NATIVE AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS
-Suffered greatest drop in population
-Eradication of many languages and cultural customs-Were the last group of people to earn the right to vote as citizens in the US 1925
2000 CENSUS1.5% of U.S. population
American Indian or Alaska Native alone 2.5 million (26% higher than 1990) (0.9%)
In combination with other “races” 1.6 million (0.6%)
Total = 4.1 million (1.5%)(110% higher than 1990)
Native in combination
40%
Native alone60%
Native Population Distribution
Midwest17%
-Northeast9%
South31%
West43%
100 million acres =4% of U.S.,BUT…..
Modern Indian Lands = 4% of U.S.?322 entities in Lower 48 = 56 million acres
BUT much of rez land is allotted ( non-Indian ownership)
Era Policy trend Global trend
1880s-1920s: Assimilation Imperialism/racism
1930s-1940s: Autonomy Economic reform
1950s-early 60s: Assimilation Cold War/individualism
1970s-early 90s: Autonomy Civil rights/liberation
Late 1990s-2000s: Assimilation? Anti-multiculturalism
Pendulum of Federal Indian Policy
Settled (extinguished) tribal land claims until 1978
Tribe paid estmated “price per acre” of the land at time it was illegally taken ($1200 each to Potawatomi)
ICC did not return land; some tribes turned down $$
Indian Claims Commission, 1946
-Freed successful tribes fromfederal gov’t interventions-Ended 109 tribes( were not officially acknowledged tribes)-Groups subjected to state/local control-Lost backing as a tribe from the Federal Government
-Federal services lost; privatelands lost via tax foreclosure
-Major cause stimulating Indian rights movement;13 tribes restored
TERMINATIONERA, 1950s-60s
Menominee terminated, 1961-73
Returning WWII, Korean war veterans fight for rights
National Congress of American Indians, 1944
American Indian Chicago Conference, 1961; NIYC 1963
Activism in 1950s-early 1960s
Iroquois protest at U.S.-Canada border for Jay Treaty
Force Indians off reservation by offering job training opportunities in urban areas.
Individuals made to signagreements that they wouldnot return to their reservations.
Urban populations grew in LA,NY, Chicago, Mpls, Denver,Albuquerque, OKC, etc.
Relocation Act, 1956
Loss of Native culture & languages, yet kept touch with rural reservation
Increased contact among different tribes; growth of pan-Indian identity
Common experience of urban poverty & struggle
Exposure to civil rights activism, successes
Effects of Urban
Relocation, 1960s
Chicago American
Indian Center
powwow
American Indian Movement, 1968 Founded at Stillwater Prison;
inspired by Black Panthers
Urban Indians monitored Minneapolis police brutalityon Franklin Avenue
Made contact with traditionalchiefs on reservations; fusedurban and rural activism
Alcatraz 1969
Indians of All Tribesoccupies abandonedSan Francisco Bay
prison
Cites law that unused
federal propertyreverts to tribes
First major nationalpan-Indian action
Trail of Broken Treaties 1972
-Caravan to Washington, DC for self-determination
-Occupation ofBIA headquarters
before1972 election
Nixon White Houseembarrassed by
clashes
LONGEST WALK 1978
5 Month March SF-DC› Protest Violation of Treaties and removal
of Native American from homelands› Last major protest act› Movement for rights headed to the court
rooms
Courts vehicle of change Most of the Demands of the Movement were
not met› Much of their homeland were made in national
Parks ,of turned into cities, or under private ownership
Through the courts Some territories were guaranteed or even returned to Native Groups
Native American Rights Fund- Organization which organized many of these legal battles
There are still major issues and problems of reservations and fights to protect native territories.