SS: American Indians 1830-1900

1968

AIM founded

1876

Battle of Little Bighorn

Sioux: Wounded Knee

1890- The U.S.had been trying to capture the Sioux. When a gunshot was heard, the massacre ensued and 300 Sioux mean, women and children were murdered.

Reservation

A portion of land set aside by the U.S. government for occupation by American Indians. Reservations were usually not good places with poor living conditions, such as: no running water, poverty, alcohol addiction, crime, and close living quarters.

Dawes Act

Act created by senator Henry Dawes and passed by Congress in 1887. This act gave allotments of what was once tribally owned land to Indian families, each family getting 160 acres. Indians lost land as a result of this act, and extra land was sold to white settlers for a cheap price.

Boarding Schools

Boarding schools were required by the government, with around 20,000 to 30,000 Indians, or 10% of the Indian population, attending them. Children were put into cages and transported to the schools, where they were forced to assimilate. Hair was cut, new names were given, and white culture was absorbed. No native languages were to be spoken without sever punishment, and as a result of this, many Indians forgot their native language. By the 1920s, the BIA changed its opinion on boarding schools.

1879

Carlisle Indian School founded

Civil Disobedience

Civil disobedience is a peaceful form of political protest. It is the idea that one must break an unjust law or rule in order to attempt to change it. Native Americans used civil disobedience during the occupation of Alcatraz island from 1969-1971.

1887

Dawes Act passed by Congress

American Indian Movement

Founded in 1969, this was an civil rights organization for Indians. The group established recognition of treaties signed by the U.S. government. The group was commonly referred to by the acronym A.I.M.

Paiute: Sarah Winnemucca

In 1879, Sarah Winnemucaa, a Paiute from Nevada and the daughter of a chief, gave a series of lectures in San Francisco and Sacramento on the treatment of Indians by the Indian Service. Five years later, she published her book Life Among the Paiutes: Their Wrongs and Claims. She lectured all over the country and became the most recognized Indian woman of the late 19th century. Born in 1844 in western Nevada. When she was 10, she went with her mother and siblings to live with her grandfather on a ranch. In 1860, she attended St. Mary's Convent School. Sarah was then hired by the army as an interpreter. The Paiute were forced to move to a reservation and became friends with an Indian agent. Sarah complained because of what she felt were unjust Indian reservations. She wanted her tribe to go to their original home. Sarah went to Washington D.C. There, the people agreed with her, but the funding was not provided. Sarah then opened a school in Nevada, but it was shut down by the government after 3 years because they were uncomfortable with what she was teaching. Sarah was honored by the state of Nevada after her death with a statue in the Capitol Building. (Statutory Hall)

1924

Indian Citizen Act: Indigenous people get citizenship

Alcatraz Occupation

Indians occupied Alcatraz island, a former prison island, from 1969 to 1971. This was an act of civil disobedience to protest unfair treatment of Native Americans throughout U.S. history. There, they wrote the sarcastic Alcatraz Proclamation.

Ponca: Stamding Bear vs. Crook

It was illegal for the Ponca to leave their new reservation. Chief Standing Bear left anyways and returned to Nebraska, where he was arrested. The official in charge of the area was General Crook. In 1879, Standing Bear sued and said that since the Ponca had assimilated so much, they should be considered American citizens. He said, "That hand is not the color of yours, but if I pierce it, I shall fell pain. If you pierce your hand, you also fell pain. The blood that will flow from mine will be the same color as yours. I am a man. God made us both. " The judge ruled in favor of Standing Bear and the Ponca.

Sioux: Battle of Little Big Horn

June 25, 1876. General George A. Custer led a force against the Indians. They ran into a Sioux war party on the Little Bighorn river. They attacked over 2000 Sioux and Cheyenne warriors with only a few hundred men. Called "Custer's Last Stand." No U.S. soldiers survived, but this was last major victory Sioux had against the U.S.

Standing Rock Dakota Access Pipeline

Members of the Standing Rock tribe see the proposed pipeline to be harmful to their water supply and pass through sacred sites. Protesters have come from all over the country. There have been many conflicts between the protesters and the police/security.

Extermination

Native Americans were killed by the U.S. government in order to implement the change they wished to see in the Indians. An example of this was the forced removal of Indians from their land. For example, the phrase kill the Indian, save th man. Also, vil

1969

Occupation at Alcatraz by "Indians of All Tribes"

Isolation

One of the three main strategies used by the U.S. government toward American Indians. Native American were separated from their families and tribes in this tactic. Examples of this were reservations, boarding schools, and removal.

Assimilation

One of the three main strategies used by the U.S. government toward American Indians. Native Americans were forced to become more like white Americans; this included their dress, culture, education, food sources, and overall way of life. An example of this were the boarding schools which forced natives Americans to assimilate into white culture.

Red Power

Red Power was a movement in the 1960's that fought to gain back land taken by the U.S. government. Often people in the movement used civil disobedience to create the change they hoped for, such as the occupation of Alcatraz. Biggest organization in this movement was A.I.M.

1949-1960

Relocation. BIA relocates 35,000 Indians.

1883

Sarah Winnemucca publishes Life Among the Paiutes

1879

Standing Bear v. Crook

1953-1964

Termination Policy

Carlisle Indian School

The Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania was founded by Captain Richard Henry Pratt in 1879. The school was based on the principle assimilation through education. The goal of the school was to have its students become a part of the white community. Student's appearances were transformed, and this helped to convince others that the school was effective. Schools were focused on converting the Indians and providing a strong Christian education. By the late 1800s, as the attendance grew, Indian children were forced were forced to work.

Allotment

The Dawes Act of 1887 gave allotments of once tribally-owned land to Indian families, which received 160 acres of land. Leftover pieces of land from the Dawes Act were then sold at very cheap prices, essentially taking land from the Indians and giving it to white Americans.

Bureau of Indian Affairs

The government agency that deals with Native Americans and now protects their rights. On reservations, the BIA supply tribes with food and other things. The BIA was often seen as corrupt because agents from the BIA stole from reservations.

Termination

This strategy was used by the U.S. government to deal with the Indian Problem. Native Americans were stripped of their tribal identity and status, and tribes were completely terminated by the government.

Relocation

This strategy was used with the termination strategy by the U.S. government to deal with native Americans. After tribes were terminated, individuals in that tribe were relocated to major cities such as Cleveland.

1890

Wounded Knee Massacre