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...A Forum for American Indian Issues...
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education 
Wed Aug 18, 2010 at 18:50:38 PM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
 Indian citizenship and participation in American politics involves more than just voting: it also involves having Indians elected to public office. One of the first Indians to be elected to national office was Charles Curtis.
Curtis was born in 1860 near present-day North Topeka, Kansas. His mother was a descendent of Kansa (also called Kaw) chief White Plume. White Plume was the son of an Osage chief and had been adopted into the Kansa. Later, Curtis's tribal affiliation would be listed as Kansa (or Kaw) or as Kansa-Osage.
He was raised in part by his maternal grandmother and attended an Indian mission school on the Kaw Reservation. After the Cheyenne attacked the Kaw at Council Grove in 1868, Curtis was moved to Topeka where he later attended Topeka High School.
In 1881, Curtis was admitted to the bar and soon entered politics as a Republican. In 1885 he was elected county attorney for Shawnee County and his political career began.
In 1892 was elected to Congress and began the first of eight terms in the House of Representatives. Like many others of this era, Curtis felt that Indians had to be assimilated into American culture. Assimilation meant that traditional cultures and languages had to be destroyed.
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Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 21:17:31 PM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
One of the cultural features of the Northwest Coast First Nations' cultures is the potlatch. The Europeans, and particularly the Christian missionaries, opposed the potlatch and it was banned in both Canada and the United States. However, Indian people continued the potlatch away from the government and the missionaries.
The word "potlatch" is the English version of the Nootkan word "p'alshit'" which means "to give." Material wealth is important among the Indian nations of this area, but by giving things away at the potlatch, families and individuals gain status. The potlatch functioned as a means for passing around among the members the surplus wealth of the society; the only thing that changed was the status of the individuals. Some people feel that the potlatch was the functional equivalent of taxation in modern society. Vast amounts of goods and wealth were distributed through the potlatch.
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Sat Aug 07, 2010 at 13:50:10 PM PDT
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During the twentieth century, the United States viewed large hydroelectric dams as signs of progress, and as symbols of American technological superiority and modernity. In 1932, the Army Corps of Engineers submitted a 2,000 page report which called for the construction of 10 large dams on the Columbia River in Oregon and Washington. The report described the benefits of these dams, including improved navigation routes, electric power, irrigation water, and flood control. Boosters of the project promised that the electricity generated by the dams would change the culture of the area and bring in new, innovative industries. There was no concern for any possible impact on the Indian nations which have lived along the river for thousands of years, nor was there any consideration given to the spiritual meaning and use of the river.
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Sat Aug 07, 2010 at 08:38:57 AM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
World War II changed both the Indians and the reservation. Following the war, veterans returned to their reservations. In many cases they returned as warriors, victorious warriors, and unwilling to accept the secondary status assigned to them by the larger society. They faced discrimination in housing, employment, education, land rights, water rights, and voting.
In many states, it was illegal for Indians to purchase or consume alcohol. Yet many of the veterans had found that while in the military they were able to purchase and consume alcohol with no legal difficulties both on the bases and while on furlough in foreign countries. Many returned home wanting this same freedom as civilians in the United States.
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Tue Aug 03, 2010 at 13:08:28 PM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
Beginning in 1999, the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM, founded the Native Eyes Project to provide a new approach to online tertiary education in indigenous studies. By 2007 eight online courses were on offer by this well known tribal college
Taught from an interdisciplinary and liberal arts point of view, Native Eyes courses are fully accredited and built on a solid scholarly base. However, the program differs from most mainstream studies in the Humanities, Sciences, and Social Sciences, in that all courses incorporate a strong Indigenous perspective, utilizing significant input from prominent Indigenous scholars, artists, elders and leaders, thereby encompassing Native American ways of seeing and understanding the world.
Source: http://www.iaia.edu/native
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Tue Aug 03, 2010 at 10:22:49 AM PDT
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Throughout the United States, public school students usually have very little exposure to American Indian histories and cultures. Montana may be the exception. In Montana, all students in all grades and in all subjects are to be exposed to information about Montana's Indian nations. This all started when the state adopted a new constitution in 1972. The constitution states:
"The State recognizes the distinct and unique cultural heritage of the American Indians and is committed in their educational goals to the preservation of their cultural integrity"
Rick Champoux, one of the delegates who helped craft the new constitution, stated:
"Are we to tell the Indian people that their history has no place in our schools?...that their ways, their governments were wrong and that they must accept ours, because ours are better? Or, will we help them to retain their ethnic identify and make their adaptations as Americans? If there is ever to be a solution to the Indian problem in this county, it will come about when our educational system provides the knowledge which is needed to understand and respect the cultural differences between us and the state helps to preserve and protect their cultural integrity."
Source: http://www.mtiea.org/downloads...
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Sat Jul 31, 2010 at 12:32:50 PM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
World War II brought many changes to Indian reservations and to American Indians on the home front. These changes began during the war, and then continued following the war.
It should be noted that an American Indian reservation was attacked during the war. In 1945, a Japanese bomb carried by balloon landed on the Hupa reservation in Northern California.
In New York, the Six Nations Iroquois - Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, Onondaga, Tuscarora, Cayuga - declared war on the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) in 1942.
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Wed Jul 28, 2010 at 11:00:33 AM PDT
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A high percentage of American Indian men served in the military during World War II. During the war, nearly 25,000 American Indians served in the military and received the following awards: Air Medal (71), Silver Star (51), Bronze Star (47), Distinguished Flying Cross (34), and Congressional Medal of Honor (2). More than 480 Indians were killed during the war. While the armed services were segregated by race, Indians were generally integrated into Caucasian units.
A number of Indians achieved high military rank during the war. Brigadier General Clarence Tinker, an Osage from Oklahoma, headed the Hawaiian Air Force. Joseph ("Jocko") Clark, a Cherokee from Oklahoma, was the only Indian naval admiral.
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Wed Jul 28, 2010 at 10:55:37 AM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
In World War I, American Indians had to register for the draft even though they were not eligible to be drafted since they were not citizens. By the beginnings of World War II, however, American Indians had had citizenship conferred on them twice by Congress: once in 1924 and again in 1940. The Nationality Act, passed by Congress in 1940, not only conferred citizenship on American Indians (even though they had be granted citizenship in 1924), but required that Indian men register for the draft. Passage of the Act was opposed by the Indian Defense League of America. Tuscarora leader Clinton Rickard urged those who wished to volunteer for the armed services do so as alien non-residents.
There were a number of concerns, controversies, and conflicts regarding the draft and American Indians.
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Mon Jul 26, 2010 at 10:03:54 AM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
One of the issues that many Native American men and boys have faced concerns long hair. For them long hair is not a stylistic concern, but is a religious issue. For many Native Americans having long hair is a symbol of tribal religious traditions which teach that hair is only to be cut when one is in mourning for the death of a close relative. The American government, public schools, and prisons have all forced Indian men to cut their hair in spite of the teachings of their tribal religions.
The most recent long hair case involves a five-year- old Lipan Apache boy in Texas. In 2008, Adriel Arocha was denied admission to school because the school policy did not allow long hair for boys. After a two-year court battle, an appeals court finally ruled that the school's policy regarding hair length was a violation of his religious freedom rights. According to the court:
Long hair is part of Arocha's religious beliefs. He wears his hair long, as he did as a young child before he was forced to cut it for school-an experience he describes as "unsettling." His grandfather wore his hair short, but his uncle wore his hair long and in one or two braids. As an adult and over time Arocha came to find religious meaning in wearing his hair long as he gained greater understanding of his grandfather and uncle's teachings.
Source: http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/op...
The Texas case is only the latest in a long history in the struggle for the right for Indian men to wear their hair long.
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Sun Jul 25, 2010 at 14:48:02 PM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
In 1966, Richard Hugo was teaching a poetry class at the University of Montana. One of his students was James Welch who had been born on the Blackfeet Reservation and raised on the Fort Belknap Reservation. Hugo realized that Welch knew nothing of poetry, but he encouraged him to write about what he did know: life on the reservation. As a result, Welch began to write about the reservations and the people on the reservations. These writings resulted in Riding the Earthboy 40.
James Welch was a part of the renaissance of American Indian literature. When he began his writing, Indian authors were unknown. He later noted that D'Arcy McNickle's The Surrounded was out of print at this time and that the other major Indian authors that are widely studied today were just beginning their careers.
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Wed Jul 21, 2010 at 10:40:39 AM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
During the nineteenth century the United States engaged in three wars with the Seminole Indians in Florida: 1816 to about 1824; 1835 to 1842; and 1855-1858.
Contrary to some popular opinions, there was no traditional overall governmental or political organization among the Seminole at this time. They tended to be politically organized around busk groups, each of which had its own medicine bundle on which the annual busk (green corn) ceremony was focused. Thus the military actions against the U.S. military did not have a single leader or coordinator.
In this diary, I'm going to look at the Third Seminole War.
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Wed Jul 21, 2010 at 10:04:31 AM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
When the Spanish began their conquest of Mexico in 1519 they encountered a powerful nation known as the Aztec. The Aztec called themselves Mexica and from this the name Mexico is derived.
According to oral tradition, the Aztec originated in a land known as Aztlan. Some experts feel that Aztlan was actually in Arizona. The Hopi-an ancient Arizona people-are linguistically related to the Aztec. Furthermore, there are some similarities between some of the Hopi stories of origins and those of the Aztec. There are others, however, who feel that Aztlan was in Northern Mexico, perhaps in the present-day state of Sonora.
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Sun Jul 18, 2010 at 08:45:34 AM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
For many people in the academic world, one of the major foundations of Native American literature was laid with the publication of The Surrounded in 1936. This novel, written by D'Arcy McNickle, was not the first novel written by an Indian nor was it particularly successful at the time. The book came out in the midst of the depression and found relatively little readership in spite of good reviews. In the 70 years that have passed since the book's publication, however, it has become one of the most widely read and studied American Indian novels.
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Sat Jul 17, 2010 at 17:02:01 PM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
The United States government and American historians have been as reluctant to acknowledge women leaders among Indian nations as they have been acknowledging women warriors. The fact is that many Indian nations have had women leaders. In the many treaty councils which the United States held with the Indian nations, it was unusual for the United States to allow Indian women to speak.
In 1831, when the Sauk returned to their traditional village of Saukenuk in Illinois, the Americans called up a force of 700 militia volunteers to protect the citizens of the state from the Sauk invasion. The Sauk were determined to remain peaceful and met in council with the Americans. The Americans wanted the Sauk to move to new lands west of the Mississippi River. Black Hawk informed General Gaines that the women own the fields, not the men. The Sauk then selected a woman to speak for them. She told the Americans that the women owned the fields, not the tribe, and that the women had never sold any of the land nor consented to the transfer of it to the United States. Gaines simply dismissed her comments saying that the President did not send him to make treaties with women nor to hold council with them.
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Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 08:39:55 AM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
When the Europeans first began arriving on this continent they were amazed that Indian women were very much unlike European women. Indian women were not subservient to men, they often engaged in work - such as farming and warfare - which the Europeans viewed as men's work, they had a voice in the political life of their communities, and they had control of their own bodies and sexuality. Unlike the patriarchal European societies, Indians were often matrilineal, a system in which people belonged to their mother's clans or extended families. When Indian people spoke of a neighboring tribe as "women" or as "grandmothers", the Europeans often misinterpreted this compliment as a derogatory statement.
During the nineteenth century Indian women, and particularly Indian women leaders, were invisible to the American government. Some Indians have gone so far as to say that the Americans were so afraid of Indian women that they would not allow them to sit or speak in treaty councils with the United States government. Even today, Indian women are conspicuous by their absence in American history.
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Wed Jul 14, 2010 at 19:07:33 PM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
In 1776 a group of American colonists signed the Declaration of Independence which condemned King George III for preventing the colonists from appropriating western lands which belong to Indian nations. Among the allegations against the English is the charge that King George has not helped the colonists against the "savages of the interior" (referring to their conflicts with Indian nations.) From the perspective of American Indian nations these were uncomfortable words: if these rebellious British colonies prevailed, Indian nations would have to defend their homelands against an invasion of settlers.
James Wilson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, felt that Indians must give way to progress.
"The whole earth is allotted for the nourishment of its inhabitants, but it is not sufficient for this purpose, unless they aid it by labor and culture. The cultivation of the earth, therefore, is a duty incumbent on man by the order of nature."
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Tue Jul 13, 2010 at 10:06:15 AM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
During the nineteenth century the United States engaged in three wars with the Seminole Indians in Florida: 1816 to about 1824; 1835 to1842; and 1855-1858.
Contrary to some popular opinions, there was no traditional overall governmental or political organization among the Seminole at this time. They tended to be politically organized around busk groups, each of which had its own medicine bundle on which the annual busk (green corn) ceremony was focused. Thus the military actions against the U.S. military did not have a single leader or coordinator.
In this diary, I'm going to look at the Second Seminole War.
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Mon Jul 05, 2010 at 14:06:32 PM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
In 1917 the United States entered into World War I. While Indians were not liable to be drafted, they enlisted in large numbers. Many of the volunteers were eager to count coup, gain war honors, and to maintain the warrior traditions of their tribes. An estimated 10,000 Indians served in the military during the war.
The Onondaga Nation, a part of the Iroquois Confederacy, unilaterally declared war on Germany, citing ill-treatment of tribal members who were stranded in Berlin at the beginning of hostilities. The Oneida Nation, another member of the Iroquois Confederacy, also declared war on Germany.
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Mon Jun 28, 2010 at 09:47:12 AM PDT
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( - promoted by oke)
After a legal struggle that has lasted more than three decades the Shinnecock Indian Nation, whose aboriginal homeland is in Long Island, N.Y., has received federal recognition. Their current petition for federal recognition was filed with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1999. The tribe has 1,292 enrolled members and an 800-acre reservation in Southampton. With tribal recognition, the tribe can build a casino, though tribal leaders indicate that this is a secondary consideration at the present time. I would like to use this event to describe the process of obtaining federal recognition.
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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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