1. “Pendulum” of Indian policy
Cycles of binary thinking
(“good” or “bad” Indian)
Policy swings between
Autonomy and Assimilation
Policies intended to assimilate
often backfired on gov’t

2. Early Indian Policies Treaties, 1770s-1871 Removal, 1820s-50s
Took land but
recognized nationhood
Removal, 1820s-50s
Moved tribes but
sparked resistance
Reservations, 1830s-80s
Isolated tribes but
retained land base/self-rule

3. Recent Indian Policies
Allotment / boarding
schools, 1880s-1920s
Indian New Deal /
Reorganization, 1930s-40s
Termination/
Urban Relocation, 1950s-60s
Political Self-Determination,
1970s-80s
Economic/Cultural
Self-Determination 1990s?

4. ALLOTMENT ERA, 1880s-1920s General Allotment Act, 1887 (Dawes Act)
Privatized Indian lands
to create farmers
Non-Indians
“checkerboarded”
most reservations

5. Allotment, 1887-1934 Each tribal member received allotment
(in trust 25 years)
Surplus land sold to
white settlers
Many allotted lands
taken through fraud
(via language, kids, etc.)
Gov’ts foreclosed lands
for unpaid taxes

6. Effects of Allotment Half of reservation lands lost
Notion of individual
private property
(“break up tribal mass”)
Farming failed in
some regions.
BIA undermined
tribal governments
Split tribal membership
18 million acres allotted;
49 million acres surplus

7. Vulnerable lands
Rich farmland
Forests (timber)
Lakefront
Minerals/oil

8. Oneida (1838) 2,581 acres
(1978 figures)

9. Lac Courte Oreilles (1854) 30,529 acres

10. Bad River (1854) 41,802 acres

11. Lac du Flambeau (1854) 40,479 acres

12. Red Cliff (1854) 7,267 acres

13. St. Croix (1934) 1,715 acres

14. Federal attacks on sovereignty
1885: Major Crimes Act creates federal jurisdiction over 7 crimes between Indians on Indian land:
(Murder, Manslaughter, Rape, Assault w/ intent to kill, Arson, Burglary, Larceny)
1886: Kagama decision extends federal “plenary power” over Indians to an “incontrovertible right.”
Congress passes ~ 5,000 laws regulating Indians--most without their consent or input.

15. Boarding Schools Removal of kids from family, land
Cultural assimilation/Christianizing
Economic training

17. BIA and Mission School policies
Forced attendance
Native name replaced
Languages forbidden
Hair, clothing changed
Practicing traditions taboo

19. St. Joseph’s
Catholic School,
Menominee Res.

20. Unintended effects Students learned to work the white system
Students met other
tribal members
Turned negative into
“pan-Indian” (supratribal)
national movement

21. Tribal backlash to allotment
1894 Hopi petition
Allotment ended in
Southwest, 1911
Merriam Report
blamed allotment
for poverty, 1928

22. xxxxx Early Protests Opposed allotment Christian churches
against poverty
Lone Wolf decision
kept Indians as federal
“wards”, 1903
Nice decision: wards
even if citizens, 1916

23. Society of American Indians
Favored
“progressive”
(assimilation)
solutions
Not “traditional”
(tribal) solutions
But raised
public awareness

24. Indian Citizenship Act, 1924
Some veterans, allottees already citizens
Rest of Indians became dual citizens of U.S. & own nation
Kept “right of any Indian to tribal or other property”
Some traditionalists opposed U.S. citizenship

25. INDIAN NEW DEAL ERA 1930s-1940s Indian Reorganization Act (IRA), 1934
(Wheeler-Howard Act)
Identified with FDR
& BIA’s John Collier
Intended to end
allotment, start
autonomy

26. Autonomy Effects of IRA
(Altered) self-rule
restored on some rezes
Resisted by some tribes
- Hopi, Pueblos
Tensions between
traditional Chiefs &
IRA “tribal councils”
on some reservations
- Lakota, Iroquois ak

27. Assimilationist Effects of IRA
Replaced traditional
governance with U.S.
model like corporate boards
Companies had picked Tribal
Council to sign mineral leases
(Standard Oil on Navajo)
Tribes to develop constitutions,
hold elections, use foreign
parliamentary procedures
Interior/BIA controlled funds,
could veto tribal decisions

28. Indian Claims Commission, 1946
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 $$

29. Cultural Survival through “Dark Ages”

30. Menominee terminated, 1961-73
TERMINATION ERA, 1950s-60s
Termination Resolution (1953)
to “free” successful tribes from
federal gov’t, communal lands
Ended 109 tribes, subjected
to state/local control
Federal services lost; private
lands lost via tax foreclosure
Major cause stimulating
Indian rights movement;
13 tribes restored
Menominee terminated,

31. Federal moves vs. sovereignty
NW Shoshone decision, 1942
(treaty rights only for “temporary occupancy”)
Public Law 280, 1953
(state law enforcement on rezes in 5 states, include. WI)
Tee-Hit-Ton decision, 1955
(Alaskan tribe has no pre-Conquest “aboriginal rights”)

32. Iroquois protest at U.S.-Canada border for Jay Treaty
Activism in 1950s-early 1960s
Returning WWII, Korean war veterans fight for rights
National Congress of American Indians, 1944
American Indian Chicago Conference, 1961; NIYC 1963
Iroquois protest at U.S.-Canada border for Jay Treaty

33. Relocation Act, 1956 Force Indians off reservation
by offering job training
opportunities in urban areas.
Individuals made to sign
agreements that they would
not return to their reservations.
Urban populations grew in LA,
NY, Chicago, Mpls, Denver,
Albuquerque, OKC, etc.

35. Effects of Urban Relocation, 1960s
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
Chicago
American
Indian
Center
powwow

36. POLITICAL SELF-DETERMINATION ERA, 1970s-1980s

37. American Indian Movement, 1968
Founded at Stillwater Prison;
inspired by Black Panthers
Urban Indians monitored
Minneapolis police brutality
on Franklin Avenue
Made contact with traditional
chiefs on reservations; fused
urban and rural activism

38. Alcatraz 1969 Indians of All Tribes occupies abandoned
San Francisco Bay prison
Cites law that unused
federal property
reverts to tribes
First major national
pan-Indian action

39. Trail of Broken Treaties 1972
Caravan to Washington,
DC for self-determination
Unplanned occupation of
BIA headquarters before
1972 election
Nixon White House
embarrassed by clashes

40. AIM 1972-73 AIM protests beating death of Lakota elder
in Gordon, Nebraska
Police attack on
courthouse protesters in
leads to Custer, SD riot
AIM backs Lakota traditionalists
vs. corrupt Pine Ridge Chairman
Dick Wilson, and his Guardians
Of the Oglala Nation (GOON)

41. AIM 1972-73 AIM protests beating death of Lakota elder
in Gordon, Nebraska
Police attack on
courthouse protesters in
leads to Custer, SD riot
AIM backs Lakota traditionalists
vs. corrupt Pine Ridge Chairman
Dick Wilson, and his Guardians
Of the Oglala Nation (GOON)

42. Wounded Knee 1973
Taking a stand at the site of 1890 massacre on Pine Ridge

43. Wilson’s tribal government
backed by BIA, FBI,
U.S. Marshalls, military

44. AIM and Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization in W.K.

46. Drew Indians from around North America
Traditional
Lakota Chiefs
redeclared an
Independent
Oglala Nation
Drew Indians from around North America
Example of
traditional
self-rule?

47. 2 AIM killed; many injured; surrendered after 71 days

48. Aftermath of Wounded Knee Siege
AIM leaders tried,
but few convicted
( FBI misconduct &
COINTELPRO files)
After W.K.:
3 years of violence
on Pine Ridge;
up to 80 Lakota died
Oglala, June 26, 1975:
2 FBI , 1 AIM die;
Day after land transfer.
Peltier later convicted.

49. 1960s-1970s romanticism Support for Native environmentalism
Rebirth of “Noble Savage” images
Chief Seattle speech rewritten to
emphasize ecological themes
Iron Eyes
Cody ad
vs. pollution

50. Pendulum swings to autonomy
1975: Indian Self-determination and Educational Assistance Act lets tribes manage own housing, law-enforcement, health, social service, development.
1978: Indian Child Welfare Act gives tribes authority over most Indian adoption and child custody

51. Wisconsin occupations, 1970s
Menominee still poor after 1973
restoration; needed hospital
Menominee Warrior Society
occupies Alexian Novitiate
near Gresham
Battles with white vigilantes;
National Guard separates sides
Milwaukee Coast Guard Station
occupied, 1971 (used as school)
Gresham
Milwaukee

52. 1970s Activism International Indian Treaty Council, 1974;
hemispheric networks
United Nations
Indigenous Peoples
Conference,
Geneva, 1977
Longest Walk
(SF to DC) opposes
legislation, 1978

53. Treaty rights backlash, 1980s
Began in Northwest
fishing conflicts, 1960s
Sportsmen &
reservation whites
oppose tribal land use
“Wise Use” resource
& corporate interests
WI, MN groups part
of national movement

54. Self-Determination extends to economy & culture,early 1990s
Indian Gaming
Regulatory Act, 1988
Tribes allowed same
level of games as
their states
Casinos give tribes
new jobs, influence
Public awareness of
Columbus, mascots,
sacred sites, etc.
Seminole casino
Reburial ceremony
Columbus Day

55. Big Foot Memorial Ride Commemorating journey leading up to
1890 Wounded Knee
massacre

56. Oka 1990 Armed standoff between Mohawk Warrior Society &
Canadian Army over burial
site threatened by golf course

57. Early 1990s romanticism “Noble savages” in Dances with Wolves
New Age groups
exploit spirituality
But growing support for
Native environmental
movement

58. 2000s backlash? Gaming revenue conflicts Reservation jurisdiction
“Rich Indians” message
(like Termination, anti-Semitism?)
Reservation jurisdiction
conflicts
More conservative judges
Tribes now have means
to fight back in this cycle?
WI Republican video of
tribes “scalping” taxpayer
Schwarzenegger ads against
tribal campaign donations :
The New “Terminator”?

59. Pendulum of Federal Indian Policy
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