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History of american indian activism essay
History of american indian activism essay
Native american rights movement background essay
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American Indian political activism played a tremendous role throughout history, which has laid the foundation for how Indians are being treated with more respect in today’s society. In 1961, about the same time as the meeting in Chicago, the National Indian Youth Council (NIYC) was founded (Hudson). The goal of the NIYC was to protest against civil disobedience and to bring awareness to Indian heritage (Document of Indian Militancy, pg. 527). To promote the NIYC, young Indians would speak at colleges, important national organization meetings and hearings of government agencies (Document of Indian Militancy, pg. 527). This group of activists served as a new generation that was proud of their heritage and not willing to accept being sucked into a white society (Document of Indian Militancy, pg. 527). Clyde Warrior played an important role as a leader of in the NIYC (Document of Indian Militancy pg. 257). Warrior encouraged Indians to “take pride in their Indian heritage, and to hold on to traditional values in modern times” (Document of Indian Militancy pg. 257). Warrior later became the president of the NIYC and continually advocated through speeches and writings (Document of Indian Militancy pg. 527). One of the biggest movements the NIYC was apart of was the occupation of Alcatraz Island. “In November of 1969, eighty-nine young Indians took over Alcatraz Island (Document of Indian Militancy, pg. 528). The purpose of occupying Alcatraz Island was to draw attention to them and promote “Red Power” (Hudson). Occupying Alcatraz was a success in getting their voice heard, which made a lasting impression that “served as a warning for the United States that Indian rights could no longer be ignored and became a symbol of hope for Ind... ... middle of paper ... ...w unjust the previous treaties were (Hudson). In 1953, the NCAI held a convention to discuss the crisis of Indian affairs including threats of termination. Frank George, the director of the NCAI fought against Dillon Meyer who was for the termination of Indians (Hudson). George was known as the latter day Chief Joseph because of the way he made his political points such as wanting change in polices and setting up for the Red Movement (Hudson). In 1961, the NCAI met again in Chicago to discuss the problems of termination (Hudson). Through the voice of the NCAI, Lyndon Johnson began the process to get rid of termination (Hudson). Richard Nixon was in office when termination finally ended (Hudson). Works Cited The Lone Ranger and Tonto First Fight in Heaven, Sherman Alexie Two Views of the Indian Reorganization Act Document of Indian Militancy Hudson, Angela Hudson
out against the injustice and urged the Indians, “to unite in claiming a common and equal right in
Throughout history the attacks on Native American sovereignty proved to be too much and eventually tribes had to submit. The problems Native American tribes faced when fighting for and dealing with sovereignty in the 18th century are identical to the problems they are facing today. These
In Lakota Woman, Mary Crow Dog argues that in the 1970’s, the American Indian Movement used protests and militancy to improve their visibility in mainstream Anglo American society in an effort to secure sovereignty for all "full blood" American Indians in spite of generational gender, power, and financial conflicts on the reservations. When reading this book, one can see that this is indeed the case. The struggles these people underwent in their daily lives on the reservation eventually became too much, and the American Indian Movement was born. AIM, as we will see through several examples, made their case known to the people of the United States, and militancy ultimately became necessary in order to do so. "Some people loved AIM, some hated it, but nobody ignored it" (Crow Dog, 74).
The religious practices of the Native American population in the U.S. no longer was of concern to the government. Suppression, segregation and aggression was also no longer a policy which the American government wished to pursue, but assimilation still remained a concern. Unfortunately, the assimilation came in the form of once again taking away lands from Native Americans (termination) because reservations were seen as equal to the concentration camps of WWII. Rosier states in his journal article, "They Are Ancestral Homelands": Race, Place, and Politics in Cold War Native America, 1945-1961, that Zuni veterans of “We have served [overseas] in order to save our country, our people, our religion, our freedom of press and our freedom of speech from destruction…We, now in the land of freedom as Americans are faced with [termination policies] which will mean total destruction of all tribes.” The policy of termination clashed with the Native American peoples ' desires to preserve their own native identity, and with their own identity came their own religious practices. Between 1953–1964, more than 100 tribes were terminated and 13,263 Native Americans lost tribal affiliation; this was a loss that could not be regained. Scholars determined that the termination policies had calamitous effects on tribal autonomy and
With hope that they could even out an agreement with the Government during the progressive era Indian continued to practice their religious beliefs and peacefully protest while waiting for their propositions to be respected. During Roosevelt’s presidency, a tribe leader who went by as No Shirt traveled to the capital to confront them about the mistreatment government had been doing to his people. Roosevelt refused to see him but instead wrote a letter implying his philosophical theory on the approach the natives should take “if the red people would prosper, they must follow the mode of life which has made the white people so strong, and that is only right that the white people should show the red people what to do and how to live right”.1 Roosevelt continued to dismiss his policies with the Indians and encouraged them to just conform into the white’s life style. The destruction of their acres of land kept being taken over by the whites, which also meant the destruction of their cultural backgrounds. Natives attempted to strain from the white’s ideology of living, they continued to attempt with the idea of making acts with the government to protect their land however they never seemed successfully. As their land later became white’s new territory, Indians were “forced to accept an ‘agreement’” by complying to change their approach on life style.2 Oklahoma was one of last places Natives had still identity of their own, it wasn’t shortly after that they were taken over and “broken by whites”, the union at the time didn’t see the destruction of Indian tribes as a “product of broken promises but as a triumph for American civilization”.3 The anger and disrespect that Native tribes felt has yet been forgotten, white supremacy was growing during the time of their invasion and the governments corruption only aid their ego doing absolutely nothing for the Indians.
Talking Back to Civilization: Indian Voices from the Progressive Era edited by Frederick E. Hoxie is a book which begins with an introduction into the life of Charles Eastman and a brief overview of the history of Native Americans and their fight for justice and equal rights, it then continues by describing the different ways and avenues of speaking for Indian rights and what the activists did. This leads logically into the primary sources which “talk back” to the society which had overrun their own. The primary sources immerse the reader into another way of thinking and cause them to realize what our societal growth and even foundation has caused to those who were the true natives. The primary sources also expand on the main themes of the book which are outlines in the introduction. They are first and most importantly talking back to the “pale faces”, Indian education, religion, American Indian policy, the image of the Indians presented in America. The other chapters in the book further expanded on these ideas. These themes will be further discussed in the following chapters along with a review of this
Indian policy gradually shifted from this aggressive mindset to a more peaceable and soft line policy. The Indian Wars ended in 1980 with the Battle of Wounded Knee. The battle resulted in over 200 deaths, but also, almost officially, marked a change in Indian policy. Although the change had subtly began before then, policies then became more kind. The Peace Commission created the reservation policy, although this was created 27 years before the Battle at Wounded Knee. The Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 was the greatest of reform efforts. The Act provided the granting of landholding to individual Native Americans, replacing communal tribal holdings. Another policy, the Burke Act of 1906, allowed Indians to become citizens if they left their tribes. Citizenship was eventually granted to all Native Americans in the 1920s.
Rebecca Neugin, “Recollections of Removal (1932)” in Voices of Freedom: A Documentary History, Vol. 1, ed. Eric Foner (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2011), 176.
One of the critical tasks that faced the new nation of the United States was establishing a healthy relationship with the Native Americans (Indians). “The most serious obstacle to peaceful relations between the United States and the Indians was the steady encroachment of white settlers on the Indian lands. The Continental Congress, following [George] Washington’s suggestion, issued a proclamation prohibiting unauthorized settlement or purchase of Indian land.” (Prucha, 3) Many of the Indian tribes had entered into treaties with the French and British and still posed a military threat to the new nation.
Stark, H. K., & Wilkins, D. E. (2011). American Indian Politics and the American Political System. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
The Board of Indian Commissioners was a committee that advised the United States federal government on Native American policy. The committee also had the purpose to inspect the supplies that were delivered to Indian reservations to ensure that the government fulfilled the treat obligations to tribes. The committee was established by congress on April 10th, 1869, and authorized the President of the United States to organize a board of ten or less people to oversee all aspect of Native American policy. President Ulysses S. Grant wanted to come up with a new policy, which would be more humane, with Native American tribes. The policy would be known as the Peace Policy, which aimed to be free of political corruption. This policy was prominent on
In 1887 the federal government launched boarding schools designed to remove young Indians from their homes and families in reservations and Richard Pratt –the leader of Carlisle Indian School –declared, “citizenize” them. Richard Pratt’s “Kill the Indian… and save the man” was a speech to a group of reformers in 1892 describing the vices of reservations and the virtues of schooling that would bring young Native Americans into the mainstream of American society.
The movement westward during the late 1800’s created new tensions among already strained relations with current Native American inhabitants. Their lands, which were guaranteed to them via treaty with the United States, were now beginning to be intruded upon by the massive influx of people migrating from the east. This intrusion was not taken too kindly, as Native American lands had already been significantly reduced due to previous westward conquest. Growing resentment for the federal government’s Reservation movement could be felt among the native population. One Kiowa chief’s thoughts on this matter summarize the general feeling of the native populace. “All the land south of the Arkansas belongs to the Kiowas and Comanches, and I don’t want to give away any of it” (Edwards, 203). His words, “I don’t want to give away any of it”, seemed to a mantra among the Native Americans, and this thought would resound among them as the mounting tensions reached breaking point.
In regard to law, Deloria defines the relationship between the US Government and the Indians as paternalistic. The US Government treated and governed the Indians as a father would by providing basic needs but without given them rights. There has been some improvement with the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934. This act allowed the return to local self-government on a tribal level and restored the self management of their assets. By allowing the Indians to self govern it encouraged an economic foundation for the inhabitants of Indian reservations. Unfortunately only a few tribes have fully taken advantage of this act, while others continue to struggle for survival.
For decades, the United States practiced policies of removal to gain valuable land for itself. The policies of removal, assimilation, and concentration caused the deaths of thousands of Natives. The song Indian Reservation by Paul Revere and the Midnight Raiders is a reminder of the Trail of Tears, which killed a ¼ of the Indians that marched. The government removed the Indians from Georgia to benefit the plantation owners in the south, at the expense of the Native people in the area. Even the Supreme Court of the United States agreed that removal of the Indians from that land would be illegal, but President Jackson went ahead and did it anyways. The Indians marched over a thousand miles until they were west of the Mississippi River. It also gives a general overview of how the whites put the Indians on reservations and tried to assimilate them. “The beads we made by hand are nowadays made in Japan,” shows how the whites took over the Indian’s culture and commercialized it. Another situation in which the government practiced assimilation and concentration was with Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce. Joseph’s tribes were cooperative and sold their land to the whites as long as they got to live in their valley, but eventually the whites wanted all their land. The Indians fled and tried to make it to Canada, but 30 miles from the border they were caught and rounded up. They were sent to live on reservations, and most died of white diseases or starvation. By the year 1890, all Indians were on reservations. The Blackhawk war, which happened over land disputes in Wisconsin and Illinois, also led to the death and relocation of numerous Indians. This disrespect towards the Indians was typical of the time period.