Dates
| U.S. Attitudes
& Policies
| Locations
| Effects & Landscape Features
|
1778-1816
| wilderness & savages: "Indian
Wars"
| East Coast
& interior
| - settlers pushed Indian nations westward
- Indians annihilated through diseases and killings
- U.S. Senate ratified over 370 treaties between the U.S. and native peoples
from 1778-1871
- after 1790, 150 million acres west of the
Appalachian Mountains lost to native peoples
|
1820s
| reservation system established
| West
| - reservations: tribal (cultural) identity
- material poverty in restricted areas
- land as resource & scared space was ignored
|
1887
| assimilation of Indians: Dawes Act
| Midwest
& West
| - Indians defined by blood
- 80 & 160 acre Indian allotment (homesteading)
- 20 years later, 66 % of reservation lands owned by non-Indians; by the
1930s, 2/3 of the 1880 reservation land base was taken by individual white
settlers and mostly by corporations
|
1934
| encouragement of Indian culture:
Indian
Reorganization
Act
| all reservations
& Indians
| - tribal councils were forced onto tribes as "democracy"
(e.g., 85% of eligible Hopi boycotted referendum)
- native languages & ceremonies re-emerged
- tribal centers, schools, health clinics, community centers
- major improvements: local industries (fish, lumber); gov. houses
- teepees, arbor frames, sweat lodges
|
1950s
| termination of reservations
| all reservations
& Indians
| - very little economic development
- 1900, 99.6 % of Indians lived on reservations; 1950, 87%; 1860, 72%;
1970, 55%; 1980, 51%; 1990, 45%.
- 1990, 55% of Indians lived in segregated urban areas
|
1975
| encouragement for Indians: American
Indian Education
&
Self Determination Act
| all reservations & Indians
| - federal funds for schools, hospitals, houses
- Indian control and pride: cultural and visitor centers
|
1980s
| 1) gambling & tax-exempt gasoline
& tobacco sales on reservations allowed by federal law
2) treaty rights recognized by courts
3) artifacts from museums and public agencies returned | all reservations
&
museums with
Indian
collections
| - large investments made on some reservations:
casinos,
hotels, convention hotels, schools, social services
- upgrades of tribal services conducted
- major court cases settled in which tribes win money and/or hunting,
fishing, trapping
rights
- artifacts used again in religious ceremonies and in reservation museums
|
1990s
| protection of Indian culture:
1) U.S. Indian
Arts and Crafts Law
2) Native American Graves repatriation and Protection
Act
| Indian artists
& Indian graves
| - only federally recognized Native Americans
are allowed to sell "Indian"
products: $1 million fines; <15 years person; art galleries fines: <$15 million
- Indianness defined as 25% or more Indian blood or member of U.S. tribe
sanctioned by the government
- possibility of tourism fostered on reservations
- the most important piece of civil and human rights
legislation; skeletons and grave goods in museum will now be returned and
Indian graves will be protected from desecration.
|
