NA civil rights

5-6 million

Estimated number of Native Americans around 1650

250,000

Approx number of NA in 1890.

1830 Removal Act

70,000 NA were forcibly relocated as a result of westward expansion, and to make room for white settlers.

1851 and 1868

Fort Laramie treaties where NA gave away land to protect their safety, or they were tricked.

1862-68

Plains Wars: clashes between the NA and fed gov over land ownership and starvation e.g. Little Crow or Red Cloud

Sand Creek Massacre of 1864

Colorado Volunteer Cavalry attached undefended Cheyenne and Arapaho camps

1890

Wounded Knee: between 150-300 NA were killed after a battle (it was unclear who shot first but there is little doubt the US Cavalry planned to kill - e.g. they attacked a deaf NA, Black Coyote, who couldn’t hear their orders). This is known as the final defeat of the Sioux.

1862 Homesteads Act

The government wanted to control more land so they passed this act to populate the Plains (westward expansion) with small-scale farmers: farmers were given free land (160-acre plot) on the condition they farmed it for 5 years and 20,000 settled on the Plains by 1865.

1876

Battle of Little Bighorn: defeat of Custer after he to return a number of Sioux and Cheyenne who left their reservations and refused to return, he attacked them without waiting for the rest of his force and all his men were killed. This could be argued that it led people to work towards change because there was a greater awareness of conditions.

1871

Indians Appropriations Act: the NA people were declared “wards of the state” and this meant that the government no longer needed to negotiate with them (they could do what they wanted). It also led to the reservation system.

100,000

By 1900, there were only this many NA people remaining after numbers as high as 250,000 just decades previously, because of violence and such poor conditions on reservations.

1887

Dawes Severalty Act aka Allotment Act. This brought an end to the reservation policy as it divided them into individual family plots. After 25 years they gained citizenship and owned the land (but this went completely against their beliefs about land ownership and tribal unity.

Five Civilized Tribes

They were 5 tribes (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole) which had been declared “civilised” since they quickly adopted many American policies/ ways of life e.g. Christianity, slavery, intermarriage. They had initially been exempt from the allotment policy, but the 1898 Curtis Act ended this.

1898 Curtis Act

This removed the exemption that the Five Civilized Tribes had had from the allotment policy. They tried to fight this by claiming they were a singular state called Sequoyah, but this failed and they lost a further 2 million acres of land.

1902 Cherokee Nation v Hitchcock

The Cherokee challenged Congress’ right to deny them rights but they lost and they were denied the rights to live according to their own rules.

1903 Lone Wolf v Hitchcock

This case led to the government claiming they had the right to revoke all treaties made with the NA because they were an “ignorant and dependent race” who were not citizens of the USA, therefore did not have rights. The court held that tribal consent to alter treaties would hurt the NA so 90% of the land allocated to the NA was lost and the NA could no longer appeal these decisions through the Supreme Court.

2/3

As a result of the Dawes Act, this proportion of land that had been committed to the NA had been taken away and most lived in extreme poverty.

100,000

Approx this number of NA men fought in WW1 and gained respect for their bravery

Choctaw Code Talkers

These were NAs who used their tribal dialects to send messages that the German spies could never understand. They were respected for this.

1921 and 1923 Leavitt Bill

aka Dance Orders: prohibited NA from performing their ritual dances and ceremonies - this was an attack on their civil rights.

1924

Indians Citizenship Act: in the aims of assimilation, there was an extension of the right to vote (even though 2/3 already could through intermarriage and the Dawes Act) and voting restrictions remained in place.

1948 Harrison v Laveen

This case ruled in favour of removing voting restrictions unfairly placed on 2 NA, but this had little effect outside of Arizona.

1934

Indian Reorganization Act or Wheeler-Howard Act: was the first move to preserve NA culture by giving them the rights to practise their religion, undertake ceremonial dances, extension of political rights to women and the ability to prevent the sale of NA land. Importantly, it brought an end to the allotment policy. It improved conditions on reservations and encouraged women to pursue further education. It also led to the establishment of corporations and the more successful allocation of resources.

However, the aim was still assimilation, and to show NA the perceived benefits of the American way of life. It was not about self-determination, but about embracing the system.

50%

The forced relocation of NA after the termination policy was traumatic with this percentage having to return to reservations.

1\.8 million

This number of NA in 1990.

Manifest Destiny

White colonisers believed in this which states it is their God-given right to settle on the rest of the continent, take land and spread capitalism.

1861

Pacific Railways Act: allowed companies and workers to take land and materials from alongside the land they were building - NA lost approx 155 million acres of land between 1850 and 1871 as a result of this.

1871-87

Reservations Policy: aimed to end nomadic life and separate NA from the buffalo, they were declared “wards of the state”. There are a couple of examples of resistance to this policy, e.g. the Sioux after the Battle of Little Big Horn, but this led to the gov reducing the size of reservations further.

1887-1934

Allotment Policy: brought about by the Dawes Act, this aimed to promote assimilation while removing tribal unity. They were given citizenship (despite the fact they did not want it) and faced intense discrimination.

1953-69

Termination policy: this was complete assimilation of the NA people, where they were forced off reservations into urban areas and made to cope themselves despite awful conditions. 50% returned to reservations but the conditions had deteriorated further due to a lack of government funding. The land was taken from NA to be sold to forestry or mining companies.

Native capitalism

Reagan’s belief in developing profitable businesses among NA so that federal spending could be reduced (in practise he simply removed funding from them because he believed this and their tribes were too close to socialism, and left them to struggle unsupported). Reagan sometimes claimed to support self-determination but this was only to reduce the reliance on government funds, he claimed the federal government had done too much to support NA people.

John Collier

Commissioner for Indian Affairs who led to the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (end to allotment and first move to preserve NA culture). He wanted NA to be able to fight for their own land.

He intended to reduce assimilation, but this act could not do this.

Lyndon Johnson (March 1968)

This president was one of the first to openly support NA rights claiming the government needed to do more to support the “Forgotten Americans”.

1972 (Nixon)

Indian Education Act increased the money available for NA schools, even those on reservations.

Richard Nixon (Rep - 1969-74)

During this Presidency, some NA tribes had their rights and status restored so they could fight for their rights in courts. This led to a regaining of sovereignty and status. Furthermore, his pledges to restore land were acted upon e.g. land for the Makah, the Taos Pueblos and the Yakama Indians. A policy for affirmative action was followed for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Louis R. Bruce Jr.

This Native American was the Commissioner for Indian Affairs from 1969-1973 under Nixon.

1975 (Ford)

Indian Self-Determination Act: this encouraged Native Americans to become self-sufficient and allow them to take responsibility for their own educational, health and social programmes.

1975 (Ford)

Indian Education Assistance Act: allowed NA to have a greater involvement in their children’s educational processes.

1978 (Carter)

Native American Religious Freedom Act allowed NA to follow traditional religions and use sacred objects and rituals but a conservative Supreme Court limited the impact of this by not allowed peyote (a hallucinogenic used for religious visions).

1978 (Carter)

Indian Child Welfare Act: regulated the forced removal of NA children from parents by racist social workers who viewed NA practices as neglect.

1913

This court case meant that Pueblo Indians lost lots of their land because they were deemed incapable of handling it.

Native American Rights Fund (NARF)

est 1970: they put pressure on the SC and brought them cases which led to positive action.

1974 Oneida v. Oneida and Madison Counties

This case ruled in favour of returning lands, it was especially significant because it encouraged other tribes to also campaign.

1976 Fisher v. Montana

This case ruled that tribal courts would now be allowed to make their own decisions about adoption (which had previously been forced) to protect rules about self-governance.

1980 US v. Sioux Nation

Tribes were given compensation for lost land e.g. Sioux were given $17.5 million + 5% interest since 1877, but they were not given Black Hills back. (this is now equivalent to over $1 billion but they will not accept this because that would revoke their right to fight for the Black Hills).

1982: Seminole Tribe v. Butterworth

This case meant that meant that NA were allowed to establish gambling enterprises in Florida - this is significant because it went against state law so it cemented that they had the right to their own land.

1986: Charrier v. Bell

This case protected NA burial grounds in Louisiana.

Society of American Indians

est 1911 with 50 NA men and women. This failed because there as a lack of unified aims, lack of funds and the NA were spread out across America. They were a first attempt of establishing inter-tribal pressure groups to campaign for better education and health care (social aims rather than political).

1928

Meriam Report: pressured the government to improve living conditions and criticised the allotment policy (aim was still assimilation)

1929

Rhoads Reforms: improved education for NA children by closing off-reservation boarding schools and improving both educational and medical facilities on reservations.

National Congress of American Indians (NCAI)

This was one of the first signs of NA unity to put pressure on the government, they fought to end reservations and integrate NA into American society. Their actions resulted in the establishment of the Indian Claims Commission, a government body to aid in the return of NA lands.

National Indian Youth Council (NIYC)

est 1961, they aimed to protect NA fishing rights in the north-west. They later took on lawsuits to protect treaty, voting and religious freedom rights.

American Indian Movement (AIM)

est 1968, they were a more militant group that wanted quicker progress in the gaining of rights. They also patrolled the streets to monitor police activity and resulted in NA populations in jails dropping by 60%.

Red Power

A term taken directly from the Black Power movement which encouraged pride in NA tribes and customs.

Fish-in

This was staged in Washington when the SC failed to uphold treaty rights that NA were allowed to fish in the Columbia River.

1968-75

Period which witnessed the most concerted action from the NA to improve their rights.

1970

Publication of Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown, literature was significant because it made white Americans more aware of both NA culture and the threats towards it.

1969-71

Siege of Alcatraz where a group of NA joined together to take back the island of Alcatraz, since the prison was now abandoned. They failed but the occupation led by Richard Oakes lasted close to 2 years and involved over 10,000 NAs. This led to mass media coverage and more militant action. The NA activists symbolically offered $24 for the island, because this is what they had been given.

1971

Occupation of Mt Rushmore, Black Hills, Dakota: a NA camp occupying this area failed to claim it, but it was so significant that the ownership of this area is still in dispute, and it drew publicity.

1972

AIM take over of the Bureau of Indian Affairs: there was a peaceful protest with the “Trail of Broken Treaties Caravan” to draw attention to the US gov continually breaking treaties. This broke into violence when they took over the Bureau and had to be evicted. This did influence Nixon’s policies.

1973

Occupation of Wounded Knee lasted 71 days with 300 NA. Because of the Sioux massacre of 1890, this land was hugely important. The aim was to draw attention to alcoholism, suicide, unemployment (50%), life expectancy (46) etc. Although, the Investigatory Commission that was set up concluded that the federal government did have the right to take this land, it was more sensitive to NA concerns in the future

1975

Pine Ridge Reservation: violence broke out (2 FBI agents and 1 protestor were killed) and a member of AIM was initially found guilty of murder, but the appeal court blamed the killing on an overreaction of the authorities.

Virginia and Pennsylvania

During the Gilded Age, two off-reservation schools in these states were set up to provide vocational education and improve educational and employment opportunities.

Navajo tribe

This tribe are used as an example for the successes of the reservation policy because they made considerable gains to land and animals. Their land increased from 4 million acres to 10.5 million.

75/245

This proportion of tribes rejected the measures proposed by the Indian Reorganization Act (1934) because they were not what they wanted (they also disliked the use of secret ballot and preferred tribal councils).

1944

National Congress of American Indians was created - this led to the development of the Indian Claims Comission.

The Longest Walk

AIM’s organised event (1978) which directly led to the Native American Religious Freedom Act.