The 20th Century
Two reversals of direction in Indian Policy
Land Issues
- What rights did Indians have to lands?
- 1908 Act (35 U.S. 312) removing restrictions on "alienation" of property
- Loss of tax exempt status for 8M acres
- Oklahoma land issues under Okla. law, not Federal Law
The 20th Century
20th Century land changes
Move to "individualize" land holdings
- of 31.8 million acres, 3.3M were allotted and 28.5M sold to non-Indians
Emergence of Reform Movements, 1921
- 1920 census showed the Native American population in steep decline
Albert B. Fall,
an unlikely catylist
- proposal to put N.M. water rights under White control
- "termination" for Mescalero Apache; National park
- Severance for Indians except Osage and 5 Civ. Tribes
- Dept. of Interior get's 1/2 of oil royalties
The emergence of reform movements
- In the aftermath of WWII, people may have been more aware of the possibilities of global destruction and genocide
- the citizenship issue
- freedom of religion
- boarding schools
- John Collier emerges as leader of the American Indian Defense Association
The Meriam Commission Report
- "The Problem of Indian Administration" -- 1928
- critical of Federal policy
- recommended
- making boarding schools day schools
- allowing tribal self government
- more property protection
- shift from "assimilation" to "pluralism"
The Indian New Deal
- John Collier appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs
- allow self-government
- emphasize "the study of Indian civilization, including Indian arts, crafts, skills, and traditions" (not passed)
- reorganize land allocation system
- have special court for Indian cases (not passed)
New Deal Policies
- Further allotment ended
- Surplus lands not homesteaded returned to tribes
- Tribes can make constitutions and have limited self-rule
- Loan funds made available for tribal projects (land, schools, etc.)
Repeal of control acts
- 12 laws repealed that made Indians virtual prisoners on reservations
- The Snyder act (1924) granted citizenship
- Extended voting rights, but AZ and NM restricted voting until 1948
Opposition to the Indian New Deal
- Should individuals' land go back to tribal control?
- Should Native American cultural traditions be preserved?
- How much power comes under the heading "self-government"?
- Balance between government assistance and government cultural reorganization?
Pilgrim’s Paradox
The Thanksgiving Story
- Fleeing religious persecution
- Founding new colony in the Wilderness
- Starvation
- Squanto's deliverance
- Massasoit's shared harvest feast
- Symbol of peaceful relations
Edward Winslow's letter
Native American connections
- Pumpkin pie
- Turkey
- Corn, beans
- Cranberries
The Pilgrim's Paradox
- Plymouth Plantation failed.. .
- "It must be confessed that the Pilgrims possessed but few of the qualities of the modern pioneer. They were not the ancestors of the American backwoodsmen." - H. D. Thoreau, Cape Cod
Pilgrims as bearers of Democracy
- Daniel Webster: "We shall plant here a new society, in the principles of the fullest liberty, and the purest religion..."
Squanto’s Story
- Kidnapped and sold as a slave in Spain in 1614
- May have returned to Cape Cod in 1615
- In England 1616
- Went to Newfoundland in 1617 with John Mason, then back to England
- Came back to the NE in 1618, and left to find his people, the Patuxet
Squanto and the Pilgrims
- "sought his own ends and played his own game" -Bradford
- an "enterprising survivor and culture-broker who facilitated the meshing of disparate cultures..." - Ceci
Post WWII policy shifts
- Eisenhower and the post-war economic and cultural environment
- Dillon S. Myer -- Commissioner of Indian Affairs
- had been the director of Japanese-American internment camps
- Didn’t believe in subsistence agriculture
- Wanted Indians to participate in the economic boom
- the "termination" policy
Relocation
Termination
- means of ending Indians' "ward" relationship with the Federal Govt.
- 1952 Voluntary Relocation Program
- transfer control of reservations to State (Public Law 280)
Trends in the Eisenhower Administration
- Individualize land holdings
- Reduce self-rule and tribal authority
- Eliminate revolving credit fund
- People on reservations have to join economic mainstream
National Congress of American Indians
- Founded 1944
- U. of Chicago Anthropology helped to increase its size in 1960s.
- 80 tribes were members
- Force for self-determination and emergence of Pan Indian Movements
Nixon and Ford reverse termination policies
- Civil rights pressure from Native Americans, and also evidence that the policy was failing
- strengthened self-government
- 1975 "Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act
- 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act
Recent situation...
- Are present policies working?
- Native Americans die at 2.3 times National average from diabetes
- 6 times n.a. from Tuberculosis
- 7 times n.a. from alcoholism
- 50% under poverty level
- 75% in substandard housing
- 33+% unemployment
Legal Status
- Don’t pay taxes on land or profits from rez. Lands
- Under Federal vs. local authority
- U.S. citizens since 1924
- Greater autonomy since Indian Self-determination Act of 1975
The continuing "contact period"...
The 20th-Century dilemma:
- in a society that purports to believe in individual equality, doesn't holding Indians to another set of law and practice deny them civil rights and in a subjugated state at the mercy of Congress?
- or, is it unfair to oppress a people for centuries, force them from traditional lands onto reservations where economic self sufficiency is impossible, then end Federal involvement?
Largest Tribes
- Cherokee 230,000
- Navajo 160,000
- Sioux
- Chippewa (Ojibwa)
- Inuit (Eskimos)
- Choctaw
- Pueblo (Hopi, Zuni, Tewa, etc.)
- Iroquois
- Apache
- Creek