Native American Reservation Essay

Jordyn Ethington
SOC 235
Section: History of Native American Reservations
For many years, Native Americans have faced horrible social and political mistreatment and discrimination from white Americans. Many Native Americans still deal with discrimination in the United States today. This section of the paper will describe and explain the general history involving the Native American reservations.
When the colonists came to America from Europe, there were over 1000 Native American tribes. That number is cut in half today because several tribes were wiped out over the years from disease and lack of recognition from the government. The article Facts about Indian Reservations says even though there are around 565 Native American tribes today, there are only 310 reservations (About.com). This is because some tribes simply do not have a reservation, and some tribes share land. Most of the reservations and west of the Mississippi River and are in the Northwest region of the United States.
The natives felt independent and separate from the white settlers. The relationship between natives and whites grew worse as settlers moved further west. In 1851, the Indian Appropriations Act made it legal to form reservations of land, specifically for Native Americans, in what is now Oklahoma. Then, in the 1860s, President Grant came up with a “Peace Policy” that forced natives to relocate to places where they had no historical connections (reservations). The natives, against their will, had to sign these peace treaties and leave their homes. Many tribes tried to go against the law and not relocate, but the United States Army would be sure everyone cooperated. Many wars started because of this including the Sioux War which took place between 1876...

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...isease. The Historically, crime in Indian Country has been somewhat ignored by the federal government and incidents are poorly investigated. Gangs and high accounts of rape are common problems on the reservations as well. This could be attributed to the fact that when Native Americans were moved around, sometimes hostile tribes would be placed to live with each other. Alcoholism is most likely the worst problem that takes place. The amount of alcohol related deaths among Native Americans is way higher than the rest of the United States population. Alcoholism among the natives can be related to being diagnosed with other diseases.
The history of Native American reservations is devastating and many Native Americans are still bitter about their people’s mistreatment. People of Native American heritage are still discriminated against in certain parts of the country.