Native Americans and the Struggle for Civil Rights “Red Power”

Background: US government and Native Americans George Washington’s Six Point Plan for civilizing the Indians impartial justice toward Native Americans regulated buying of Native American lands promotion of commerce promotion of experiments to civilize or improve Native American society presidential authority to give presents punishing those who violated Native American rights.

Indian assimilation/civilization 1819 Civilization Fund Act – gave money to organizations (usually religious) to civilize and improve Indian societies. Late 19th Cent – boarding schools for Native American children were created. This usually traumatized children who were removed from their parents, not allowed to speak their native languages, and taught Christianity.

Indian Removal Act 1830 under Andrew Jackson, Indian Removal Act – began the often forced emigration of tens of thousands of American Indians to the West. This act authorized the president to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. A few tribes went peacefully, but many resisted the relocation policy. While these treaties were supposed to be voluntary, much pressure was put on American Indian leaders to sign removal treaties.

Trail of Tears Indian Removal Act led to the Trail of Tears – Cherokees forced to move West – approximately 4,000 died on this march West.

Dawes Act, 1887 The Dawes Act – dissolved many Indian reservations (aka Allotment Act) The land granted to most allottees was not sufficient for economic viability, and division of land between heirs upon the allottees' deaths resulted in land fractionalization. Additionally, land deemed to be "surplus" beyond what was needed for allotment was opened to white settlers, though the profits from the sales of these lands were often invested in programs meant to aid the American Indians.

Dawes Act cont’d Native Americans lost, over the 47 years of the Act's life, about 90 million acres (360,000 km²) of treaty land, or about two-thirds of the 1887 land base. About 90,000 Indians were made landless. The Dawes Act, with its emphasis on individual land ownership, also had a negative impact on the unity, self-government, and culture of Indian tribes

Citizenship under President Coolidge 1924 Indian Citizenship Act - officially gave Native Americans citizenship and the right to vote.

Meriam Report 1928 – this report said that the traditional economic foundations of Indian culture could not be restored; the Allotment Act had weakened the communal and family basis of Indian life; and rural as well as urban Indians faced myriad problems, especially poverty, ill health, and despair.

Indian Reorganization Act 1934, part of the Indian New Deal. Reversed the Dawes act. The act slowed the practice of assigning tribal lands to individual tribal members and reduced the loss of native holdings. Owing to this Act and to other actions of federal courts and the government, over two million acres (8,000 km²) of land were returned to various tribes in the first 20 years after passage of the act.

Termination 1950’s In the 1950s, however, the gov’t felt it would be better if Native Americans were assimilated into mainstream society. The federal gov’t attempted to end its recognition of tribes as sovereign nations and make Native Americans subject to the same laws and entitled to the same privileges and responsibilities as all other citizens. From 1953-1964 109 tribes were terminated, and the responsibility for Native Americans was placed on state governments. Between 1952 and 1956, the bureau also sold 1.6 million acres of Native American land to developers.

Early Indian Activism Native American had fought for right for decades. During the 1940s and 50s, American Indian activism primarily stressed negotiation, compromise, and a preference for legal remedies. These three legal approaches to activism were primarily directed by the oldest national Indian organization - the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), which started in 1944.  

Native Americans in the 60’s Indians suffered the worst poverty, horrible housing conditions, the highest disease and death rates, and had the least access to education of any group in the U.S. (Boyer, et al 892). In 1961 Native Americans from 67 tribes wrote a Declaration of Purposes criticizing the termination policy and in 1964 many lobbied Washington for change. Although Johnson created the National Council on Indian Opportunity in 1965, which gave money to reservations, and he appointed the first Native American as head of the BIA since 1870 many Native Americans still felt that they deserved more recognition and power over their own lives.

Red Power Red Power advocates rejected the activist strategies of their predecessors - negotiation, compromise, and legal remedies - and instead moved into the more militant, radical arena of protest actions modeled after other radical civil rights groups. The actual words “Red Power” were first used in public gatherings by NIYC (National Indian Youth Council) members in the mid-1960s and eventually were used to describe the events that unfolded in the decade between 1968 with the founding of AIM.

Goals of Red Power 1. Self-determination. (For many, land and reparations for broken treaties are included in this.) 2. Federal support for tribal traditions and sovereignty. 3. Improved living conditions and justice for all Indian Peoples.

American Indian Movement began 1968 in Minneapolis, MN. Founders were Dennis Banks, George Mitchell, Herb Powless, Clyde Bellecourt, Eddie Benton-Banai, and many others in the Native American community, almost 200 total. Russell Means was another early leader.

AIM cont’d The movement was founded to renew spirituality of Native Americans which would impart the strength of resolve needed to reverse the ruinous policies of the United States, Canada, and other colonialist governments of Central and South America. AIM has repeatedly brought successful suit against the federal government for the protection of the rights of Native Nations guaranteed in treaties, sovereignty, the United States Constitution, and laws. The philosophy of self-determination upon which the movement is built is deeply rooted in traditional spirituality, culture, language and history.

AIM tactics 1. Taking over federal land and claiming it for Indian cultural and educational uses. 2. Demonstrating at various sites, including at government buildings and in national parks or at national monuments. 3. Protesting at government buildings and on Indian reservations in a manner that assumed more serious, sometimes violent, overtones.

AIM events The seizure of the Mayflower replica on Thanksgiving Day in 1970 during ceremonies commemorating the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrim’s landing at Plymouth Rock, “the anti-birthday party” of the US and occupation of Mount Rushmore in 1971, the Trail of Broken Treaties march and takeover of the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters in Washington, D.C. in 1972, AIM’s occupation of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation in 1973 Occupation of Alcatraz All of these events were undertaken to ensure AIM would be noticed in order to highlight its belief that the rights of Indian people had eroded.

Gov’t Response to AIM Gov’t considered AIM a militant group that needed to be monitored. According to some sources, the FBI and COINTELPRO waged all out war against AIM. The stated goals of COINTELPRO were to expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize those persons or organizations that the FBI decided were enemies of the State. Many leaders were jailed; others were killed during demonstrations/incidents. http://siouxme.com/lodge/ind_deaths_1.html

AIM achievements http://www.humboldt.edu/~go1/kellogg/PDF/5-aimachievements.pdf Indian Self-Determination Act of 1974 – granted tribes control of federal aid programs on reservations and oversight of their own schools. Reversal of the federal termination policy. Many tribes won land in the settlement of longstanding treaty claims. (Exs. Alaskan natives won 40 million acres. The Sioux won $107 million for lands taken in violation of treaties.) Renewal of and recommitment to tribal traditions which specifically resulted in the 1) repatriation of many Indian ancestral remains; 2) flourishing of American Indian art and cultural organizations; 3) growth of tribal language programs and tribally-controlled education; 4) reconnection and reaffiliation of many Indian peoples with their traditional communities and identities; and the 5) protection of fishing rights, tribal resources, and tribal lands.