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A2 Native Americans Revision
Policies towards Native American civil rights developments were complicated by a lack of clarity about what Native American rights should be and there was little agreement amongst Native Americans about this either.
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Native American Rights Statistics Beginning
Middle
End
Amount of land owned.
150 million acres of reservation land in 1887 was reduced to 78 million acres by 1900.
Reservation land had been reduced to only 50 million acres by the 1930s.
Compensation for loss of land.
Treaties, such as the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1871) signed by the Sioux, promised that the federal government would compensate the Natives for loss of land, but Natives were very rarely compensated.
Little compensation was given for loss of land.
Type of land owned and farming.
Natives were given poor quality land on which they couldn’t farm, meaning many died of starvation. Natives didn’t have proper equipment to farm with. Natives lived in extremely high poverty.
In 1934, 20 million acres of Native American land was desert or semi-desert, therefore couldn’t be farmed.
Reservation land had been slightly increased to 52.4 million acres by 1990. However, vast tracts of land remained in dispute. Some Native Americans began to get compensation for land through the Indian Claims Commission (1946-78) and Supreme Court cases. However, the amounts that they could claim were quite small overall and didn’t make up for past injustice. Natives generally gained better farming equipment, however their land was still inadequate.
In 1890, of the 133,000 Native Americans on the reservations, 35,000 received rations due to age or poor quality land. However these rations were not enough, and many Natives starved Native Americans suffered the highest level of disease in the US, including measles, influenza and whooping cough. Native Americans had higher levels of alcoholism than the rest of the US.
Welfare aid to Natives was increased by President Hoover (from 1929), but this was still not enough.
Land Rights and Conditions on the Reservations
Economic conditions on the reservations.
Welfare aid.
Health and life expectancy.
Housing on the reservations.
Native housing on the reservations was very poor quality.
Population levels.
Of the 240,000 Native Americans who inhabited the Plains in 1860, only 100,000 remained by 1900. -
Birth rate.
The Meriam Report of 1928 reported that Native Americans were the most impoverished people in the US.
Improved medical facilities meant that Native disease levels decreased, but they were still higher than the rest of the US. Natives continued to have higher levels of alcoholism than the rest of the US. Native housing on the reservations was very poor quality. The number of Natives in the US had increased to 350,000 by 1941. The 1938 census indicated that the Native population was increasing at a faster rate than that nationally.
By 1968, Natives still had the highest rates of unemployment in the US (42%) and their median income was almost half that of the US as a whole. However, in the 1970s poverty on reservations decreased by as much as 20% on many reservations. A study of 19,000 Native Americans in Oklahoma in 1968 indicated that almost 50% had no welfare benefits. However, in later years welfare aid for Natives increased. In 1960, life expectancy for Native Americans (44 years) was twenty years below the national average (64 years). Natives had increased obesity and diabetes levels, and continued to have higher levels of alcoholism than the rest of the US. In 1970, 60% of reservation dwellings had no electricity and 80% had no running water. Housing had slightly improved by 1992, but was still behind the rest of the US. The Native population increased from 800,000 in 1970 to 1.7 million in 1990. The Native American birth rate was 2.5 times the US average in 1970 (the same as India).
Tribal Rights and Selfdetermination
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Traditions and religions.
Natives were forced to give up their traditions and religions, for example men were forced to give up polygamy and were no longer allowed to show their skills as hunters or healers. However, Christian missionaries attempting to convert Native Americans were largely unsuccessful and some Natives continued to practise their tribal religions in secret.
Natives were generally freer to follow their traditions and religions due to Cherokee v Hitchcock (1902). Native American women’s cooperatives were encouraged to produce Native arts and crafts as an economic venture.
Burial rights.
Sacred objects and sacred land, such as burial grounds, were often forcefully removed from Natives.
There was little or no return of sacred objects or sacred land.
Selfdetermination.
Most reservations were controlled by federal agents, who were often corrupt, and Natives had little say. However, some reservations had their own “court of offences”, where minor crimes were tried and the judges were Natives. The federal agents who ran that reservations were supported by 770 Native police officers.
Natives did not move much closer to achieving selfdetermination.
More Natives gained citizenship due to the Indian Citizenship Act 1924.
Natives retained citizenship.
The right to vote.
In 1865, Natives lacked citizenship. Some Natives gained citizenship in the General Allotment Act (Dawes Act) 1887. Very few Natives had the right to vote due to the states using grandfather clauses, poll taxes, literacy tests and property requirements. Natives didn’t want the right to vote.
Natives gained the de facto right to vote due to the Voting Rights Act 1965, however many didn’t use it.
Native representatives in government.
Between 1869 and 1907, there were only two Senators and one Representative with Native American ancestry.
Quality of education.
In 1877, only $20,000 was spent on Native American education by the federal government. The curriculum was limited and clearly designed to “Americanise” Native children. Poor communication meant that pupils became bored and frustrated. Native children were taken away from their parents and sent to boarding schools with terrible conditions. Children wore uncomfortable uniforms, were harshly disciplined and couldn’t take part in tribal customs. Some ran away and returned home. Opportunities for graduates were limited and the vast majority simply returned to reservation life. They were sometimes alienated from the communities there. It was very rare that Natives attended higher education.
Two-thirds of Natives had the de jure right to vote due to the Indian Citizenship Act 1924. The vote was given to Native women by the Indian Reorganisation (WheelerHoward) Act 1934. However, few had the de facto right to vote and few wanted it. After 1929, there were no Senators with Native American ancestry until 1993. Between 1907 and 1952, there were only four Representatives with Native American ancestry. The quality of Native education wasn’t improved to a significant extent.
Citizenship Rights and Conditions in the Cities Citizenship.
Boarding schools and removal of children from parents.
Higher education.
By the interwar years, boarding schools had begun to be closed, such as by Indian Commissioner Charles Rhoads (appointed in 1929).
By the early decades of the 20th century, some Native Americans moved into higher education.
Forced assimilation was ended by Nixon in 1968, therefore Natives were free to follow their traditions and religions. Many urban Natives began returning to their reservations in the summer months to take part in the long-standing tradition of tribal gathering. However, the damage had already been done, for example the percentage of Natives speaking their tribal language was still low and the majority no longer had their tribal titles. Natives began to have sacred objects and sacred land returned to them (repatriation) due to legislation and Supreme Court cases. Many Natives gained self-determination due to the Indian Self-Determination Act 1975. Some tribes gained rights to establish gambling enterprises that went against state laws. Native American tribal governments had access to the same tax exemptions that the states had due to the Indian Tribal Governmental Tax Status Act 1983.
Between 1961 and 1993, there were only four Representatives with Native American ancestry.
In 1970, the average Native American had just five years of schooling and Natives had the highest illiteracy rates in the US. Between 1970 and 1990, the percentage of Natives who graduated high school increased from 16.7% to 54% due to the Indian Education Act 1972 and Indian Education Assistance Act 1975. Nearly all boarding school were closed and reservation schools were built. Natives had greater control over the removal of Native children from their parents due to Fisher v Montana (1976) and the Welfare Act 1978.
By 1990, 9% of the Native population had achieved a bachelor’s degree or higher, perhaps due to affirmative action.
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Relocation to the cities.
Few Natives moved to the cities.
Economic conditions in the cities.
Urban Native Americans lived in the same high poverty that those on the reservations suffered.
Housing in the cities.
Natives who moved to the cities nearly always lived in terrible accommodation.
Urban Natives lived in the poorest accommodation and formed ghettos.
Social conditions in the cities.
Natives who moved to the cities faced discrimination from whites.
Urban Natives faced discrimination from whites. Natives in the cities knew little about their tribal heritage, however ghettos helped to sustain tribal culture.
Between 1930 and 1960 the number of urban Native Americans in cities increased fourfold. However, many Native American munitions factory workers were driven back to the reservations by discrimination after WW2 and had little use for their new skills there. The majority of urban Natives still remained in high poverty.
By 1990 approximately 2/3 of all Native Americans were dispersed in urban areas, perhaps due to the Voluntary Relocation Program (from 1956). However, 40-70% of the Native Americans who moved into cities ultimately returned to the reservations.
By 1992, some Natives had entered the professions and a small percentage of were in the middle class. However, the majority of urban Natives still remained in poverty. Natives who moved to the cities often lived in the poorest accommodation. However, technological developments meant that housing had at least improved slightly from earlier in the time period. Natives who moved to the cities faced less direct and open discrimination from whites towards the end of the century. Many Native women married white men, which showed there was less discrimination.
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Native American Land Rights and Conditions on Reservations – Federal Government Help/Hinder Area of land rights
Amount of land owned.
Beginning
Middle
End
Impact:
Impact:
Impact:
150 million acres of reservation land in 1887 was reduced to 78 million acres by 1900.
Evidence:
Compensation for loss of land.
The Indian Wars (1860s to 1890) were intended to destroy Native American opposition to white westward expansion. The General Allotment Act (Dawes Act) of 1887 was largely successful in destroying the reservation system and giving Native Americans their own land (allotments), however most ended up having to sell their allotment to white settlers to pay debts.
Impact:
Treaties, such as the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1871) signed by the Sioux, promised that the federal government would compensate the Natives for loss of land, but Natives were very rarely compensated.
Reservation land had been reduced to only 50 million acres by the 1930s.
Evidence:
The Indian Reorganisation Act (Wheeler-Howard Act) of 1934 made illegal the sale of Native land to individual buyers, therefore helped to stop reductions in reservation land. Roosevelt’s Indian New Deal meant that some funding was made available in the short term to buy back former reservation land and some consolidation of allotted land took place.
Impact:
Little compensation was given for land.
Evidence:
The Indian Claims Commission (194678) gave some financial compensation for lost lands.
Evidence:
Lone Wolf v Hitchcock (1903) supported the power of the US government to revoke treaties made with Native Americans, therefore Natives were even less likely to get compensation for their land. Type of land owned and farming.
Economic conditions on the reservations.
Impact:
Natives were given poor quality land on which they couldn’t farm, meaning many died of starvation. Natives didn’t have proper equipment to farm with. In the 1880s, drought affected the crops of Native Americans.
Impact:
In 1934, 20 million acres of Native American land was desert or semidesert, therefore couldn’t be farmed.
Reservation land had been slightly increased to 52.4 million acres by 1990. However, vast tracts of land remained in dispute.
Evidence:
The Indian Claims Commission (1946-78) did little to give Native Americans their lands back and gave little regard to evidence provided by Natives. The federal government’s policy of termination (beginning in 1953) ended the recognition of Native American treaty rights, however this policy was stopped by Nixon.
Impact:
Some Native Americans began to get compensation for land. However, the amounts that they could claim were quite small overall and didn’t make up for past injustice.
Evidence:
The Indian Claims Commission (1946-78) gave some financial compensation for lost lands. Oneida v Oneida and Madison Counties, New York (1974) established the right of the Oneida tribe to sue for the return of their lands. US v the Sioux Nation (1980) ruled that the Sioux were entitled to compensation for the loss of the Black Hills.
Impact:
Natives generally gained better farming equipment, however their land was still inadequate.
Evidence:
Evidence:
Evidence:
Commissioner for Indian Affairs John Collier (appointed in 1933) saw that irrigation systems were built on the reservations.
Impact:
Impact:
Impact:
The federal government wanted the good quality land for white settlers. Natives lived in extremely high poverty.
Evidence: Employment opportunities on the
reservations were not provided by the federal government.
The Meriam Report of 1928 reported that Native Americans were the most impoverished people in the US.
Evidence: Little was by the federal government to provide employment on the reservations. The Meriam Report (1928) raised awareness of Native American poverty.
President Kennedy pledged to develop resources for Native Americans on the reservations, but did little about this in practise.
By 1968, Natives still had the highest rates of unemployment in the US (42%) and their median income was almost half that of the US as a whole. However, in the 1970s poverty on reservations decreased by as much as 20% on many reservations.
Evidence: Little was by the federal government to provide employment on the reservations.
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