This week we will explore the "post-frontier" years in Indian Country. As we'll see, this period was both one of great tragedy but also one of filled with the seeds of hope and change within Native America.
Points of Entry:
The Dawes Act
Indian Boarding Schools
American Indians and the Great War
Indian Citizenship
Questions for Discussion:
List and analyze 2 quotes from the reading.
What are some of the arguments?
How are they related to the larger themes of the week discussed in class?
The Dawes Act dramatically reduced Native land holdings over the course of 30 years. Would Native America be different if the Act wasn't passed?
Similarly, if Indian boarding schools didn't exist, how would Native America look today?
[1] “Now, what is your duty? Carry on the fight- not as you experienced in the front, but for the freedom and citizenship of your race. What did you fight for freedom…. Your sacrifice for your country would be a mockery were you to stop this side of freedom of your people. They have equal rights, they have no democracy, they have no humanity and they have no justice. “ pg. 360
ReplyDeleteEssential this passage is encouraging his fellow native Americans who have fought in World War I to continue to fight, but to fight for their equal right and citizenship, since they too have fought side by side ‘pale faces’ who have citizenship and rights in this country. This passage relates to the ongoing battle Native Americans endured while trying to gain citizenship. This was dated in 1919 which makes it unfortunate on account on them having to wait another 7 years to be “citizens” despite that it actually took a lot longer to set in.
[2] “Undeniably, remaining reservation lands were frequently far too poor to farm. For example in Wisconsin during the 1920’s the Lac du Flambeau Reservation was so covered by stumps and brush that the cost per acre of removing the old growth and timber company debris would have exceeded that value of the land. “pg. 361
I believe that this quote relates to the Nadir theme discussed in class on Tuesday, this reservation was pretty much the lowest of the low. The natives were removed from their lands and moved onto land where for the most part has to sustain themselves on land that could not support crops. The entire thing is pretty much contradicting.
Questions:
Had the Dawes act not passed I feel that many native Americans would have been able to continue living in their homeland longer but I feel that sooner or later it was have been passed or another act would have forced them to do something similar.
I feel that the culture would have been more prominent, i feel that many Native Americans would have been more in touch with their cultures and would have been able to pass it down to their children. Along with these boarding schools came the slow demise of their culture.
"Now what is your duty? carry on the fight-not as you experinced in the front, but for freedom and citizenship of your race."(p.360)
ReplyDeleteThe argument we see in this quote is the argument that has been going on since the beginning. During WWI many indians served for their country fighting for freedom and oppresion while they themselves were not free and oppresed.
"Given her precarious economic situation, this parent felt boarding school was best for her boys..."(p368)
This quote shows how in times of economic crisis Indians could turn to boarding schools for help as a solution to economic hardships. Some Indians hoped these schools would provide them with the skills to earn a living wage.
"Where the improvements of two or more Indians have been made on the same legal subdivision of land, unless they shall otherwise agree, a provisional line may be run dividing said lands between them, and the amount to which each is entitled shall be equalized in the assignment of the remainder of the land to which they are entitled under this act" (Hurtado 350). This quotation is from the Dawes Act and it embodies the assimilation period. The Dawes Act forced the ideas of private property onto Indians in an attempt to disband communal living. This shows the ignorance toward Indian peoples that Americans had.
ReplyDelete"Ironically, policies and practices of the assimilation years dismantled the economies of self-sufficient people who had for generations successfully educated their children in the cultural knowledge, values, and economic tradition best suited to the integrity of the woodland environment" (Hurtado 362). It is rather backwards for Americans to dismantle self-determination when that is a core tenant of democracy. The Dawes Act caused native peoples to be even more dependent on the U.S. government. It is interesting to see that American history never thought of this as a dilemma, nor a problem.
“As long as the grass and water runs…shall remain yours. No state or territorial line shall ever surround you.” (Hurtado 354) This is a quote Andrew Jackson made to the Cherokees when they were removed from their homeland to Oklahoma. This is the same quote the Cherokees referenced when defending their people from the Dawes Act. It shows the indifference of the American government when dealing with Indian affairs in not honoring previous arrangements. If the Dawes Act was never passed Indian country would probably look different in that reservations would be much larger than their present size.
ReplyDelete“The presence of so much disease on reservations widowed women and men before their time, and, ironically man Indians began to use the boarding school as a refuge for their children during a family crisis.” (Hurtado 365) This quote shows that even though many Indian families resented the boarding school system being forced upon them, reservation life could become so terrible that these schools became a good alternative for Indian children. It was better to go away to school and learn to be white, rather than stay on the reservation and die from disease or starvation. If the boarding schools did not exist, the situation could have been much worse for Indians. There would have been no place to send their children when reservation life became unlivable.
"In his humble western home, sequestered from the mad rush one sees in the east, you will find the Cherokee a sober, industrious, religious gentleman, earning his daily bread by honest labor upon the soil, of which he is equal owner with every one else in the nation, irrespective of superior advantage such as wealth, opportunity, or education gives."(Hurtado & Iverson 352)
ReplyDeleteThe following quote is a reflection of native attempts to justify the re-allotment of their land back into their own hands. With eloquent words and justifications for this request, the Cherokee wished to portray an image of a working class people who did not seek pity or assistance, just simply the return of their ancestral lands.
"The idea was conceived decades before that boarding school education, which removed young children from the tribal environment, would "civilize" and prepare Indians for citizenship while providing them with a practical, vocational education."(Hurtado & Iverson 363)
Boarding schools were a clear and contrived plan by the United States government as another way to disband native communal sentiments across the country. By taking tribes young children and educating them away from their families and neglecting old traditions, there was a hope of creating a generation that would ignore these old traditions and move towards assimilating into American culture.
“ The president of the United States be, and he is hereby is authorized, whenever in his opinion any reservation or any part thereof such Indians is advantageous for agricultural and grazing purposes, to cause said reservation, or any part thereof, to be surveyed, or resurveyed if necessary, and to allot then lands in said reservation in sevaralty to any inidan (Hurtado 350)”. This shows that natives dod really complete sovereignty within their lands since the government still had control of it. What is important about this quote is that it is saying the the U.S government knows what is best for Indians with their lands. By showing this the U.S government is immaturing the poltical nature of native nations and making it seem as if they do not know what to do with their own land.
ReplyDelete“Indian women were sometimes faced with the predicament of having relinquish custody of their children to government boarding schools (Hurtado 365)”. I found this quote very interesting because it shows that some uncontrol internal factors did in fact drove some Native Americans into enrolling their children into boarding schools. After being given the negative connotation of boarding schools , this demonstrates that there were indeed positive aspects of this boarding systems as if it were a relief and uplift system for Native Americans.
"...You have been loyal to your country. Your country is indebted to you..." (PG. 360)
ReplyDeleteThey are saying that they have been loyal in the sense that they have gone out to war to fight for the United States as if they were a citizen. What they as in return now is to be accepted and finally accept them and give them citizenship.
"...were taught by their parents to play a game similar to "hide and seek" to avoid the police" (PG. 364)
Parents played this game with their children in order to get them ready to be able to run away from authorities that were trying to take them away.
"That the allotments provided for in this act shall be made by special agents appointed by the president for such purpose, and the agents in charge of the respective reservations on which allotments are directed to be made under such rules and regulations as the secretariat of interior may from time to time prescribe…" (Hurtado 350).
ReplyDeleteThis quote from the Dawes Act shows how this act takes the power of negotiating the land away from Native peoples. They are not even allowed to distribute allotments but must receive allotments from an agent who does not have a history or connection with their land. They must trust an agent who may not have their best interest in mind. The Dawes Act is an important example in the way the U.S. government has worked to usurp Indian control over any land.
"Within our country as at present bounded there are less than five million acres of land; our population is thirty thousand and; the estimate of the bumper of acres includes river beds, and portions, and all that would be necessary for public travel and commerce" (Hurtado 353.
This quote from the Cherokee delegates who defended their land shows that allotment was an even worse deal for Natives than it originally appeared. Although individuals were supposed to be allotted land, it did not take into consideration land that could not be used, such as rivers, as well as areas needed for roads. This shows that there is a disconnect between the policies incased and the actual effects it has on Native people.
"Now, after the lapse of fifty years, when the bodies of those who made these promises to us have been consigned to the tomb...you, their children, tell us...that your parents did not mean all they said, and were only preparing a temporary solution of the questions they were pretending to settle." (354)
ReplyDeleteThis adresses the first question. This Cherokee Cheif, Mayes, writes that several years from when the Dawes act passed, that the promises made would not exist. Yes, Native America would look very different today if the law was not passed. Land would not have been taken under this act and the destruction of Native American homelands would not have occured. It may have eventually, but not as drastically as under the Dawes act.
"The idea was conceived decades before that boarding school education, which removed children from the tribal environment, would "civilize" and prepare Indians for citizenship while providing them with practical, vocational education." (363)
This shows that children were taken away from their home and taken away from their family's culture. This created a distance between the younger generations of Native Americans and the older ones.
I believe Native America would be radically different if the Dawes Act did not pass especially in terms of self-sufficiency these Native people would not have to rely so much on the Federal Gov. for rations and annuities.
ReplyDeleteI also believe if boarding schools for Native Americans did not exist much more of their culture would or remained intact it may of been possible to see Native Americans living the way they had been doing for thousands of years
"Indian women were sometimes faced with the predicament of having to relinquish custody of their children to government boarding schools."
This possibly may of been the lowest point in Native America where nothing not even the very children of Native Americans was sacred all in attempt to keep the man and kill the Native.