Communities, Tribes, Nations Politics in an Era of Transition: 1920s-1930s

Indigenous Politics: 1920s & 1930s The (inter)national landscape Legal contradictions National organizations Citizenship and status Legal Precedents The Pueblos ICA, Merriam Report The Indian Reorganization Act The Indian New Deal Tohono O’odham & the Hualapai

The (Inter)national Landscape End of the Early Reservation Era Dawes Allotment Act Boarding Schools Health Problems Wage labor Post-“Indian War” generations New political entities Law & Status Mexican Revolution Land Reform & Ejidos “Indigenismo” Legacies of wars against the Yaqui, Diaspora 1924 Johnson-Reid Act Border Patrol

Contending Legal Interpretations Lonewolf v. Hitchcock, 1903 Winters v. US, 1908 1867 Treaty of Medicine Lodge Protected Land in OK ¾ vote Jerome Agreement to allot reservation Lonewolf sued Supreme Court: “Plenary Power” Ft. Belknap, WY (Gros Ventre & Assiniboine) Off- res farmers diverted water & hurt res farming. Supreme Court ruled tribes had right to sufficient water for farming & that those rights were senior to up-river users. Inherent rights to water “Winters Doctrine”

Organizational Developments The Society of American Indians (1911) Education Self-determination Citizenship Racial uplift World War One Bureau of Indian Affairs

The SAI Robert Yellowtail Dr. Carlos Montezuma Zitkala Sa Arthur C. Parker  Henry Roe Cloud Pressure congress, write letters, organize communities, demand rights & treaties

Carlos Montezuma b.1860s Yavapai Kidnapped, sold Univ. Chicago Physician Activist Abolish the BIA

Zitkala Sa (Gertrude Bonin) Yankton Sioux Whites’ Manual Inst. Boston Conservatory (violin) American Indian Stories Playwright, teacher Anti-Christian Died, 1938

Native American Church Southwest, Mexico Multi-tribal Syncretism Peyote & “Road men” Incorporated & investigated Alcohol, work, good morals, community trust, balance

Mission Indian Federation Regional pan-Indian political organization Labor, voting rights Indian rights and land claims, treaties Adam Castillo Influence into Arizona, Hualapai, Fred Mahone

The Mission Indian Federation Photo taken around 1924

Citizenship & Status Nation-nation “National separatism” End of Treaty-making, 1871 14th Amendment Citizenship Naturalization Standing Bear v. Crook,1879 Indians as “legal persons” Ex Parte Crow Dog, 1883 USSC ruled “Indian-Indian” murder was tribal matter Congress had not explicitly abrogated Elk v. Wilkins, 1884 Indians were not citizens Major Crimes Act, 1885 14 Crimes under federal jurisdiction US v. Kagama, 1886 Upheld MCA Trust Relationship Ward-Guardian

Citizenship & Status, continued… Rulings up to Kagama reduced sovereignty Allotment attacked land base On reservation, lacked voting and civil rights Lacked protections of 14th Amendment AZ & CA prohibited Indians from voting: non-citizens Yaquis were categorized as non-white, thus ineligible for naturalization per 1790 Naturalization Act 1902 Lonewolf decision and plenary power “Ward and Guardian” metaphor Trapped in a legal limbo

Allotment and Status 1887 Dawes Act 1891 Amendment 1902 Hiership Act Allotment for individualized farming, would prepare for civilization 25 year “training” period Fee simple, taxable, citizenship Tribal Roll & Blood Quantum 1891 Amendment 160-80 acres. Agent could lease Indian lands 1902 Hiership Act Agent could sell inherited land 1906 Burke Act Fee simple title to allotments for “competent” Indians. Could sell or lease lands. Shorten or lengthen trust period. Leasing left Indians land-less and without citizenship

Allotment 1887-1934 Native people lost approx. 90 million acres of land because of the Dawes Allotment Act Rise of the “checkerboard” on reservations, led to “fractionization” of good land for farming and ranching Burke Act was a disaster

Pueblo Indians: Race, Status, Identity All Indian Pueblo Council “Traditional” and Modern coalition Governor, vice, etc Discussion and debate Majority rule, but tempered by the desire for consensus Deal with outsiders and issues impacting all Pueblos, especially state of New Mexico

Pueblo Indians: Race, Status, Identity Were Pueblos non-citizen Indians or “Mexican” citizens who were racially Indian, that were now U.S. citizens? Were they Mexican citizens & Indians, and “American Indians,” and thus non-citizens? Would the U.S. make treaties with them (like other tribes) or treat them like Mexican…Americans? In comparing them to Apaches, Comanches, etc, Americans used racist definitions of “Indian” to determine the legal and racial status of the Pueblos Indian = savage=treaties Pueblos=semi-civilized=citizen=no treaties What was the status of their land grants?

Pueblo Indians: Race, Status, Identity NM Organic Act, 1850 First Territorial Government of NM Compromise of 1850, paid Texas $10 million Initially considered citizens with voting rights 1853 Congress rescinded voting rights, NM legislature gave them voting rights at local level But had to prove their mexican-ness NM Courts opposed creation of reservations Status of Pueblo lands delayed surveys of territorial land possessions 1860s: NM Surveyor General, US Congress confirmed 17 Land Grants, weakening the claim to status as “Indian” and the argument that land was held in trust by feds as a reservation

Legal Contradictions U.S. v. Lucero, 1869 U.S. vs. Joseph, 1876 Cochiti (i.e. all Pueblos) were Hispanicized, thus part of conquered Mexican population, thus citizens NM Territory had jurisdiction, pueblos were not Indian Territory Thousands of non-Indians began claiming Pueblo lands U.S. vs. Joseph, 1876 Overturned Lucero Court ruled that Pueblo Indians as non-citizens lacked property rights requiring protection U.S. vs., Sandoval, 1913 Pueblos were savages, non-citizen Indians, non-Mexican Feds had jurisdiction, land was protected 3,000 claims to Pueblo lands, led to discussion about the Bursum Bill, Pueblo Lands Board

Pueblo Indian Lands Board Bursom Bill, 1922: prove property title, nullify land and water rights All Indian Pueblo Council, Mabel Dodge Luhan, and John Collier

Indian Citizenship Act, 1924 National Context World War I, Red Scare, Culture Wars, Johnson-Reid Act (National Origins Act), Border Patrol Indian Affairs and Status Confusion from Allotment, competency commissions, military service, “detribalized” Indians, residency, taxation, property Society of American Indians US v. Nice, 1916 opened the door for citizenship 1919 Congress allowed Indian veterans to become citizens Significance Unilateral and universal status as citizens. Legal means to achieve the cultural goal of “citizen” = assimilated Material realities of wage labor, land loss, allotment of reservations Ideological concerns about multi-cultural national identity

Limits of Citizenship Literacy tests, poll taxes, grandfather clauses 1928 Arizona Supreme Court argued that the ICA did not apply to Indians on reservations because they were “wards” under tutelage by their “guardians,” the federal government. The Arizona Constitution prohibited wards from voting 1948 Harrison v. Laveen Frank Harrison was a Yavapai Apache (and vet) who tried to register to vote in Maricopa County. County recorder rejected him Sued and case went up to AZ Supreme Court, which gave a broad ruling that all Indians had the right to vote because of the 1924 ICA

Citizens, but on the Margins… Problems and “Failures” Merriam Report, 1928 High rates of illnesses such as TB, trachoma, influenza Land loss, poverty, wage labor, fraud & corruption in the BIA Abuse in schools Fall & Bursom, Pueblo Lands, Osage Oil, land leases “Failures” of allotment and general assimilation Brookings Institute Lewis Merriam, Henry Roe-Cloud, others Survey of reservations and conditions Reform needed in education and land policy Reservations and entire policy failed to assimilate

The Indian New Deal Pres. Roosevelt CIA, John Collier Sweeping legislation Economics Politics Education Culture/Language Religion Land Reform

Education Policies Boarding Schools Reservation Day Schools Johnson O’Malley Act Public School funding Indian history and culture Indian employees

Isleta Day School, 1941 Closed numerous boarding schools and replaced them with local day schools closer to reservations

Indian Reorganization Act, 1934 Government/Politics Boilerplates Constitutions Executive Br. Tribal Council Ended Allotment Economics Business Council Loans Administer funds Ec. Dev. Plans

The IRA in Indian Country Top-down IRA regional meetings IRA votes on Rez. “yes” & “no” votes Politicized culture Language YES=Gov’t recognition NO=exclusion

Tohono O’Odham General Dynamics Politics of the IRA Government based in villages Regional economic, cultural, language, political differences Ranching, farming, wages, urban influence I-CCC, labor, range, canals, “improvements” Pan-village organizations Good Government League, 1911 Ranching, eastern Presbyterian AKA: Papago Council League of Papago Chiefs, 1928 Western, farming, wage labor, land reform, mining

Debate over the IRA Structure of new government 1936 Constitution? Peter Blaine Petition to Congress Pro-mining Land Reform Work Relief 1934 referendum on reorganizing tribal government Regionally skewed Low turn-out Structure of new government 1936 Constitution? Authority, power, legitimacy of tribal government Jose’ Anton District structure Councils for 11 districts on 3 reservations District Representatives to large tribal council

Tohono O’Odham “Federation” Government Structure Tribal Council 11 District Councils Five Members per District Council Head Men from villages typically elected to District Councils

Significance of IRA Altered many political traditions of decentralization with a centralized political body representing multiple bands, clans and villages Voting Process was individualized and majority vote strained traditions of consensus and conflict resolution Secularism undercut religious leadership Linked to recognition Powerful Executive, Economic Development Increased homogenization within communities, differentiated widely dispersed groups, separated Mexicans-Indians- Anglos, racialization Entrenched blood quantum as marker for tribal identity