NATIVE AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS

-Suffered greatest drop in population

-Eradication of many languages and cultural customs-Were the last group of people to earn the right to vote as citizens in the US 1925

2000 CENSUS1.5% of U.S. population

American Indian or Alaska Native alone 2.5 million (26% higher than 1990) (0.9%)

In combination with other “races” 1.6 million (0.6%)

Total = 4.1 million (1.5%)(110% higher than 1990)

Native in combination

40%

Native alone60%

Native Population Distribution

Midwest17%

-Northeast9%

South31%

West43%

100 million acres =4% of U.S.,BUT…..

Modern Indian Lands = 4% of U.S.?322 entities in Lower 48 = 56 million acres

BUT much of rez land is allotted ( non-Indian ownership)

Era Policy trend Global trend

1880s-1920s: Assimilation Imperialism/racism

1930s-1940s: Autonomy Economic reform

1950s-early 60s: Assimilation Cold War/individualism

1970s-early 90s: Autonomy Civil rights/liberation

Late 1990s-2000s: Assimilation? Anti-multiculturalism

Pendulum of Federal Indian Policy

Settled (extinguished) tribal land claims until 1978

Tribe paid estmated “price per acre” of the land at time it was illegally taken ($1200 each to Potawatomi)

ICC did not return land; some tribes turned down $$

Indian Claims Commission, 1946

-Freed successful tribes fromfederal gov’t interventions-Ended 109 tribes( were not officially acknowledged tribes)-Groups subjected to state/local control-Lost backing as a tribe from the Federal Government

-Federal services lost; privatelands lost via tax foreclosure

-Major cause stimulating Indian rights movement;13 tribes restored

TERMINATIONERA, 1950s-60s

Menominee terminated, 1961-73

Returning WWII, Korean war veterans fight for rights

National Congress of American Indians, 1944

American Indian Chicago Conference, 1961; NIYC 1963

Activism in 1950s-early 1960s

Iroquois protest at U.S.-Canada border for Jay Treaty

Force Indians off reservation by offering job training opportunities in urban areas.

Individuals made to signagreements that they wouldnot return to their reservations.

Urban populations grew in LA,NY, Chicago, Mpls, Denver,Albuquerque, OKC, etc.

Relocation Act, 1956

Loss of Native culture & languages, yet kept touch with rural reservation

Increased contact among different tribes; growth of pan-Indian identity

Common experience of urban poverty & struggle

Exposure to civil rights activism, successes

Effects of Urban

Relocation, 1960s

Chicago American

Indian Center

powwow

American Indian Movement, 1968 Founded at Stillwater Prison;

inspired by Black Panthers

Urban Indians monitored Minneapolis police brutalityon Franklin Avenue

Made contact with traditionalchiefs on reservations; fusedurban and rural activism

Alcatraz 1969

Indians of All Tribesoccupies abandonedSan Francisco Bay

prison

Cites law that unused

federal propertyreverts to tribes

First major nationalpan-Indian action

Trail of Broken Treaties 1972

-Caravan to Washington, DC for self-determination

-Occupation ofBIA headquarters

before1972 election

Nixon White Houseembarrassed by

clashes

LONGEST WALK 1978

5 Month March SF-DC› Protest Violation of Treaties and removal

of Native American from homelands› Last major protest act› Movement for rights headed to the court

rooms

Courts vehicle of change Most of the Demands of the Movement were

not met› Much of their homeland were made in national

Parks ,of turned into cities, or under private ownership

Through the courts Some territories were guaranteed or even returned to Native Groups

Native American Rights Fund- Organization which organized many of these legal battles

There are still major issues and problems of reservations and fights to protect native territories.