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...A Forum for American Indian Issues...
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Indians 101 
Fri May 17, 2013 at 09:10:30 AM PDT
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In 1830 Red Jacket, the most famous Seneca orator, died in New York at the age of 74. Seneca writer, historian, and archaeologist Arthur Caswell Parker described the deathbed scene this way:
"He murmured that his old comrades were around him, some chiding him for his mistakes and urging him to see that there was a task ahead."
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Wed May 15, 2013 at 18:17:16 PM PDT
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In 1945 Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier, who had emphasized cultural pluralism for American Indians, was forced to resign by congressional opponents who sought a return to the policies of assimilation. The new approach was that of termination. The idea was to force individual Indians to assimilate into mainstream, English-speaking, Christian American society by getting rid of Indian reservations, by terminating all treaty obligations to Indian nations, and by terminating all government programs intended to aid Indians.
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Sat May 11, 2013 at 15:32:00 PM PDT
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Joel Palmer, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Oregon Territory, met in council with the Indian nations of the Mid-Columbia Region with the purpose of establishing an Indian reservation which would get the Indians out of the way of American settlement. This was an area that was the traditional homelands for two primary tribes: (1) the Wasco who were the eastern-most group of Chinook-speaking Indians, and (2) the Warm Springs (described in the treaty as Walla Walla) who were Sahaptin-speaking.
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Sat May 04, 2013 at 16:43:12 PM PDT
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The Blackfoot were the most feared Indian nation on the Northern Plains in the nineteenth century. The United States established their reservation in 1851 at a treaty council held in Fort Laramie, Wyoming. Since no Blackfoot chiefs were in attendance, the government probably felt safe in declaring all of the land north of the Missouri River as their reservation.
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Thu May 02, 2013 at 15:44:52 PM PDT
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Historically American Indians, particularly those living on reservations, have had the highest poverty rates in the United States. In addition, reservations have some of the highest teen suicide rates in the world. For many American Indian young people the future does not look promising and there is little to break the oppressive cycle of poverty. The most successful approach to dealing with poverty among young people has been education, both classroom education and work education. There are two stories this week about the impact of austerity on Indian youth.
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Thu May 02, 2013 at 07:47:32 AM PDT
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It begins with the drums. This is the signal for the dancers to enter into the dance arbor, usually led by dancers carrying the eagle feather staff. This marks the Grand Entry which starts each powwow session. This is a powwow: the most common form of Indian celebration.
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Wed May 01, 2013 at 09:34:59 AM PDT
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In 1871, the United States governmental policies toward American Indians changed from dealing with tribes as nations to focusing on the assimilation of individual Indians. Assimilation was, and still is, based on a viewpoint that sees immigrants coming to the United States and then becoming "good" Americans by learning English and adopting American customs. If others could do this, the assimilationists argued--and still argue--then American Indians should be required to do the same.
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Wed Apr 24, 2013 at 09:36:48 AM PDT
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In American Indian cultures, art is not separate from daily life. Traditionally, the things people used in their everyday life-clothing, tools, housing, containers-were often decorated to enhance their beauty and their spirituality. Prior to the European invasion, the Indian people of the Plateau area-roughly the area between the Rocky Mountains and the Cascade Mountains in the Pacific Northwest-decorated their clothing and other items with paintings, with beads made from shell, animal teeth, bone, and other items, and with porcupine quills. With the European invasion, new decorative elements became available to the Indians: glass beads. These beads were quickly adopted into the cultures and began to replace and supplement both painting and quilling. The Plateau Indians soon became well-known for their fine bead work. Shown below are some examples of Plateau Indian beadwork which are on display at the museum at the Travelers' Rest State Park in Lolo, Montana.
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Tue Apr 23, 2013 at 09:13:58 AM PDT
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Just west of Lolo, Montana is Fort Fizzle Picnic Ground and Historic Sites operated by the Lolo National Forest. This is a day-use facility celebrating Fort Fizzle, an interesting non-battle of the 1877 Nez Perce War. The site also celebrates the passage of the Corps of Discovery under the leadership of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.
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Mon Apr 22, 2013 at 22:29:13 PM PDT
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Prior to the European invasion, the Indian people of the Plateau area-roughly the area between the Rocky Mountains and the Cascade Mountains in the Pacific Northwest-decorated their clothing and other items with paintings, with beads made from shell, animal teeth, bone, and other items, and with porcupine quills. Shown below are some Plateau Indian artifacts which are on display at the museum at the Travelers' Rest State Park in Lolo, Montana.
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Wed Apr 17, 2013 at 15:07:20 PM PDT
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The Kiowa speak a language which linguists classify as a part of the Tanoan language family and is related to the Pueblos of Taos, Jemez, Isleta, and San Ildefonso in New Mexico. Yet the oral traditions of several tribes place the homeland of the Kiowa not in New Mexico, but much farther north in what is now Montana. It was here that they made the transition from elk and deer hunting to buffalo hunting. It was on the plains of Montana that they acquired the horse and many elements of Northern Plains culture, including the Sun Dance. In was in the north that the Kiowa made close and lasting friendships with the Sarsi, the Crow, and the Arikara. It was here that they first encountered the Plains Apache (also known as the Kiowa-Apache).
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Tue Apr 16, 2013 at 09:01:54 AM PDT
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The War Department in 1907 officially enumerated 1,470 incidents of military action against American Indians between 1776 and 1907. According to the War Department, only two of these actions have the formal status of "war" under U.S. Army terminology: the 1877 Nez Perce War and the 1878 Bannock Indian War. One of the interesting non-battles of the Nez Perce War was Fort Fizzle-the battle that never happened and the fort that fizzled.
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Tue Apr 16, 2013 at 09:00:37 AM PDT
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The War Department in 1907 officially enumerated 1,470 incidents of military action against American Indians between 1776 and 1907. According to the War Department, only two of these actions have the formal status of "war" under U.S. Army terminology: the 1877 Nez Perce War and the 1878 Bannock Indian War. One of the interesting non-battles of the Nez Perce War was Fort Fizzle-the battle that never happened and the fort that fizzled.
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Sun Apr 14, 2013 at 16:19:36 PM PDT
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While the Kiowa today have a reservation in Oklahoma, their own oral tradition as well as that of other tribes tells of their migrations from Montana to the Southern Plains. Kiowa religion is based on a sacred power (dwdw), a force that permeated the universe and could be found in spirits, objects, places, or natural phenomena. This spiritual power permeates the universe, including the sun, the moon, and the stars. On earth, this power permeates the mountains, rivers, streams, plants, and animals. This spiritual power is neither good nor bad, but it can help or harm depending on the user.
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Sat Apr 06, 2013 at 19:36:21 PM PDT
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During the first quarter of the eighteenth century-1700 to 1725-the English colonies in Massachusetts sought to strengthen their dominance of the Indian nations of the regions. They expanded into Indian lands, assumed that English law was superior to Indian law, and resorted to the use of military action when necessary.
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Sun Mar 31, 2013 at 15:28:18 PM PDT
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When the English-speaking Europeans began their invasion of North America, they viewed Indians as "savage," "wild," and "barbaric." These English-speaking Europeans viewed themselves as superior to Indians in all ways and were often astounded to find that most Indians did not want to become like them. During the nineteenth and much of the twentieth centuries, the official education policies regarding Indians called for their assimilation into American culture. Assimilation called for Indians: (1) to speak English (preferable as their only language); (2) to be Christian (preferably Protestant); (3) to wear American style clothes; (4) to wear their hair in American fashion; (5) to live in American-style houses; and (5) to work in a cash-based economy (preferably at the low end of the economic scale).
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Sat Mar 30, 2013 at 10:14:56 AM PDT
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The Nez Perce Reservation in what is now the state of Idaho has its origins in the 1855 Treaty of Walla Walla. Governor Isaac had come to the treaty council with area tribes with the intent of establishing two reservations in the region: one in Nez Perce country for the Nez Perce, Cayuse, Walla Walla, Umatilla, and Spokan, and one in Yakama country for the Yakama, Palouse, Klikatat, Wenatchee, Okanagan, and Colville.
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Thu Mar 28, 2013 at 15:43:59 PM PDT
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The state of Montana has a long history of attempting to deny or reduce the Indian vote. The Montana state constitution was amended in 1932 to permit only taxpayers to vote. Since Indians on reservations did not pay some local taxes, they could not become voters.
The Montana state legislature in 1937 passed a law requiring all deputy voter registrars to be qualified, taxpaying residents of their precincts. Since Indians living on reservations were exempt from certain taxes, this requirement excluded almost all Indians from serving as deputy registrars. It thus denied Montana's Indians access to voter registration in their own precincts.
In 2012, a federal judge denied a request to establish satellite election offices for American Indians on three Montana reservations: Crow, Northern Cheyenne, and Fort Belknap (Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribes). The judge ruled that there was no evidence that Indians were being prevented from voting for the candidates of their choice.
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Mon Mar 25, 2013 at 11:44:42 AM PDT
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Following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865 his Vice-President, Andrew Johnson, assumed the Presidency and completed Lincoln's term. Johnson, who is best known as the first American president to survive impeachment, is generally ranked by historians with James Buchanan and George W. Bush as among the country's worst presidents.
With regard to American Indians, the Johnson administration faced massive problems with corruption in the Indian Service (today known as the Bureau of Indian Affairs), what to do with the "southern" Indians, concerns over the pacification of the western Indians, and the acquisition of Alaska.
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Thu Mar 21, 2013 at 21:26:47 PM PDT
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While the popular image of Plains Indians is that of the horse-mounted warrior and buffalo hunter, the horse as we know it today only came to this continent with the Europeans. It reached the Plains Indians and dramatically changed their ways of life several generations before the Americans invaded the area.
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| In Memoriam |
In honor of my mother, THE FLORA SOMBRERO LIND NAVAJO ENDOWMENT FUND has been set up to accept your donations.
This scholarship endowment has been established at the American Indian College Fund to honor Flora Sombrero Lind, as an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who was born at Inscription House, Arizona of the Many Goats clan circa 1925. This scholarship endowment is funded by Flora's family and friends who want to see Navajo students pursue higher education and carry on their great Navajo heritage.
Please leave a comment here if you donate.
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