1. The Native Americans Population & Statistics

2. Diversity Culture Language Kinship system Political - economic
In 1500 Native American population stood at 10,000,000 and by 1900 declined to less than 250,000

3. Eurocentric and Native American Views of Expansionism

4. Formerly Terminated Native American Tribes Now Restored

6. Native American Lands and Communities

7. Ten Largest American Indian
Tribal Groupings, 2000

8. Reservation Life & Federal Policies
Approximately 25% of the Native American population live on reservations with approximately 75% living in Urban areas
There are slightly over 557 recognized reservations in the United States

9. Native American Legal Claims
From 1836 to 1946 Native Americans could not bring a claim against the government without an Act of Congress
Only 142 claims were heard during this period
In 1946 Congress established the Indian Claims Commission to hear claims against the government

10. Native American Legal Claims
Led to an increase in claims
Commission was extended until now cases are heard by U.S. Court of Claims
Amount of awards and setoffs
The case of the Black Hills
Desire to recover land over financial settlement

11. Employment Assistance Program
Program led to the relocation from reservations to urban areas
Provided educational and business assistance
Impact on the economic development of the reservation and the brain drain
Return to the reservation

12. Sovereignty
While collaborative action gathering cannot be minimized, there continues to be a strong effort to maintain tribal sovereignty or tribal self-rule

15. Native Americans - Still Exploited
Today, many people in the U.S. are oblivious to Native Americans’ problems and consider them quaint relics of the past; others find them undesirable and some want their land and will use almost any means to secure it.
Native Americans still encounter discrimination in stores, bars, and housing, particularly in cities and near the reservations. They have been beaten or killed and their property rights infringed on.
Of all the minorities in the United States, according to government statistics on income, Native Americans are the “poorest of the poor.”

16. Present-Day Native American Life
By 2002 the Native American and Alaska native population was 2.8 million.
The Native American birth rate is almost twice the national average.
Half the population of Native Americans live on reservations that provide inadequate economic support.
Chronic unemployment is a serious problem.
Some tribes have succeeded through their own efforts.

17. Present-Day Native American Life
The average life span in some tribes is 45 years.
Nationally, the average life span is about 10 years less than the average.
Deaths by suicide among Native American males aged 15 to 24 is 50% greater than among the general population’s youth.
The most serious problem facing Native Americans today is alcohol abuse.

18. Still Exploited (continued)
Encroachment on Native American land continues. Water and energy needs have led government and industry to look covetously at reservation land once considered worthless.
Poor, but with large tracts of isolated land, Native Americans in recent years have seen their reservations recommended as toxic-waste dumping grounds.
Urban sprawl and agribusiness have prompted whites to sink deep wells around reservations in Arizona, siphoning off the water reserves of several tribes.
A growing number of sacred Native American sites are under threat from housing developments and industrial plants.

19. Present-Day Native American Life
The Educational Amendments Act of 1978 gave substantial control over school programs to the Native American communities.
Bilingual Native American language programs in 17 states help preserve ancestral language and teach English to children who were raised in homes where only their tribal language was spoken.
One of the most visible signs of Native Americans’ economic deprivation is reservation house.

20. Urban Native Americans
About 70 percent of all Native Americans live in urban areas or away from the reservations.
Twice as many urban Native Americans live in poverty compared to all other racial and ethnic groups combined.
Although urban Native Americans are more likely to be employed than those who remain on the reservation, they do not achieve any improved income earnings, on average, until after five years of residence in the city.

21. Social Indicators About Native American Progress
(in percentages)

22. Socioeconomic Characteristics of Native Americans, 2000

23. The Courts
In the late 20th century legal efforts to force the government to honor tribes’ treaty rights were more numerous and successful.
Legal action occurred in
South Dakota Maine
Washington Wyoming
Colorado New Mexico
New York

24. Intergroup Relations Continuum