- The NA took control of Alcatraz which has once belonged to the Ohlone Indians
- Symbolic of the life of imprisonment of NAs in poverty on reservations
- Ended in 1971
When/What was the Occupation of Mt Rushmore?
1971
- Sacred Black Hills of Dakota
- Attempt to assert the disputed ownership of the sacred burial grounds
- Protesters were eventually evicted but subsequently camps have been set up to lay claim to the area
When/What was the Occupation of Wounded Knee?
1973
- Site of 1890 massacre chosen as pace of protest following the suspected financial dealings of the president of the Reservation and the maltreatment of Indian inhabitants
- Violent occupation lasted 71 days
- Covered extensively by media and ended with negotiated settlement
When/What was the Indian Self Determination Act?
1975
- Tribes could negotiate contracts with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to take responsibility for social aspects (health/education etc)
- Authorised allocation of fed. funding for social programmes
- Increased self governance
When/What was the American Indian Policy Review Commission?
1975
- Reviewed historical and legal relationship between fed govt. and Indiands
- Examined injustices
- Future govt. policy set
