Discrimination Faced by Native Americans

Native Americans and the Colonist

Native Americans did help the American colonists in the beginning- land, agricultural advice, and trade

Native Americans killed by European diseases (95%)

Many Native Americans were enslaved by colonists

Wars broke out over land which resulted in the massacre of Native men, women, and children

Indian Removal Act

Passed by Congress in 1830

Under the law, the federal government provided funds to negotiate treaties that forced Native Americans to move further west.

Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831)

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the state of Georgia could not regulate the Cherokee Nation or invade their lands

President Andrew Jackson refused to follow the Court’s decision “They made their ruling,

now let them enforce it”

Trail of Tears

Removal of 20,000 Cherokee at gun point by U.S. troops

800 mile journey on foot throughout the winter

Moved to inferior land

Trail of Tears

Suffering Along the Trail

“The sufferings of the Cherokees were awful. The trail of the exiles was a trail of death. They had to sleep in the wagons and on the ground without fire. And I have known as many as twenty-two of them to die in one night of pneumonia due to ill treatment, cold, and exposure”- Private John Burnett

Loss of Land

To open more land for white settlers, the U.S. government began to sign treaties with Native American tribes

Treaties created reservations for the Native Americans

Reservations = poor quality land

Dakota Sioux Reservation

The Dakota people were forced to relocate to barren land in Minnesota

In exchange, they were to be given annuities by the US government

By 1862 most lived in poverty, facing starvation

When Chief Little Crow asked the local traders to provide food on credit he was told “If they are hungry, let them eat grass or their own dung”

Uprising Begins

Although Chief Little Crow was reluctant to start a war, an uprising began

Targeted mainly civilian populations Goal= drive out white settlers from Minnesota Hundreds of settlers murdered

Dakota Executed

The US troops were able to defeat the Dakota 307 Dakota were sentenced to death Lincoln reduced the number sentenced to 38

Sand Creek Reservation

The Cheyenne had been forced onto the Sand Creek Reserve (1864) Barren, no means to hunt or farm Began to raid nearby lands and hunt off of the

reservation landGovernor told the Cheyenne to either head

back to the reservation or he would order his militia to strike Cheyenne headed back to the reservation, flying both

an American flag and a white flag, symbolizing their desire for peace

US Military Reacts

“I want no peace till the Indians suffer more” – Colonel John Chivington

At dawn, Chivington and his troops attacked the 500 sleeping Cheyenne

By the end, over 200 women, children, and men had been killed, their bodies mutilated

Buffalo

Native Americans depended on the buffalo for survival Used almost every part

of the buffalo for everyday life

Could not hunt for buffalo on the reservations

White settlers hunted the buffalo in excess, destroying the Native American way of life

Ghost Dance

Native tribal ritual which they believed would restore their lands, return the buffalo, and make the whites disappear

Rapidly spread among the 25,000 Sioux on reservation

Made illegal by the local authorities

Wounded Knee

In 1890, 40 Indian policemen were sent to arrest Sitting Bull Chief who started the Ghost Dance

The arrest led to a shoot out Both Sioux and the police grabbed their rifles and

began firing350 Sioux were then rounded up and led to

Wounded Knee Creek Ordered to give up their weapons, but one resisted Soldiers fired at the Sioux The Last of the Sioux

Massacre

Within minutes, 300 unarmed Natives, including children were shot and left for dead in the snow

End of the Native American Wars

After the Battle/Massacre at Wounded Knee, the series of Indian Wars ended

Assimilation

After the end of the Native Wars, the US Government attempted a new policy- assimilation

Dawest Act- broke up reservations into farm land

Wanted to get Native Americans to own property and farm

Sold parts of the reservations to white farmers

Carlisle Boarding Schools

US Government established boarding schools, or Carlisle Schools

Native American children were sent to the schools

Purpose was to “Americanize” or “civilize” Native Americans

Native Americans were expected to learn the culture and customs of white Americans

Into the West

“Kill the Indian and Save the Man”