Civil Rights in the USA

• What were some traits of Native Americans?


  - nomadic

  - hunted buffalo

  - common ownership

  - belief in Great Spirit

  - polygamy
• What factors affected the Native American lifestyle?


  - westward expansion

  - the civil war

  - the Homestead Act 1862

  - the railways

  - the hunting of the buffalo

  - government treaties
• What was the Homestead Act of 1862?


  This law gave 160 acres of western land to farmers who promised to live on the land for at least 5 years
• What did Native Americans use the buffalo for?


  cups and spoons (horns), tongue meat (food), bones were used for game dice
• Who was Buffalo Bill?

  killed 4280 buffalo in 18 months
• How many buffalo were left on the Great Plains in 1883?

  only 200 left in North, south were exterminated
• What was the Fort Laramie Treaty 1851?


  Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapaho accepted borders and promised to leave emigrants at peace on their travels
• What was the Medicine Lodge Treaty 1867?


  Comanche, Kiowa, Plains Apache accepted lands in Oklahoma
• What was assimilation?


  transformation of Native American lives and culture to European/American culture - to Americanise
• What happened within the Native American community by 1869?


  All existing treaties were ignored, further restrictions were imposed, no negotiated, white settlers wanted more Indian land, they became 'wards of the state
• What restrictions were imposed during the Gilded Age?


  - prevention of nomadic lifestyle

  - cultural practices banned

  - children sent to schools

  - christian missionaries and Indian agents
• What were the realities of living on reservations?


  - death, illness and starvation

  - reservation schools were poor

  - cultural practices remained in secret

  - farming was failure
• Why was it a challenge for Indians to farm their land?


  - hard to cultivate

  - disease wiped out animals

  - droughts

  - inexperience and lack of resources
• Who were the success case for Reservation farming?

  Navajo Tribe adapted to farming and were given more land, their population tripled and their flock of sheep grew from 15,000 to 1 million - this is a RARITY.
• How many Natives received rations in 1890 and what was the issue with this?

  133,000 received them due to poor quality land - reliance on aid was humiliating and often never reached them due to corrupt Indian Agents
• What was poor about Native American education in the gilded age?

  - restricted culture

  - off-reservation boarding schools

  - harsh discipline

  - many children escaped

  - those who returned were alienated

  - did not increase opportunities
• How many was spent on Native American education in 1877?

  $20,000
• How was the nomadic lifestyle restricted in the reservation policy?

  the army were used to keep tribes in zones
• What occurred at Wounded Knee 1890?


  'Ghost Dance' was seen as threat of armed attack, agents wanted to cease this but tribes resist arrest and are shot. Elk tribe fled and then captured, the disarmament of them turned to shootout. Bodies left out to freeze and dumped in mass grave.
• How many Congressional Medals of 'honour' were given out after Wounded Knee?

  20
• What happened at the Battle of Little Bighorn?


  Custer led force against Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne Warriors, tension over discovery of gold, Custers force outnumbered and his force were killed.
• What are some key themes of Gilded Age violence?


  - white encroachment of land

  - annihilation

  - gruesome violence

  - Indian's lack of sophisticated weapons
• What year was the Dawes Act?

  1887
• What was the Dawes Act?


  gave plots of land to male head of the family, 160 acres of farmland and 320 acres of grazing land, after 25 years of farming this, they gained citizenship
• What was done with the unallotted land?

  given to white settlers
• Who were the five civilised tribes?

  Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole
• What was the Curtis Act 1898?


  termination of the five civilised tribes Oklahoma self-governance, extends the Dawes Act allotment to them
• How did they respond to the Curtis Act?

  Muskogee Convention 1905 - this suggested an Indian State of Sequoyah, this is a rare of example of Native American unity
• What impact did the Dawes Act have?

  - land given to men, affected matriarchal tribes rights

  - further sub divisions were given to a single person

  - land sold to white settlers, money squandered, alcoholism and addiction

  - ownership and citizenship was not what they wanted

  - foreign concepts

  - white education = unsuccessful
• Give an example of a matriarchal tribe.

  Cherokee
• How far was land reduced under the Dawes Act?

  from 150 million in 1887 to 78 million in 1900
• What was Cherokee vs Hitchcock 1902?


  five civilised tribes challenge denial of their right to live as they please
• What was Lone Wolf vs Hitchcock 1903?

  - lone wolf signed medicine lodge in 1867

  - 4/5 did not agree

  - US ignored this, SCOTUS upheld right to revoke treaties

  - described Native Americans as ignorant and dependent
• What was the society of American Indians 1915?


  - 50 educated men and women

  - first inter-tribal group

  - campaign for better education and health

  - BUT lack of money, support and were divided on aims
• Give three examples of a positive change of attitudes during the early 1900s.


  - WW1 improved NA integration

  - growing presidential support

  - Meriam Report criticises gov policy
• Give three examples of a negative attitudes in the early 1900s.


  - Meriam report only condemns, does not change

  - many states are still imposing restriction

  - Indian Commissioner Rhoads closed unpopular schools, but was firm believer in assimilation
• What was the Meriam Report?


  - presented bleak picture, condemned allotment

  - claimed NA's most impoverished

  - outlined poor conditions

  - supported by Hoover
• What impact did the Meriam Report have?

  resulted in the closure of off-reservation schools, improved federal aid and medical facilities
• What AIDA and the Dance order?


  - Dance Order prohibited traditional rituals, was an attack on religious civil rights

  - led to the formation of AIDA to protect their rights
• What was AIDA?


  American Indian Defence Association, founded by John Collier