History Lecture: The American West, Native American Policies, and Western Diversity

Vocabulary flashcards defining key historical terms, figures, laws, and events related to the American West, Native American policy, Asian immigration, and Western diversity.

General Custer

An American military officer who finished last in his class at West Point, wore flamboyant uniforms, and led 700 men into the Battle of the Little Bighorn in June 1876, where he and 268 of his soldiers were killed.

Battle of the Little Bighorn

A June 1876 battle in Montana where General Custer split his 700 troops to attack a large Native American encampment, resulting in 268 American soldier deaths and marking the largest single loss of life in the Indian Wars.

Crazy Horse

A Native American warrior who helped lead Fetterman and his men into an ambush and was present at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Carlisle Indian School

The first and most famous Native American boarding school, established in Pennsylvania in 1879 as part of the federal effort to assimilate native children into broader American culture.

Bureau of Indian Affairs

The United States government department handling Native American matters, whose head in the late 1800s summarized federal assimilation policy as wanting to 'kill the Indian but save the man.'

Dawes Severalty Act

An 1887 federal law requiring Native American households on reservations to accept 160 acres of private property, breaking up communal living and leading to the loss of millions of acres of native land.

Joy Harjo

A Muskogee Indian poet from Oklahoma who served as Poet Laureate of the United States and authored 'a poem to get rid of fear.'

Chinese Exclusion Act

An 1882 federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur that banned Chinese workers from entering the United States and prohibited Chinese nationals already in the country from becoming U.S. citizens.

Rock Springs Massacre

An 1885 event in Wyoming where 28 Chinese gold miners were killed by attackers claiming the Chinese were taking their jobs.

Exodusters

African Americans who moved west after the American Civil War to take advantage of opportunities such as the Homestead Act.

Stagecoach Mary Fields

A Black woman born into slavery in Tennessee in the 1830s who moved to Montana and served as a tough, reliable mail carrier in her sixties.

Compton Cowboys

A group of young Black horse riders in Compton, California, operating under the motto 'the streets raised us, horses saved us,' who preserve the legacy of Black cowboys in America.