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Chapter 6: The Native Americans

Chapter 6: The Native Americans. Diversity. “Indian Culture” – glosses over diversity Language – 1500 AD, 700 distinct languages Kinship system Political - economic In 1500 Native American population stood at 10,000,000 and by 1900 declined to less than 250,000.

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Chapter 6: The Native Americans

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  1. Chapter 6:The Native Americans

  2. Diversity • “Indian Culture” – glosses over diversity • Language – 1500 AD, 700 distinct languages • Kinship system • Political - economic • In 1500 Native American population stood at 10,000,000 and by 1900 declined to less than 250,000

  3. Summary of Contact and Policies • 1492 Arrival of Columbus • 1607 Jamestown was founded • 1620 Pilgrims landed at Plymouth • 1622 First major Indian retaliation • 1744 Treaty of Lancaster – Indian loss of land • 1778 First treaty between US and Indians

  4. Summary of Contact and Policies • 1803 US Louisiana Purchase • 1824 BIA established; placed in the Department of War • 1830 Indian Removal Act – eastern tribes moved west • 1854 Indian Appropriation Act • 1862 Railroad Act • 1868 Fort Laramie Peace Conference • 1887 General Allotment Act (Dawes) – Subdivided land

  5. Summary of Contact and Policies • 1924 Indian Citizenship Act • 1944 National Congress of American Indians • 1947 Indian Claims Commission Act • 1948 Indians allowed to vote in Arizona • 1953 Termination Act – closes reservations and federal funding • 1962 Indians allowed to vote in New Mexico • 1968 Indian Civil Rights Act

  6. Summary of Contact and Policies • 1972 Indian Education Act • 1975 Indian Self-Determination Act • 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act • 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act • 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act • 1990 Indian Art & Craft Act

  7. Reservation Life and Federal Policies • Approximately 25% of the Native American population live on reservations with approximately 75% living in Urban areas • There are slightly over 557 recognized reservations in the United States

  8. Native American Legal Claims • From 1836 to 1946 Native Americans could not bring a claim against the government without an Act of Congress • Only 142 claims were heard during this period • In 1946 Congress established the Indian Claims Commission to hear claims against the government

  9. Native American Legal Claims • Led to an increase in claims • Commission was extended until 1978 - now cases are heard by U.S. Court of Claims • Amount of awards and setoffs increased • The case of the Black Hills • Indian chose to recover land rather than seek a financial settlement

  10. The Termination Act of 1953 • The most controversial governmental policy toward reservation life • It reduced costs and ignored individual needs • Federal services were stopped immediately • The effect of the governmental order was disastrous • In 1975, the government resumed the services

  11. Employment Assistance Program • Program led to the relocation from reservations to urban areas off the reservations • Government provided educational and business assistance… • …but the impact was disastrous on the economic development of the reservation and led to brain drain • By 1965, about 1/3 returned to the reservation

  12. Collective Action • Pan-Indianism • Intertribal movement toward solidarity and common identity • Emerged out of the effects of “internal colonialism” –the treatment of subordinate peoples as colonial subjects by those in power • National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), founded in Denver 1948 • Political role of NCAI was to lobby Washington for an Indian voice

  13. Collective Action • Urban problems and AIM- founded by Clyde Bellecourt and Dennis Banks in 1968 at Minneapolis, MN: police brutality to alcohol rehabilitation • Conflict over fishing rights in the Northwest led to “fish-ins”: civil disobedience acts • Takeover of Alcatraz in 1969: Indians claimed the “excess land”; left a year later, but this led to… • Red Power: BIA sympathizers labeled “apples” • AIM led a 70 day occupation of Wounded Knee, S.D. to oust the leader of the Ogallala Sioux tribe

  14. Sovereignty • While collaborative action gathering cannot be minimized, there continues to be a strong effort to maintain tribal sovereignty or tribal self-rule

  15. Native Americans Today • Poor economic development – continued high rate of unemployment and poverty • Tourism is a double edged sword • It is a source of income but also a source of degradation • Cottage industries - craftwork • Some income from mineral rights • Casino gambling – significant income, but all of the negatives that associate gambling

  16. Native Americans Today • Government employment – major source of employment • BIA subculture • BIA educated workforce • Federal control of Native American education • BIA schools • Some tribes formed their own education systems…with mixed results • Educational Attainment - drop out or pushout rate is 50% higher than for Blacks or Hispanics • Testing, schooling, • and the “crossover effect” – IQ tests taken in English instead of native language yields lower scores

  17. Education • There is under-enrollment at all levels, from the primary grades through college • There is a need to adjust to a school with values sometimes dramatically different from those of the home • There is a need to make the curriculum more relevant • Tribal community colleges are under-financed • Reservation-born Native Americans encounter hardships when students later live in and attend schools in large cities • The language barrier faced by the many children who have little or no knowledge of English is problematic

  18. Healthcare • Native Americans suffer high rates of: 1. Alcoholism and mortality 2. Under-nutrition 3. Tuberculosis leading to death 4. High rate of teenage suicide • Lack of access to health care resources – poverty is a major contributor

  19. Religious Expression • American Indian Religious Freedom Act passed by Congress in 1978 • Act contains no penalties and enforcement provisions – “the law with no teeth” • Native American Church - ritualistic use of peyote and marijuana • In 1994, Congress amended the Indian Religious Freedom Act to allow Native Americans the right to use, transport, and possess peyote for religious purposes

  20. Environment • CERT was formed in 1976 - Council of Energy Resource Tribes • Consisted of twenty-five of the West’s largest tribes • Other tribes were added later • Purpose is to protect and develop tribal natural resources such as natural gas • Struggle for “environmental justice”

  21. Environment • Land disputes continue • Balance between environmental and economic needs, just as it is in larger society • Spiritual needs are at times associated with environmental issues, such as the inability to restrict access to sacred sites that exist in very public places

  22. Figure 6-4 Intergroup Relations Continuum

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