A L E X A C A L L AWAY

NATIVE AMERICANS

1492-1600 BEGINNING OF CONQUEST Feelings of superiority:"they could easily be commanded and made to work, to sow and to do whatever might be needed, to build towns and be taught to wear clothes and adopt our ways."-Christopher Columbus (1492)

Europeans began claiming land in both South and North America. They practiced rape and kidnapping of Native Americans.

Encomienda system- Spanish use of Natives as slave laborers (ended because of pressure from Spanish religious men)

Massacres

Europeans influenced by religion

Encomienda Sytem

1600'S

"Their enterprise failed, for it pleased God to effect these Indians with such a deadly sickness, that out of every 1000, over 950 of them had died, and many of them lay rotting above the ground for lack of burial."- Settler in the 1600's

Small Pox epidemic

1609- French/Iroquois conflicts began

1675-1676- King Philips War and Bacon's Rebellion

1700'SProclamation of 1763- King George III stops settlers from moving

west of the Appalachians in hopes of easing tensions with the natives

Proclamation Line drawn by British to protect Indians

1758- First Native American reservation in North America was established by the New Jersey Colonial Assembly

Paxton Boys- frontier thugs who murdered friendly natives

1775- Rebellion in San Diego against missionaries forcing worship and field labor

Smallpox= huge problem during this time, wiping out the majority of native populations

1780-1825 FORMATIVE PERIOD

Attempting to establish a healthy relationship with the natives.

1789- congress given power to regulate Native commerce with foreign countries (wanted a friendship based on trade)

1795-Treaty of Greenville- Indians promised a permanent boundary from Americans after a land war (multi-tribal) was ended.

After the Election of 1800, Jefferson's approach to Native Americans was that if they were farmers, they wouldn't need their forestland and would allow for more westward expansion. This began the forced signing of treaties that continued for decades.

1804- Trading posts established in the west (very important culturally) The United States hoped the Natives would become dependent on white goods and ease tensions.

1820-Over 20,000 Natives held in "slavery" in the California missions

1824-Monroe proposed that all Native Americans be moved west of the Mississippi River

1825-1870 REMOVAL AND RESERVATION

1828-Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia: civilized tribe (the cherokee) sued claiming they were independent from Georgia and could not be ruled by white settlers in the state, court ruled in favor of the cherokees but Jackson didn't inforce it.

1830-Indian Removal Act (Andrew Jackson) Pushes Five Civilized Tribes West of Mississippi

1831-Beginning of the belief that Native people were "domestic dependent nations" (upheld in Worcester vs. Virginia 1832- federal power not extended into indian land)

1839-Trail of Tears (Jackson) forced removal of Cherokees to other land, 4,000 dead in the 800 mile walk

1847-Westward Migration begins...1851-Fort Laramie Treaty gives Natives their territory forever if the natives guarantee safe passage for Oregon Trail travelers

1853- Natives remaining in California forced onto military reservations, 150,000 lived in the state prior to 1849; by 1870 less than 30,000 remain

1862- Congress passed the Homestead Act making western lands belonging to many Indian Nations available to non-Indian American settlers. This marked the beginning of mass migrations to Indian lands for non-Indian settlement.

Trail of Tears

1870-1927 ASSIMILATION

1879- A group of 84 Lakota children, arrived at the United States Indian Training and Industrial School at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, a boarding school to remove young Indians from their native culture and refashion them as members of mainstream American society. Over the next two decades, twenty-four more schools reservations, along with 81 boarding schools and almost 150 day schools on the Indians' own land.

1882-Indian Rights Association - This organization was created to protect the interests and rights of Indians. The association was composed of white reformers who wanted to help Indians abandon their cultural and spiritual beliefs and assimilate into American society.

1883- U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an Indian is by birth "an alien and a dependent."

1887- The Dawes Severalty Act gives the President power to reduce the landholdings of the Indian nations across the country. The "surplus lands" on the reservations were opened up to settlement.

Native American Boarding School

ASSIMILATION CON'T

1887- The Dawes Severalty Act gives the President power to reduce the landholdings of the Indian nations across the country. The "surplus lands" on the reservations were opened up to settlement.

1911-Society of American Indians—The Society—the first step in the direction of pan-Indian unity - was established and managed exclusively by American Indians, most of whom were well-known in non-Indian society and well-educated. Although members favored assimilation, they also lobbied for many reform issues, especially improved health care on reservations, citizenship, and a special court of claims for Indians.

1917- 17,000 Natives serve in WWI

1924- Natives not given full citizenship prior are granted citizenship

1928-1945 REORGANIZATION

NEW DEAL:1934- The Indian New Deal - an attempt to promote the revitalization of

Indian cultural and spiritual traditions.

Wheeler-Howard Act: restored unsold lands to tribal ownership

Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) -centerpiece of the Indian New Deal, encouraged Indians to "recover" their cultural heritage and sought to promote tribal self-government by encouraging tribes to adopt constitutions and form federally-chartered corporations.

*Not favored by most natives, made by non-natives

1942- 25,000 Indians served in the U.S. armed forces, including 800 women. The Oneidas, Chippewas, and Comanches blocked Japanese decoding in their tribal languages. Navajo Code Talkers were instrumental in the landing at Guadalcanal.

Navajo Code Talkers during WWII

1946-1956 "TERMINATION"

1946-Indian Claims Commission Act - Tribes were given five years to file a claim then bring suit for settlement. The Commission would then review the case and assess the amount of compensation. It settled 285 cases and paid more than $800 million in settlements.

1953- Termination - The trust relationship with many Indian tribes was terminated. Terminated tribes were then subject to state laws and their lands were sold to non-Indians. Congress terminated more than 100 tribes.

Relocation - new policy to persuade large numbers of Indians to relocate into urban areas to help with unemployment. Eventually failed after a pretty nice start.

1961-PRESENT SELF DETERMINATION

1965-1976- 43,000 American Indians participated in the Vietnam War

Native Civil Rights Movement:

1968- Indian Civil Rights Act (ICRA) - It gave most protections of the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment to tribal members in dealings with their tribal governments.

Direct and militant movement to gain Civil Rights

1969- "Indians of All Tribes" occupation of Alcatraz - A group of young Indians seized the abandoned Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco harbor. "Alcatraz was suitable as an Indian Reservation and should be converted into an Indian educational and cultural center." Occupied for two years.

1975-Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act -obligation of the U.S. to provide for participation by American Indians in the government and communities.

Occupation of Wounded Knee, South Dakota in protest of failure to fulfill treaties.

SELF-DETERMINATION CON'T

1978-US v. Wheeler Supreme Court Decision - "The sovereignty that the Indian tribes retain is of a unique and limited character." In short, Indian nations were sovereign, but but it was limited to the federal government.

1979-The Seminole Tribe of Florida and Gaming -first tribe to enter into the bingo gaming industry. This encouraged other tribes to begin gaming enterprises on reservations to aid economic self-sufficiency.

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) - This Congressional Act affirmed the right of tribes to conduct gaming on Indian lands (ex. casinos)

Present- Reservations are home to alcoholism and poverty