Native Americans Flashcards
Aims of the Dawes Act, 1887
Assimilation of Native Americans Reservation policy had failed Similar to homesteads Lack of understanding of NA culture Aimed to free the NAs 1898 Curtis Act amended the act so to remove the exception for the 5 'civilised tribes'
Impact of the Dawes Act, 1887
Successfully destroyed the reservation system - although Navajo remained
Huge amounts of NA land lost
1887-1900: 150 million acres lost (78 million remained)
Land-owning NAs gained full citizenship
Many NAs failed to adapt - building up debt
Made men the head of the family, demoting the women
Resistance crushed by the federal government
Reservation Policy
NA land in demand by white settlers
Part of Americanisation policy
Tribal traditions to be eradicated
‘Manifest Destiny’
No consultation on reservation boundaries
1860 - 240,000 on reservations but in 1900 it was only 100,000 because people left the reservations
Education
Seen as essential to the process of Americanisation
Destruction of tribal culture
Limited curriculum
Off-reservation boarding schools set up (1870s, 2 in Virginia and Pennsylvania)
Boys learnt trades, girls learned domestic activities
The Society of American Indidans (SAI)
1911, first inter-tribal pressure group.
Impact limited, partly due to a shortage of funds to challenge in the courts, but largely because of the lack of mass support from NAs.
Also divisions within the group - anti-/pro-assimilation. Collapsed in the 1920s
Involvement in WWI
10,000 NAs fought in WWI
Gained recognition from the government for their bravery
Not segregated, unlike AAs
Govt sponsored NA families to move to work in defence industries - urbanising them
War may have had a ‘civilising’ influence
Indian Citizenship Act, 1924
Drive for total assimilation
Did not come about because of NA campaigning
Eroded some traditional rights and furthered assimilation
Part of transforming NAs into property-owners
Many states resisted the extension of the franchise despite the act
Harrison V. Laveen some NAs won their voting rights back in the Arizona Supreme Court but this was not true of all states
How did attitudes towards NAs change in the 1920s
Devastating impact of the Dawes act began to be widely recognised
Attracted reformers to understand NA customs and culture - social scientists
Dance Order, 1921 and 1923, prohibited performing of some traditional tribal dances and rituals
American Indian Defense Association (AIDA) set up - John Collier
Meriam Report
Published in 1928
Presented a bleak picture of the impact of forced assimilation on NAs
Condemned the Dawes Act
Claimed NAs were the most impoverished people in the USA
Recommended policies to be focused on the “social and economic advancement of the Indians”
Hoover supported the report’s recommendations - New Indian Commissioner
The Indian Reorganization Act, 1934
John Collier
Tribes recognised as self-governing bodies with voting
Did nothing to relieve poverty - 75/245 tribes voted against this
Concerned Collier did not understand NAs
Democracy an alien concept
Collier indifferent to big corporations exploiting resources on NA land
Right to practise religion, ceremonial dances, prevented sales of NA lands, extended political rights to women
Tried to make New Deal agencies work for NAs - CCC and PWA
Was the ‘New Deal’ a turning point for NAs? (YES arguments)
John Collier did bring some beneficial changes for NAs
Laid the foundation for reform in the 1970s
Indian Reorganisation Act was a radical reversal of government policy
IReA returned some self-determination - increasingly involved in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, extended political rights, repealed bans on some tribal dances, able to take advantage of New Deal agencies and programmes
Was the ‘New Deal’ a turning point for NAs? (NO arguments)
Many NAs felt Collier had failed to understand their concerns
Did not take them out of extreme poverty
IReA enforced voting, did not deal with economic issues well
The Second World War for NAs
100,000 left the reservations between 1941 and 1945
25,000 served in the US armed forces
75,000 moved to urban areas for work
Great hardship for those who remained - resources poured into the war and Japanese Americans relocated to reservation lands
Returning NA soldiers forced back onto the reservations, could not take advantage of the benefits white veterans got
Munitions factory workers tended to remain in the cities - majority driven back to the reservations because of discrimination
National Congress of American Indians (NCAI)
Founded in 1944
Unite in protest to bring about real improvement
Worked through the courts - similar to the NAACP
Supported by most NAs
Termination policy
Termination policy began in 1953 - worsened conditions for NAs
Termination ended the recognition of NA tribes
Many were forced to relocate to urban areas because of the horrific conditions (50% eventually returned)
1960 - 25% of NAs were ‘poor’.
44 years life expectancy - 20 years below the national average
Loss of lands continued
Vocational Training Act, 1956
Younger NAs more easily tempted to go to urban areas
The end of termination
1968 - negative effects of termination had become apparent
NAs had the highest illiteracy, disease and unemployment rates
Lived in the poorest accommodation
LBJ programme to promote NA self-help - National Council on Indian Opportunity
Nixon ordered the end of the policy of termination
Indian Claims Commission (ICC)
Established 1946
Partly in response to the NCAI and partly to recognise war efforts
Regain lands or compensation for broken treaties
Petitions quickly flooded in
Work continued until 1978
Sioux refused monetary compensation for the Black Hills of Dakota
What was caused the growth of protest in the 1960s from NAs?
Growing frustration combined with inspiration from the AA black power movement
1964 - 100s of NAs gathered in Washingon in recognition of LBJ’s ‘War on Poverty’
1960s - NCAI had some success, e.g. pledge from Kennedy to develop human and natural resources of reservations
Young NAs became frustrated at the lack of progress
Felt the NCAI was out of touch with most NAs + working through the courts slowed down progress
Red Power
1968 - fishing in the Columbia River to assert historic rights ‘fish-in’
American Indian Movement (AIM) established in 1968 - most militant, red berets in the streets, monitoring police activities which led to a decline in the arrests of Native American young offenders
Pushed for “native sovereignty” fighting for traditional tribal rights
The Siege of Alcatraz, 1969
Occupied the island which had belonged to NAs historically
Richard Oakes
Carefully planned to raise awareness in a dramatic way
Symbolic for harsh and brutal punishment
Huge media coverage until it ended on 11th June 1971
AIM - 10,000 NAs visited the island during the siege
Nixon’s Presidency
1970 speech to Congress criticised treatment of NAs
Condemnation of the policy of termination
Appointed a Mohawk-Sioux as Commissioner for Indian Affairs
Returned some tribal lands
Recognised some tribes who had lost their status
Improved education - 1972 Indian Education Act provided for a substantial increase in federal funding to build reservation schools. Boarding schools closed
Popular amongst NAs
The Indian Self-Determination Act and Indian Education Act 1975 (FORD)
SDA - tribes could negotiate contracts with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to take responsibility for some services
Education - gave NA parents greater involvement in their children’s education through membership of school boards
Impact of Red Power on federal reform
1971 - Occupation of Mount Rushmore (no success)
1972 - AIM took over the Bureau of Indian Affairs and violence broke out (unsuccessful)
1973 - Occupation of Wounded Knee - 71 days, FBI agents and media coverage 3 killed (unsuccessful partially)
Early Gilded Age (westward expansion)
1830 Removal Act - moved tribes to Oklahoma
Sand Creek Massacre, 1864
Homestead Act, 1862 - 20,000 whites settled on the plains in 1865
Railways expanded westwards
President Carter
Native American Religious Freedom Act, 1978 - right to practise their traditional religions
Indian Child Welfare Act, 1978 - regulate the removal of NA children from their families
