Native Americans: key debates Flashcards
To what extent did the NA benefit from the Gilded Age? (DID)
- victory against Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn convinced some Americans that the conflict was in response to poor treatment of NA and that there needed to be a change in approach and policy
-two off-reservation boarding schools set up bc quality of education provided on the reservations was poor. Schools in Virginia and Pennsylvania. Boys = vocational training, girls = skills for domestic service
education -> jobs (Indian agency offices, others as interpreters and scouts to army units)
reservations - farming communities
reservations - opportunity for better healthcare (needed addressing due to LE, death and disease)
allowed tribal life to continue (perpetuated culture and sense of belonging)
Navajo tribe made considerable gains from reservation life (acreage of land increased from some 4 million acres to 10.5 million & number of sheep and goats rose from 15,000 to 1.7 million
Dawes Act turned some NA into landowners, which meant that they gained the full rights of American citizenship
To what extent did the NA benefit from the Gilded Age? (DID NOT)
practice of reservation life was a failure
life on reservations was harsh and land they were given was often poor - made it difficult to farm
gov. subsidies were insufficient and were cut further when there were other demands on gov. resources
massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890 was the final destruction of Sioux and as one commented ‘A people’s dream died there’
the education on the reservations was of poor quality, while those taken away to off-reservation boarding schools often found no employment opportunities and returned to reservation life - when did return they felt alienated from culture and seen as ‘untrustworthy’
most NA unable to adapt to allotment policy and sold land to white settlers (spent money gained and fell into poverty)
size of reservations reduced (less and less land available to NA)
women in tribes lost status following allotment policy (given to male)
Did the New Deal improve the position of NA? (did)
Indian Reorganization Act (Wheeler-Howard Act) of 1934 gave NA greater role in administration of reservations and corporations established to ensure resources better managed
act protected NA right to practise own religion and assert cultural identity (peyote)
children attend local schools and learn NA culture (Western culture not forced)
Act stopped sale of NA lands and recovered large amounts of unallocated land (expand or create reservations)
training in farming provided and medical services established
greater respect for NA culture
allotment policy abandoned and further loss of land prevented
tribes on reservations led by triabl councils again - tribal loyalties encouraged (gov. had tried to break up)
Did the New Deal improve the position of NA? (DID NOT)
poverty of NA so great that measures did little to relieve the situation
75 out of 245 tribes rejected self-governing measures
use of secret ballot among tribes to see if they accepted measures was unpopular because it was Western democracy (preferred traditional tribal councils - open)
imporvements not maintained post-WW2
policy of assimilation continued (not what NA wanted) and policy of termination introduced (limited impact of changes)
idea of seperate federal court for NA issues was abandoned
insufficient federal funds to buy back former reservation lands
New Deal conclusion
DID NOT IMPROVE
- short-term gains that were then reversed following the war
- government promises were not fulfilled
Black Power movement influenced NA protest? (DID)
militant protests from groups such as AIM followed period of greatest militant activity in CRM (timing suggests influence)
NA possibly inspired to forget triabl differences by unity of BP movement (unity factor in success of NA protests)
BP tactics encouraged many NA, partically young, to abandon peaceful methods of legal case (perceived as failing and slow)
NA saw popular appeal of BP and its ability to create a mass movement which could pressurise the government for change (NA saw NCAI as limited in appeal to those who had been assimilated and doing well)
‘Red Power’ taken directly from ‘Black Power’ and so were many tactics and desire to create mass movement followed Malcolm X w/ AA.
Took idea of pride in race and culture from BP
Black Power movement influenced NA protests (DID NOT)
already clear indications from WW2 and termination policy that NA were more united in resistance to gov. policies (did not need inspo from BP)
already NA pressure groups achieving success in gaining CR and gov. had established bodies like Indian Claims Commission
development of protest movements = response to wider developments in US society. Societal attitudes were changing (views of Presidents like Kennedy and Johnson) - may have encouraged groups to take action believing they had success
militancy = direct response to conditions that many NA found themselves in when they moved to urban areas and ghettoisation made it easier for them to organise pressure groups to protest conditions and unemployment (alien conditions made them determined to preserve their culture and way of life)
