Native Americans

Great Plains Indians

lived on dry grasslands between Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. The Crow, Sioux, Blackfeet, and Cheyenne followed the great buffalo herds that roamed the plains.

federal treaty policies

establishes the relationship between the United States Government and the Indian Tribes within its borders. The Constitution gives the federal government primary responsibility for dealing with tribes.

Treaties of Fort Laramie (1851 & 1868)

pivotal agreements between the U.S. government and Northern Plains Native American nations, aimed at securing peace, guaranteeing safe passage for settlers, and defining tribal territories. The 1851 treaty established boundaries, while the 1868 treaty created the Great Sioux Reservation, covering the sacred Black Hills, following Red Cloud's War.

Battle of Little Big Horn

1876 - General Custer and his men were wiped out by a coalition of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.

Wounded Knee Massacre

In December 1890, Army troops captured some of Sitting Bull's followers and took them to a camp. 300 Sioux men, women, and children were killed

Assimilation vs. reservation

Reservation policy (19th century) aimed to isolate Native Americans on government-controlled land to facilitate westward expansion. Conversely, assimilation policy (late 19th-20th century) sought to eliminate tribal culture, forcing Native Americans into mainstream American society through land allotment, boarding schools, and religious suppression.

Helen Hunt Jackson

A writer. Author of the 1881 book A Century of Dishonor. The book exposed the U.S. governments many broken promises to the Native Americans. For example the government wanted Native Americans to assimilate, i.e. give up their beliefs and ways of life, that way to become part of the white culture.

- gave the natives some sympathy among people

Dawes Act of 1887

tried to civilize Indians and make them more little settlers by giving them land to farm, instead it harmed their native culture

Ghost Dance movement

The last effort of Native Americans to resist US domination and drive whites from their ancestral lands, came through as a religious movement.

Wovoka

He was a new prophet, who promised to restore the Sioux to their original dominance on the Plains if they performed the Ghost Dance

Indian Reorganization Act of 1934

Restored tribal ownership of lands, recognized tribal constitutions and government, and provided loans for economic development.

Great Sioux War

The Great Sioux War of 1876, also known as the Black Hills War, was a series of battles and negotiations that occurred in 1876 and 1877 in an alliance of Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne against the United States. The cause of the war was the desire of the US government to obtain ownership of the Black Hills.

Sitting Bull; Crazy Horse; Chief Joseph

NA chiefs who played important roles in the struggle to keep their land and culture

Carlisle Indian School

Pennsylvania school for Indians funded by the government; children were separated from their tribe and were taught Engilsh and white values/customs. Motto of founder: "Kill the Indian and save the man."