ETHN 100: NATIVE
AMERICANS: PATERNALISM,
FORCED ASSIMILATION, AND
RESISTANCE
Wednesday, October 24th
Last Session’s Goals and Activities

Analyze the historical and political events at the
Pine Ridge Reservation (Lakota) by identifying key
terms and placing them on the Inventory of Key
Terms.
 Brief
video on the Ghost Dance.
 Slides on the historical and political significance of the Ghost
Dance.
 Spirit of Crazy Horse, Parts III and IV.
 Group Analysis of Pine Ridge
Today’s Goals and Activities
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Discuss Key Terms from Spirit of Crazy Horse
Lecture on paternalism, assimilation, and resistance.
Video clips on Boarding Schools and indigenous
peoples.
Cross-Cutting Themes
Native Americans
Intra-ethnic Groups
Tribes, Assimilation, “Full-Bloods” vs. “Half-Bloods”
Movement
Black Hills, AIM
Discrimination
Goon Squad, Indian Civil War, Indian injustice, court laws, verdict (manslaughter
instead of murder), Dick Wilson
Labor
Goon squad, government jobs for Indians, Governmnet allegiance, moving to the city
for minimum wage jobs, Baffalo
Communities
Goon squad, Ghost Dance at Wounded Knee, free Indian society
Representation
Ghost dance as a threat; full-bloods as stupid; Poultier
Assimilation/Acculturatio
n
Government jobs for Indians; land versus money, Medicine Man, Spirit of ancestors
Allotment and Assimilation
By the later part of the nineteenth century, armed resistance
to the federal government was in decline.
 Government and reformers advocated a policy that would
“solve” the Indian problem: Reservation lands would be
broken up and allotted to individual tribal members.
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In 1887, Congress passed the Dawes Act (also known as the General
Allotment Act)
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Authorized the President of the United States to survey Native American
lands and divide them into individual allotments for individual Native
Americans
The goal was to stimulate assimilation of Natives Americans into the
dominant American society.
 By assigning titles to individuals, Native families would be made over
in the likeness of White settlers who were hard working and
economically motivated.
Effects of the Dawes Act
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Further decreased lands remaining in Indian possession.
Native groups were left with fewer productive resources.
Greater intrusion of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).
Diminished native cultures and weakening of tribal political
institutions.
Forced Assimilation
 Policies
to impose cultural assimilation were prevalent
during this time.
 In cooperation with religious groups, efforts were made to
eradicate native cultures and impose the American way of
life.
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Native religions were destroyed in exchange for Christianity.
Native languages were denied in exchange for English.
Education was reduced to “civilizing” natives.
Government-Run Boarding Schools
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By 1900, thousands of Native Americans were studying in roughly
150 boarding schools around the United States.
 “Kill the Indian, and save the man” – Richard H. Pratt, longtime
Superintendent of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in
Pennsylvania.
Children were separated from their families for years at a time and
placed in schools that were designed to indoctrinate them with the
belief that European-American culture was superior to “primitive”
tribal cultures.
 Taught to speak English
 Wear western clothing
 Pray as Christians
 Faced stern punishment for failure to behave in accordance to
these cultural norms.
Boarding schools of this nature were put into effect in Canada and
Australia.
Evolution of Indian Affairs

At the start of the twentieth century:
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Indians were impoverished.
They were virtually at the mercy of the federal government, whose
paternalistic policies continued to reflect white ethnocentrism.
Native Americans were wards of the federal government and were
thus no longer seen or dealt with as separate nations.
The native population had been reduced to fewer than 250,000.
Indian Reorganization Act of 1934

Was enacted by congress at the recommendation of John Collier,
head of BIA under Franklin D. Roosevelt. Collier was sympathetic to
Native Americans.

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He valued tribal self-rule and efforts to preserve Native culture.
The IRA ended the allotment system provided by the Dawes Act.
Termination

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In the 1950s, the federal government ended its responsibility to
provide various social, educational, and economic services to Indians.
It also ended government protection of Indian lands and property
held in trust for the tribes.
The government ended the treatment of Native Americans as
collective entities. The decision was made to treat them as individuals.
The goal of termination was assimilation.
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It was proposed that reservations be dismantled and the government’s role
with Natives be severed.
Native Americans were encouraged to move off of reservations to major
urban areas.
Reactions among Native Americans

Most strongly resisted termination. Native groups were aware that more
lands and cultural practices would be lost.
Red Power
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The government reversed its decision on termination in the 1970s in
part because of the Red Power Movement.
During the late 1960s and 70s, Native Americans put pressure on the
federal government to address Indian issues, needs and rights.
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Emulated and was emulated by other racial and ethnic minority groups that
were organizing and resisting at the time, namely African Americans and
Latinos.
Built public awareness of the plight of Native Americans
 Marches
 Protests
 Sit-ins
 Demonstrations
Major events
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Occupation of Alcatraz Island in California
Wounded Knee in the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota
AIM, the American Indian Movement emerged during this time.
Self-Determination
 In
1975, Congress passed the Indian Self-Determination
and Education Assistance Act.
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Permitted tribes to take control of numerous federal programs on
reservations.
 Tribal governments assumed the reservations’ social and
economic functions.
Renewed tribal sovereignty
Reversed the policies of termination.
 Contemporary
policies have focused on political selfdetermination and on the protection of remaining Indian
lands.
Demographics
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In general, the population of Native Americans is young and growing.
Two possibilities: high birthrate and increased number of people
declaring their Indian ancestry.
Difficult to count how many Native Americans exist today.
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What determines identity is left to tribes to decide.
Census data is a collection of self-selected identities
2.5 million (less than 1 percent of the total US population).
The number jumps to 4.1 million if those who declare mixed ancestry that
includes Native American.
The population is split between those who live on and off the 278
federal Indian reservations.
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Reservation Indians
 Two largest: Navajo (New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona) – 143,000;
Lakota (South Dakota and Nebraska) – 11,000.
Urban Indians
 In 1960, 25 percent of Native Americans lived in urban areas. By
2000, the number increased to 60 percent.
Economic Development
Native Americans remain, on the whole, among the poorest
groups in US society according to a number of SES indicators.
 In recent years, many Native groups have become more
aggressive in pursuing projects designed to foster greater
economic development and independence.
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Because they are sovereign peoples, they are not taxed.
Entrepreneurship is on the rise.
 The largest and most significant of these enterprises is legalized
gaming, or gambling.
 The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed in 1988.
 About 300 Indian casinos and bingo parlors in 28 states have been
established.
 $5 billion in profits were made.
Benefits to Native Americans
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Real and potential benefit of casinos has yet to provide economic
salvation to the vast majority of Native Americans.
Most casinos have not thrived.
Non-Indian investors have benefited significantly.
Two-thirds of Native Americans belong to tribes that do not own
Las Vegas-style casinos.
 Unemployment remains a significant issue for many.
 Access to quality education and healthcare are also
problems many face.
Next Session
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We will begin to explore African American
experiences in the United States.
Online Reflection due.