American Indian or
Alaska Native alone
Native in
combination
40%
(26% higher than 1990)
2.5 million
(0.9%)
In combination
with other “races”
1.6 million (0.6%)
Total =
4.1 million (1.5%)
(110% higher than 1990)
Native alone
60%
-North
east
9%
Midwest
17%
South
31%
West
43%
100 million acres =
4% of U.S.,
BUT…..
Modern Indian Lands = 4% of U.S.?
322 entities in Lower 48 = 56 million acres
BUT much of rez land is allotted ( non-Indian ownersh
Pendulum of Federal Indian Policy
Era
Policy trend
Global trend
1880s-1920s:
Assimilation
Imperialism/racism
1930s-1940s:
Autonomy
Economic reform
1950s-early 60s:
Assimilation
Cold War/individualism
1970s-early 90s:
Autonomy
Civil rights/liberation
Late 1990s-2000s: Assimilation?
Anti-multiculturalism
Indian Claims Commission, 1946
Settled (extinguished) tribal land claims until 1978
Tribe paid estmated “price per acre” of the land at time it
was illegally taken ($1200 each to Potawatomi)
ICC did not return land; some tribes turned down $$
TERMINATION
ERA, 1950s-60s
-Freed successful tribes from
federal gov’t interventions
-Ended 109 tribes( were not officially
acknowledged tribes)
-Groups subjected to state/local
control
-Lost backing as a tribe from the
Federal Government
-Federal services lost; private
lands lost via tax foreclosure
Menominee terminated, 1961-73
-Major cause stimulating
Indian rights movement;
13 tribes restored
Activism in 1950s-early 1960s
Returning WWII, Korean war veterans fight for rights
National Congress of American Indians, 1944
American Indian Chicago Conference, 1961; NIYC 1963
Iroquois protest at U.S.-Canada border for Jay Treaty
Relocation
Act, 1956
Force Indians off reservation
by offering job training
opportunities in urban areas.
Individuals made to sign
agreements that they would
not return to their
reservations.
Urban populations grew in
LA,
NY, Chicago, Mpls, Denver,
Albuquerque, OKC, etc.
Effects of Urban
Relocation, 1960s
Loss of Native culture &
languages, yet kept touch
with rural reservation
Increased contact among
different tribes; growth of
pan-Indian identity
Chicago
American
Indian
Center
powwow
Common experience of
urban poverty & struggle
Exposure to civil rights
activism, successes
American Indian Movement, 1968
Founded at Stillwater Prison;
inspired by Black Panthers
Urban Indians monitored
Minneapolis police brutality
on Franklin Avenue
Made contact with traditional
chiefs on reservations; fused
urban and rural activism
Indians of All Tribes
occupies
abandoned
San Francisco Bay
prison
Cites law that unused
federal property
reverts to tribes
First major national
pan-Indian action
-Caravan to
Washington, DC for
self-determination
-Occupation of
BIA headquarters
before1972 election
Nixon White House
embarrassed by
clashes

5 Month March SF-DC
› Protest Violation of Treaties and removal of
Native American from homelands
› Last major protest act
› Movement for rights headed to the court
rooms

Most of the Demands of the Movement were
not met
› Much of their homeland were made in national
Parks ,of turned into cities, or under private
ownership
Through the courts Some territories were
guaranteed or even returned to Native
Groups
 Native American Rights Fund- Organization
which organized many of these legal battles


There are still major issues and problems of
reservations and fights to protect native
territories.