Part Four:
Resistance and Resurgence in Practice: Case Studies
C
Caassee SSttuuddyy
The Indian Movement in the USA:
Recovery, Re-Identification, Red Power
The foundations for a new American Indian activism:
NEW LEGISLATION
Æ “Indian New Deal”--the Howard-Wheeler or Indian Reorganization Act (IRA)
of 1934
Æ designed to diminish Federal control over Indian affairs, reestablish some
degree of Indigenous sovereignty, increase local self-government
• The return of surplus lands to Indian nations
• Formal Indian national constitutions
• Funding for purchase of lands, educational assistance, aid in developing
tribal organization
WWII
Æ transformed consciousness
Æ common experiences
Æ collective sense of injustice, marginalization
Æ newfound political efficacy
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URBANIZATION
Æ 69% of all Aboriginal Canadians live in cities; 81% of Registered Indians live
in cities; 69% of Non-Registered Indians; 65% of Metis, but only 22% of
Inuit
Æ 63+% of American Indians are urban
Æ Supratribalism / Pan-Indianism
Æ Confronting urban discrimination
Æ New Indian social and political organizations: Survival schools, churches,
dance clubs, arts and crafts associations, athletic teams: fostering panIndianism
Æ American Indian Centers
Æ Powwows
Æ First Indian Baptist Church, Native American Church
LAND CONFLICTS, CLAIMS, AWARDS
Æ facilitating inter-tribal contact
Æ renewed sense of tribal community and identity
Æ financing American Indian cultural revitalization
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THE 1960s CIVIL RIGHTS ERA
Æ material incentive for Indian self-identification
Æ Bureau of Indian Affairs was undermined
Æ new Indian organizations in cities and on reservations
NEW MOVEMENTS, CONFRONTATIONS
Æ 1968, Dennis Banks and George Mitchell, American Indian Movement (AIM)
Æ November 20, 1969 to June 11, 1971, 89 American Indians landed on
Alcatraz Island, identifying themselves as “Indians of All Tribes”
Æ 1972, “Trail of Broken Treaties”
Æ February 27, 1973: takeover of Wounded Knee, on the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation
Reference:
Nagel, Joane. 1996. American Indian Ethnic Renewal: Red Power and the Resurgence of Identity and Culture. New York:
Oxford University Press. (Ch. 5, The Politics of American Indian Ethnicity: Solving the Puzzle of Indian Ethnic
Resurgence, 113-157)
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