New Deal Native Americans Flashcards
What was the situation in the 1920s?
Acres owned fell from 155 mil to 48 mil, disease was rife, job market depleted, most isolated in rural communities in poverty with little education/healthcare, government traditions discouraged Indian tradition, already economically depressed. Natives relocated to Dust Bowl unsuited for agriculture and competing with minorities for agricultural work.
Who was John Collier?
1933 made Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Roosevelt appointed him president of the BIA.
What was the impact of the Dawes Act?
Allotment policy meant that 90 million acres of 138 million were lost by 1932, with Natives living in idleness and squalor due to assimilation and allotments. By 1926 the Department of the Interior inquiry found the Dawes Act to be a disaster.
Outline key features of the 1934 Indian Reorganisation Act?
Tribes made into self governing bodies to adopt constitutions and police/legal systems and control land sales. Tribal corporations to manage tribal resources. 75/245 tribes voted against measures, disliking imposing of democracy. Some said Collier encouraged Indian idleness, and assimilation needed for Natives to prosper. Collier made natives benefit from PWA and CCC and gained respect of culture. Natives remained poorest and pressure groups formed in 40s.
How did white people take over Indian Land and what actions did Collier commit to? How did people see him?
In 1930s whites owned 2/3s of land possessed by Natives in 1887. Collier had set American Indian Defence Association in 1923 to preserve spiritual beauty of Indian life. His 1934 Act dealt with building schools, hospitals, irrigation systems, returning unalloted lands to tribes, expanding reservations, and teaching Native history at schools. Many felt he treated Natives as an exotic minority and didn’t understand them.
How was the act reformed and how did voting proportions change?
Act scaled back tribal self government and dropped call for renewable of traditional tribe culture. 181-77 vote margin by Natives in the end, Navajo voted against due to loss of grazing rights.
What was federal government’s role in act?
Franklin Roosevelt was to confront a review of the federal government’s Indian policy, following the Meriam Report. Senator Burton K Wheeler, head of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, made most improvements to act.
What were positives of the act?
Impact of Act: Native Americans more involved in BIA, women gained rights and trained for domestic work, interest in arts and crafts and women producing them for economic venture, Gladys Tantaquideon studied anthropology at University of Pennsylvania and worked in Indian Bureau, supporting native arts and women’s cooperatives.
What were limits of the act?
Limits: Indians had limited power to control economic affairs, assimilation under Wheeler’s modifications increased, federal funds insufficient to buy back land, Western politicians resisted, some Indians didn’t want self-sufficiency and those owning homesteads and farming wanted to continue allotments.
