1. THE NATIVE AMERICANS
CHAPTER 6

2. Early European Contacts
Misunderstood and ill treated by their conquerors for several centuries
Diverse Ethnicity
Culture
Language
Kinship system
Political – economic
In 1500, 700 distinct languages spoken in the area north of Mexico

3. Columbus’ diary Estimated 10 million in 1500 About 600,000 in 1800
“It appears to me that the people [of the New World] are ingenious and would be good servants…. These people are very unskilled in arms…. With fifty men they could all be subjected to do all that one wishes” (Akwesasne Notes 1972:22).
Estimated 10 million in 1500
About 600,000 in 1800
1n 1900, less than 250,000
This loss of human life can only be judged as catastrophic

4. Summary of Contact and Policies
Arrival of Columbus
Jamestown was founded
1620 Pilgrims landed at Plymouth
First major Indian retaliation
Treaty of Lancaster
First treaty between US and Indians
US Louisiana Purchase

5. 1824 BIA established and placed in the Department of War
Indian Removal Act
Indian Appropriation Act
Railroad Act
Fort Laramie Peace Conference
General Allotment Act (Dawes)
1924 Indian Citizenship Act
1944 National Congress of American Indians
1947 Indian Claims Commission Act

6. 1948 Indians allowed to vote in Arizona
1953 Termination Act
1962 Indians allowed to vote in New
Mexico
1968 Indian Civil Rights Act
1972 Indian Education Act
1975 Indian Self-Determination Act
1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act
1978 Indian Child Welfare Act
1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act
1990 Indian Art & Craft Act

7. Treaties and Warfare
US formulated a policy during 19th century that followed precedents established during colonial period
Not to antagonize Native Americans unnecessarily
Exploits of the Forty-Niners were glorified
Authorities offered bounties to settlers for the heads of American Indians
State reimbursed about $1 million to reimburse people for bullets used to shoot them

8. The Case of Sioux
Treatment was especially cruel and remains fresh in the minds of tribal members even today
Fort Laramie Treaty (1868)
Government agreed to keep Whites from hunting or settling on newly established Great Sioux Reservation, which included land that is now South Dakota west of the Missouri River
Whites entered Sioux territory spurred by Col. George Custer’s exaggerated reports of gold in Black Hills
Battle of Little Big Horn (1876)
Last great Sioux victory

9. Millenarian Movement (Ghost Dance)
Movement founded on the belief that a cataclysmic upheaval would occur in the immediate future, followed by collective salvation
Originated among the Paiutes of Nevada
English learned by Native Americans gave the means to overcome barriers of tribal languages and communicate with one another
Functionalist perspective views millenarian movement as a means of coping with the domination of White intruders

10. Battle of Wounded Knee (1890)
Anticipating Ghost Dance, cavalry arrived and a random shot led to the death of 300 Sioux and 25 government soldiers
Despite effects of disease and warfare, 250,000 Indians still lived in 1890
According to the government, Indian problem still remained
Reservation system established forms the basis of the relationship between Native Americans and the government from then until the present

11. Ruling The Native Americans
Internal Colonialism
The treatment of subordinate groups like colonial subjects by those in power
The Allotment Act (1887)
A disastrous policy that bypassed tribal leaders and proposed to make individual landowners of tribal members
The Reorganization Act (1934)
Tribes could adopt a written constitution and elect a tribal council with a head
Imposed foreign values and structures

12. Reservation Life and Federal Policies
Over 1/3rd of Native American live on 557 reservations and trust lands in 33 states
A bit more than 2% of the land throughout the US
Reservation Native American, more than any other segment of the population, except the military, find their life determined by the federal government
Many 20th century policies were designed to “get out of the Indian business”

13. Native American Legal Claims
From 1836 to 1946 Native Americans could not bring a claim against the government without an Act of Congress
Policy prevented most charges of treaty violations
Only 142 claims were heard during this period
Indian Claims Commission (1946)
Established by Congress to hear claims against government
Led to an increase in claims

14. Commission extended until 1978
Cases are now heard by the U.S. Court of Claims
Over the course of 50 years, commission and Court, paid claims totaling an average of $1,000 for each American Indian for all treaty violations and related claims
Allotment Act Trust estimated at $3 billion
Annually, government pays beneficiaries about $500 from the fund
Handling of trust called:
“The God standard for mismanagement by the federal government for more that a century.”

15. BIA shut down website over fear information it gives out could be wrong
Native Americans express a desire to recover their land rather than accept financial settlements
Congress finally agreed to pay $106 million for land illegally seized in aftermath of Little Big Horn
Sioux rejected money and lobbied for return of the land
Despite need for housing, food, health care, and education, Sioux prefer land to original settlement, which now totals more than $330 million

16. The Termination Act of 1953
Most controversial governmental policy toward reservation Native Americans in the 20th century
Policy proposed, at that time, was an attempt to give Native Americans greater autonomy and at the same time reduce federal expenditures
Services tribes received, such as subsidized medical care and college scholarships, should not have been viewed as special and deserving to be discontinued

17. Unfortunately, it reduced costs and ignored individual needs
Services were to be withdrawn gradually but were stopped immediately
The effect on Native Americans were disastrous
Unable to establish some of the basic services
In 1975, the government resumed the services
Signaled the end of another misguided policy intended to be good for Native Americans

18. Employment Assistance Program
(1952) BIA began programs to relocate young Native Americans
(1962) Employment Assistance Program (EAP)
Primary provision was for relocation at government expense, had unintended consequences, and was unsuccessful
Provided educational and business assistance
Impact on the economic development of the reservation and the brain drain
By 1965, 1/3rd to 1/4th returned to the reservation

19. Collective Action Pan-Indianism
Refers to intertribal social movements in which several tribes joined by political goals but not by kinship, unite in a common identity
Most vividly seen in cultural efforts and political protests
National Congress of American Indians (NCAI)
Founded in 1944 in Denver, Colorado
1st national organization representing Native Americans and has a political role

20. American Indian Movement (AIM)
Founded in 1968 by Clyde Bellecourt and Dennis Banks in Minneapolis, MN
More radical and created a patrol to monitor police actions and document charges of police brutality
Fish-ins
Began in 1964 to protest interference by Washington State officials with Native Americans who were fishing
1969 Alcatraz takeover by Francisco Indian Center
Red Power movement

21. Alaska Native Settlement Act (1971)
Claim of land rights by Inuit Eskimos and other Aleuts
Alaskan Federation of Natives (AFN)
Native Claims Settlement Act (1971)
Battle of Wounded Knee II
Most dramatic confrontation between Native Americans and government recently
PowWows (Pau Wau)
Referred to the medicine man or spiritual leader of the Algonquian tribes but Europeans used word to refer to entire events

22. Sovereignty
While collaborative action gathering cannot be minimized, there continues to be a strong effort to maintain tribal sovereignty or tribal self-rule
Sovereignty remains linked to both the actions of the federal government and the actions of individual American Indians
Government determines which tribes are recognized and self-declaration carries no legal recognition

23. Native Americans Today
Public insult is the continuing use of American Indian names as mascots for athletic teams
Native American population is split between those on and off reservations and those living in small towns and central cities
Economic Development
High rate of unemployment and poverty
Overall unemployment is more than 30%
Among those with jobs, 1/3rd earned less than $10,000

24. Tourism and the double edged sword Indian Arts and Crafts Act
source of income but also a source of degradation
Indian Arts and Crafts Act
Severely punishes anyone who offers to sell an object as produced by a Native American artisan when it was not
Cottage industries
Income from mineral rights

25. Casino Gambling
Recent source of significant income and some employment
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (1988)
States must negotiate gambling agreements with reservations and cannot prohibit any gambling already allowed under state law
Gaming money
supports tribal members, is used to buy back tribal lands, and help underwrite cost of the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian opened in 2004

26. Three important factors:
Tribes that have opened up casinos experienced drops in unemployment and increases in household income
Three important factors:
Tribes do pay taxes
Nationwide, economic and social impact of gambling revenue is limited
Tribes that make substantial revenue are a small fraction of all Native American people
Even on the reservations that benefit from gambling enterprises, levels of unemployment are substantially higher and family income significantly lower than for the nation as a whole

27. Dominant feature of reservation life is unemployment
Another major source of employment for Native Americans is the government
BIA, federal agencies, military, and state and local governments
Dominant feature of reservation life is unemployment
Also high for urban-based Native Americans
Unemployment statistics range from 23% to 90%

28. Native American Education
Dropout rate is at least 50% higher than that of Blacks or Hispanics and three times that of Whites
Many found their educational experience so hostile that they had no choice but to leave
Kickout/Pushout
More appropriate terms experience of Native Americans with school system
Result of predominance of non-Native American teachers that do not recognize Native American learning styles

29. Problems in Native American Education include:
Under-enrollment at all levels, from primary grades through college
The need to adjust to a school with values sometimes dramatically different from those of the home
The need to make the curriculum more relevant
The under-financing of tribal community colleges
The unique hardships encountered by reservation-born Native Americans who later live in and attend schools in large cities
The language barrier faced by the many children who have little or no knowledge of English

30. Healthcare High rate of: Lack of access to health care resources
1. Alcoholism and mortality
2. Under nutrition
3. Tuberculosis and death
4. High rate of teenage suicide
5. High rate of reported crime
6. High rate of poverty and few job opportunities
Lack of access to health care resources

31. Religious and Spiritual Expression
American Indian Religious Freedom Act passed by Congress in 1978
Act contains no penalties and enforcement provisions
Concern with stockpiling Native American relics, including burial remains
Increasingly seeking return of ancestor’s remains and artifacts
Native American Church - ritualistic use of peyote and marijuana

32. Environment Concerns:
Environmental literature stereotypes of native people as the last defense against encroachment of civilization
Many environmental issues rooted in continuing land disputes arising from treaties and agreements more than a century old
Environmental issues reinforce the tendency to treat the first inhabitants of the Americas as inferior
Environmental concerns by American Indians often are balanced against economic development needs, just as in the larger society
Spiritual needs must be balanced against demands on the environment

33. CERT was formed in 1976 - Council of Energy Resource Tribes
Consisted of twenty-five of the West’s largest tribes
Other tribes were added later
Purpose to protect and develop tribal natural resources such as natural gas
Environmental justice

34. Questions

35. How have land rights been a continuing theme in White-Native American contact?

36. Identify three policies or actions taken by the federal government that have significant impact today in the daily lives of Native Americans?

37. How much are Native Americans expected to shed their cultural heritage to become part of contemporary society?

38. Do Casinos and other gaming outlets represent a positive force for Native American tribes today?

39. What challenges are there to reservation residents receiving effective health care?

40. Why would it be difficult for a Native American child attending schools focused on the dominant culture write on the significance of Thanksgiving Day or Columbus Day.

41. Is the government’s refusal to encourage business development among reservations an attempt at forced assimilation? Why or Why not?