Native Americans Civil Rights

By Toreed

  • Homestead Act

    160 acre plots of land were available to farmers for free on the basis that they would farm there for 5 years.
    By 1865, 20,000 homesteaders had settled on the Plains
  • Period: to

    Plains wars

    Series of clashes rather than wars between the N.A tribes and units of the US army:
    Little Crows War (Sioux) 1862
    Cheyenne Uprising 1863
    Red Cloud's War (Sioux) 1867
    Winter Campaign (against the Cheyenne) 1868

  • Sand Creek Massacre

    A troop of cavalry attacked an undefended Cheyenne camp killing and mutilating elderly men, women and children

  • End of US Civil War

  • Medicine Lodge Treaty

    Land Treaty with Kiowa, Comanche, Plains Apache

  • Fort Laramie Treaty

    Land Treaty with Lakota, Sioux and Arapaho

  • Government refuses to make separate treaties with individual tribes

  • Indian Appropriation Act

    No longer was any group of Indians in the United States recognised as an independent nation by the federal government

  • Battle of Little Bighorn

    General George Custer and his regiment of 200 men were sent to round up Sioux and Cheyenne Native Americans who had left the reservation. Without waiting for backup, his regiment circled the encampment and quickly came under attack. All were killed

  • Establishment of the Indian Rights Association

    A philanthropic organisation whose members where mainly White Christians. They were sympathetic to the plight of the Native Americans but still believed the best thing for them was assimilation. They're main purpose was to reform the way assimilation was being carried out.

  • General Allotment (Dawes) Act

    Terms:
    Each head of family to receive 160 acres of farmland or 320 acres of grazing land for 25 years in trust and then after 25 years would have full ownership of the land
    All N.A farming allotted land to have full rights of citizenship
    Unallotted land to be offered to white Americans for settlement.

  • Massacre at wounded knee

    The Sioux tribe wanted to perform their tribal 'Ghost Dance' to try to regain their lost way of life, however, this scared the white settlers who thought they were staging an uprising and so they shot chief sitting bull who they thought were responsible. His followers fled to Wounded Knee Creek where they were surrounded by the army who opened fire killing all 200 unarmed men women and children

  • Curtis Act

    Amendment to Dawes Act. It authorised application of allotment policy to the five civilised tribes of Oklahoma. It ended the independence of these tribes by removing their right to be subject to their own tribal laws and government

  • Cherokee Nation v. Hitchcock

    Cherokee challenged the right of Congress to deny them their rights to live according to their own laws and traditions

  • Lonewolf v. Hitchcock

    Supported power of US gov to revoke all treaties made with N.A. It called them
    an ignorant and dependent race
    and
    wards of the nation

  • Establishment of Society of American Indians

    Group of 50 educated N.A men and women formed the first attempt at an intertribal pressure group with the purpose of campaigning for improvement in education and healthcare.
    Impact limited due to lack of funding, lack of mass support from N.A and internal disagreements.
    Collapsed in 1920 achieving very little
  • Period: to

    WWI

  • Bursum bill

    authorised the acquisition of Pueblo lands. blocked by AIDA

  • Establishment of American Indian Defense Association

    A group of writers and anthropologists formed AIDA. Its aim was to campaign for laws protecting the rights of Indians to their lands, their beliefs, culture, tradition and their arts and crafts. Executive secretary was John Collier.
    Successful in blocking the Bursum and Leavitt bills

  • Indian Citizenship Act

    An act to give the Native Americans American citizenship. One of the points of the act was to give the N.A the right to vote.
    Not a very useful act since 2/3 of N.A already had the right to vote due to inter-marriage but also due to the Dawes Act. Also, many states used state rights to put restriction on N.A ability to vote such as literacy tests

  • Leavitt Bill (Dance Order)

    Threatened to remove the rights of the Pueblo Indians to perform their traditional dances. (blocked by AIDA)

  • Meriam Report

    Condemned allotment (but not policy of assimilation) for depriving N.A's of land &failing to give them extra support to achieve economic security
    * Described dreadful conditions of reservations- didn't have basic needs, education & health care.
    * Claimed N.A poorest in America
    * Concluded that gov's priority should be
    social and economic advancement of the Indians so that they may be absorbed into the prevailing civilisation at least in accordance with a minimum standard of health and decency
  • Period: to

    FDR

  • Indian Reorganization (Wheeler-Howard) Act

    Part of 'New Deal'
    * N.A became involved in Bureau of Indian Affairs
    * Gave political rights to N.A women & chance to train for domestic work
    * Created interest in N.A arts & crafts + encouraged women make them for money
    * N.A women encouraged to go to higher education (E.g. Gladys Tantaquideon studied anthropology at Uni of Pennsylvania. Worked for Indian Bureau)
    * Tapped into resources available through other New Deal agencies to build hospitals, schools and irrigation systems on reservations
  • Period: to

    WW2

    • ~100,000 N.A left reservations. 25,000 of these served w/ distinction in the armed forces. 75,000 moved to urban areas to work in defence industries
    • Hardship for those that remained on reservations as most resources poured into war & Japanese Americans 'relocated' to reservation lands at the end of the war
    • N.A soldiers basically forced to return to reservations due to discrimination. Some munition workers stayed at first but were also forced back to reservations

  • Establishment of National Congress of American Indians (NCAI)

    Set up in response to move to end reservations and absorb N.A into American society
    A group of 80 mainly educated N.A men and women representing 50 tribes. Worked through the courts to challenge discrimination in employment, unequal education provisions and breaking of treaties
  • Period: to

    Indian Claims Commission

  • Harrison v Laveen

    The court agreed that the two N.A in this case had their rights violated when they were not allowed to register their vote

  • Bureau of Indian Affairs set up job placement centres in Major cities

  • Policy of Termination introduced

    A policy that would speed up assimilation.
    - Under it N.A no longer 'wards of the state'.
    - Plans set in place to end federal control of Bureau of Indian Affairs and make N.A's subject to the same laws and give them the same rights as all other American citizens.
    - Ended the recognition of existence of N.A tribes and the treaty rights they still retained and recognised N.A as independent, self supporting Americans

  • Indian Vocational Training Act

    established vocational training for N.A to learn 'marketable skills'

  • Establishment of National Indian Youth Council (NIYC)

    Founded to pursue civil rights for N.A's.
    Used Legal action to protect treaty rights, ensure voting rights for N.A and to gain recognition of their right to religious freedom

  • NIYC stage 'fish-in'

    N.A in Washington state asserted their old treaty rights to fish in Columbia River and Puget Court by staging 'fish-in' (modelled after African American sit in) after the supreme court failed to uphold their treaty rights to fish
  • Period: to

    Johnson

  • 'Forgotten Americans' Speech

    • Set out programme to promote N.A self-help and respect
    • Proposed a National Council on Indian Opportunity to administer an ambitious programme of education for children of all ages from pre-school to high school and beyond funded by federal gov.
    • The programme would also provide better quality homes with proper sanitation and include legal aid to provide N.A with knowledge and understanding of their rights

  • ' As Long as the Grass shall grow' recorded by Peter la Farge

    protest song

  • American Indian Movement (AIM) established

    A N.A militant organisation promoting improvement for N.A's. Took up the issue of racial discrimination against N.A youth. In response, young N.A's patrolled streets wearing red berets and jackets monitoring police activities

  • 'Custer died for your sins' by Vine Deloria Jnr published

    book

  • Nixon appoints a Mohawk Sioux Louis R. Bruce Jnr as Commissioner of Indian Affairs

  • Period: to

    Nixon

  • Siege of Alcatraz starts

    14 N.A men and women from all tribes occupied the deserted former prison island of Alcatraz. They were led by a member of the Mohawk tribe Richard Oakes. It had originally belonged to the Native Americans and they now wanted it back.
    In negotiation with officer the N.A's offered the government $24 in beads and cloth (the same price that had been paid to the Native Americans).
    When this was refused, the siege continued with 80 N.A's now on the island

  • 'Bury my heart at Wounded Knee' by Dee Brown published

  • Native American Rights Fund (NARF) founded

    • Founded to preserve N.A rights and tribal way of life especially right to fish&hunt. Early 1970s, wanted to ensure terminated tribes reinstated, restore tribal sovereignty and recover lost tribal lands.
    • Fought for right to vote in states where voting restricted
    • Responsible for training young N.A as attorney's w/ specialism in N.A legal matters
    • Worked through Supreme Court
      • Oneida v Oneida
      • Fisher v Montana
      • US v Sioux Nation
      • Semolina v Butterworth
      • Charrier v Bell

  • Native American occupation of Mt Rushmore

    an attempt to reassert the disputed ownership of these sacred burial grounds of the Lakota Sioux Native Americans

  • Native peoples of Alaska regained 40 million acres of land; $1 billion in compensation

  • End of siege of Alcatraz

    It ended after having received huge media coverage

  • Indian Education Act

    • Substantial increase in federal funding for N.A schools including programmes to build reservation schools
    • Closure of highly controversial boarding schools

  • Land returned to Yakama Indians of Washington State

  • Native Americans given preference in employment opportunities in the Bureau of Indian Affairs

  • Native American 'Trail of Broken Treaties'

    The 'caravan was a fleet of cars, buses and vans carrying around 1000 protesters representing several original tribes. Purpose was to raise awareness of the plight of the Native Americans as a result of their unjust treatment since the 19th century. Its leaders had drawn up a paper identifying 20 points that needed to be addressed. Although it was intended to be a peaceful protest, the marchers found themselves w/o accommodation in the city and so they occupied the offices of the BoIA

  • Native American violence around Pine Ridge

    During a shooting incident, 2 FBI agents and one of the protesters were shot and killed. A member of AIM was tried and found guilty of their murder. A US Court of Appeals Judge later blamed the Federal Authorities for the fatalities, on the basis that their over reaction to the situation caused the protesters to panic

  • Native American occupation of Wounded Knee

    The site of the 1890 massacre. Protest arose following allegations of the suspected financial dealings of president of Reservation and his bad treatment of its N.A inhabitants. Wounded Knee violent occupation lasted 71 days and involved resistance to federal marshals, FBI agents and military personnel. Had lots of media coverage across US and around the world. Ended with negotiated settlement. 2 leaders of the protest were arrested and charged with offences committed there but were acquitted.

  • Native American occupation of Bureau of Indian Affairs

    6 day occupation of BoIA building in Washington DC by 500 Native American protesters

  • Louis R Bruce Jnr dismissed as commissioner of Indian Affairs

    After the 6 day occupation of Bureau of Indian Affairs building in Washington DC

  • Oneida v Oneida and Madison Counties

    Case brought before the Supreme Court to establish the rights of the Oneida tribe to sue for the return of their lands through the Supreme Court. When the court ruled in their favour it opened the floodgate for land claims from other tribes especially in the east

  • Indian Education Assistance Act

    Gave N.A parents greater involvement un their children's education through membership of their school boards

  • Indian Self Determination Act

    • Laid down process where N.A's could negotiate contracts with BoIA to take responsibility for their own education, health and social service provisions
    • Authorised the allocation of federal funding for these programmes which moved tribes closer to self sufficiency

  • American Indian Policy Review Commission set up

    set up to review the historical and legal relationship between the federal government and the N.A's, with a view on advising future government policy.
    5/11 commissioners had N.A heritage

  • Fisher V Montana

    Secured the right of tribal courts to decide on all cases relating to the adoption of N.A children. Given the earlier policy of the forced removal of children from their families in the context of 'Americanisation', this was an emotive issue in itself, besides being another step to establishing recognition of tribal courts. The beginning of a number of actions to secure the stability of N.A families and giving them the right to decide on all matters relating to adoption and foster care.

  • Native American Religious Freedom Act

    Gave Native Americans right
    To believe, express and exercise traditional religions by including access to sites, use and possession of sacred objects, and the freedom to worship through ceremonials and traditional rites.

  • Indian Child Welfare Act

    an attempt to determine the rights of N.A parents in relation to continuing practice of forcibly removing N.A children from their families due to social workers lack of understanding of cultural traditions of N.A child rearing which was often interpreted as neglect

  • United States v. the Sioux Nation

    The US Supreme Court ruled that the Sioux Indians were entitled to compensation totalling $17.5 million and an additional 5 per cent interest per year since 1877 ($106 million) for the loss of the Black Hills in contravention of the Fort Laramie Treaty. The Sioux refused to accept this money preferring instead the return of their land.

  • Sioux Indians received $107 million for land taken from them in South Dakota

  • Period: to

    Reagan

  • Seminole Tribe v. Butterworth

    The Supreme Court ruled that the tribe had the right to establish gambling enterprises on their reservation lands even if gambling enterprises were banned by state laws.

  • Charrier v Bell

    NARF lawyers secured the agreement of the court that remains dug from the ground in Louisiana belonged to the Native-American community.

  • A small tribe in Washington State given $162 million to resolve a long standing land dispute.

  • Native American Graves Protection Act

    required all federally funded institutions to repatriate Native American remains, grave goods and sacred objects