Urban American
Indians: Rewriting the
Legacy of Relocation
Donna Martinez, Ph.D.
University of Colorado Denver
CAHOKIA
Historically Urban
 Cahokia, contemporary of Chaco Canyon and Medieval
London. Population 30,000. Philadelphia had pop. Of
only 23,000 as late as 1763. Largest settlement in
existence before end of 18th cen. When surpassed by
NYC and Philadelphia.
 Pueblo Bonito largest apartment building in North
America until NYC in 19th century.
CLIFF PALACE MESA
VERDE
PUEBLO BONITO
 1. The majority of American Indians are urban
residents.
 2. The majority of American Indian elders are urban.
 3. Multiple generations of American Indians are urban
(60 years, 5 generations).
 4. The myth of the vanishing Indian.
Introduction
 Assumption of cultural loss. American Indian identity doesn’t
stop at jurisdictional boundaries. The majority of elders do
not live on reservations. (Kramer, Journal of Cross-Cultural
Gerontology, Urban American Indian Aging.)
 2007 more than ½ world population reside in cities (U.N.)
82% U.S. population urban. Majority of all racial groups are
urban, 2/3 American Indians (1990 U.S. Census/2010
expected increase).

U.S. Census -The American Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2010 (C2010br-10)
History
Large scale migration post-World War II.
Underdevelopment on reservations. Former industries
such as ranching, farming decline, lead to exodus from
reservations.(Harris, Native American Women and Men:
Migration and Urbanization. Dobyns et al, Native
American Urbanization and Socio-Economic Integration in
the Southwestern United States.)
 Indian Relocation Act. 1955 Intertribal Friendship
House in Oakland, pre-school in 1973.
 Cultural programming positive influence on urban
American Indian students (Powers, 2006, Urban
Education, An Exploratory Study of Cultural Identity and
Culture-Based Educational Programs for Urban
American Indian Students).
Identity Formation
 Empty center model. Bull’s eye “real”, genuine, legitimate,
authentic Indians. Unlikely to contain living individuals, i.e.
for elders might be last buffalo-hunting generation at center.
(Joseph P. Gone, Mental Health, Wellness, and Identity”)
 Ever-evolving nature of Indian identity with endless cultural
shifts.
 Past literature emphasize urban Indians as culturally
disoriented, assimilated. Urbanization as part of downfall
and destruction, damaged.
 Urban Indians value faithful participation in
community highly (Gonzales, 2001; Lobo, 2001,
Straus, 201).
Identity Formation
 Identity integration stages- finding a place within
community, and Indian identity within. (Lucero,2010,
Making Meaning of Urban American Indian Identity: A
Multistage Integrative Process.)
 Pan-Indian/Urban identity, and tribal with family
reinforcement.
Multi/Monoculture
 Many Urban American Indians are multicultural. Could
be monocultural with respect to spiritual practices, but
multicultural with music, friends, martial partners, or
food preferences. (Clark, 2002, American Indian
Culture and Research, Assessing Cultural Lifestyles of
Urban American Indians.)
 Intermarriage rates over 50%
 Unlike other ethnic Americans, unique in
our dual citizenship.
Urban Indian Youth
 Urban Indians identity struggle throughout life.
 Among all racial groups, American Indian urban youth
‘disproportionately represented in high risk behavior,
youth suicide, witness violence (Bearinger, 2008,
American Journal of Health Behavior, Protecting Urban
American Indian Young People From Suicide).
Best Practices
 Appreciate history and cultural identity of urban
Indians, and positive approaches to preserve culture.
Denver Indian Center
Princess
Denver American Indian
Commission
Tocabe
Nobel Savages/Savages
Noble savage- picturesque and quaint, romanticize,
vanquished or powerless, no longer a threat.
Nobel Savage/“Good Indians” limited to 1800s time
period, limited to reservations.
Savage-currently prevalent when Indians reclaim our
rights, ie. Spear fishing, casino revenue
George Caitlin (1796-1872)
“Vanishing Indian”
 “Vanishing Indians”- enslavement, war, waves of
disease (90%), Indian Removal Policy, forced marches,
assimilation policy, boarding schools, Allotment Act
 Indians on reservations represent the past/ Indians who
leave reservation invisible, vanish.
Last of the Mohicans
published 1826
Almost Extinct
 Wild West Shows- re-enact wars on plains, notion
Indian part of America’s past. Boy Scouts, YMCA,
Indian Guide program, and Indian mascots. Natural
history museums show Indians as artifacts, like
dinosaurs.
 1893 Columbian World’s Exposition in Chicago. Indian
village, exhibit of dying race. The book urged visitors to
see Indian exhibit, “it is more than probable that the
World’s Columbian exposition will furnish the last
opportunity for an acquaintance with the noble red-man
before he achieves annihilation, or at least loss of
identity.”
Edward Curtis (1968-1952)
Culture Static or Evolve?
 Indian cultures of value only when static. Change
viewed as cultural loss, idea that tribes continually on
brink of extinction.
 Ethnographers and patrons collect Indian artifacts of
vanishing race. J. Pierpont Morgan paid Edward Curtis
to document a disappearing race.
 Railroads market Indian imagery to sell tourist
vacations to the west, Santa Fe. National Parks display
Indians in feathered regalia.
Trail of Tears
 Myth that after colonization tribes disappeared.
 Indians were able to survive, and take on new notions
of their identity, but did not vanish.
 Conversion to Christianity help some Indians continue
to exist, did not have to disappear.
Indians are immigrants
 All American immigrants, Indians immigrants.
 Volumes written to prove that Indians are descendants
of the lost tribes of Israel, the Vikings, Welsh, Irish,
Egyptian, Polynesians, Phoenicians, or the lost
continent of Atlantis. Current Bering Straight theory, all
are Asians.
Mandan Bull Boat/Welsh
Vanishing Indian is script of
Manifest Destiny
 Manifest Destiny-outcome, belief it was sucessful and
completed, Indians removed, vanished.
 Social Darwinism- two cultures battle each other, only
one triumphs. Script of Wild West Shows, World Fairs,
art, literature.
Legacy of Relocation
 Push and Pull Factors
Push Factors
 Not enough jobs
 Few opportunities
 Lack of infrastructure, lack of services
 Poverty and War, famine
 Lack of safety, high crime.
 Political fear/conflict- intertribal factionalism, families
 Poor medical care
 Poor housing
Pull Factors
 Job and educational opportunies
 Better living conditions
 Better medical care
 Family links
 -brain drain youth
Migration
 Poverty, unemployment, social conditions/ promise of
better conditions
 Economic or political emigration/ differences with
forced migration, ethnic cleansing, forced removals,
enslavement
 LARGEST TRIBES CHEROKEE AND NAVAJO. STATE
HIGHEST PERCENT ALASKA, 19.5%. MORE THAN
50% AMERICAN INDIANS LIVE IN JUST TEN
STATES. MOST INDIANS IN THE WEST. 1 IN 4
INDIANS LIVE IN OKLAHOMA or CALIFORNIA. OVER
HALF URBAN.
FIRST FURLOUGH, 1943
 1944 NATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMERICAN
INDIANS
 **1948 BIA EXPERIMENT WITH RELOCATION
PROGRAMS TO DENVER, SALT LAKE CITY, AND
LOS ANGELES
 1950 DILLION MYER, FORMER HEAD OF JAPANESE
RELOCATION CAMPUS, COMISSION INDIAN
AFFAIRS. HOUSE RESOLUTION 108 IN 1953 END
FEDERAL RELATIONS WITH TRIBES
 1953-66, CONGRESS TERMINATE 109 TRIBES
MARINE CORPS RESERVE
 NEW IDENTITY URBAN INDIANS. ESTABLISH
INDIAN CENTERS
 1950 13.4% INDIANS IN CITIES/
 1970 44%/
 1980 50%+. /
 TODAY MORE THAN 2/3