Termination Flashcards
What did NCAI push for?
After WWII the NCAI pushed the government to introduce the Indian Claims Commission which appeared to be means for native lands to return, but was a disappointment.
What was termination?
Termination – Native Americans lost government protection as wards of the state and were pushed to the cities to search for employment, a policy of urbanisation. Assimilation became more aggressive. Mining and forestry companies wanted lands on which Native Americans lived. 1953-64 109 tribes lost rights.2.5 million acres were returned to the federal government and tribes lost recognition.
What were effects of termination?
Termination commenced in 1953. Many were forced to leave reservations but those who went voluntarily found it equally traumatising. Most ended up in poorest accommodation. In 1960 25% were ‘poor’ and elderly forced to return to reservations. Unemployment hit 18% and life expectancy was 44 years, 20 below the average.
How did those urbanised unite?
In 1948 the Bureau of Indian Affairs set up job placement centres in western cities such as LA and Denver. Over 50 percent who moved to cities returned to find reservations no longer received funding from New Deal. Those who remained stayed in ghettoes and unintentionally preserved their culture. This would lead later to development of groups to preserve their civil rights.
What supreme court success was seen in 1948?
1948 – In Arizona two Apache-Mohawk tribesmen Harry Austin and Frank Harrison went to the Arizona Supreme Court as County Recorder Laveen refused their voting rights. The NCAI and American Civil Liberties Union defended them and they won voting rights.
How did Johnson and Nixon speak out against termination?
March 1968 Johnson makes a speech to Congress referring to Native Americans as the ‘Forgotten Americans.’
In July 1970 Nixon addressed Congress criticising them for treating Native Americans with brutality, denying Native Americans of their ancestral lands, and their right to choose their own destinies. He criticised federal programmes for being dominated by white officials, and termination, and introduced reform.
What programs and acts were passed to encourage termination?
A Voluntary Relocation Program was set up to move Indians from reservations with jobs and living expenses covered until they found secure income. This appealed to the young and was followed by the 1956 Indian Vocational Training Act to improve employment prospects with training.
What group established itself as a consequence of termination?
1961 National Indian Youth Council set which initially defended fishing rights in north-west America but went on to pertain to lawsuits defending treaty rights, voting rights, religious freedom. Inspired by termination and civil rights movement. 1964 hundreds of Natives assembled at Washington for recognition of Johnson’s war on poverty.
