I. Continuity and Change: What Came Before 1880-1910 (60)**
A. Indian Wars
Great Sioux War of 1876-1877: Battle of Little Bighorn, Custer’s Last Stand, also called Black Hills War
1890 Massacre at Wounded Knee
Minor engagements/skirmishes continued into the 1920s
Date / Name/Location / CombatantsOctober 5, 1898 / Battle of Sugar Point: Leech Lake, Minnesota
1907 / Four Corners, Arizona / Two troops from Fort Wingate skirmish / with armed Navajo men
March 1909 / Crazy Snake Rebellion, Oklahoma
January 19, 1911 / The Last Massacre Washoe County, Nevada / killed 4 ranchers / Shoshones and Bannocks
February 26, 1911 / Battle of Kelley Creek / posse / Killed 8 involved in Last Massacre 4 captured
March 1914 – March 15, 1915 / Bluff War, in Utah / Mormon settlers. / Ute
January 9, 1918 / The Battle of Bear Valley Bear Valley, Arizona / United States Army forces of the 10th Cavalry / captured a band of Yaquis
March 20–23, 1923 / Posey War in Utah / Mormon settlers / Ute-Paiute
B. Allotments and Dawes, Burke
Dawes Severalty Act of 1887
Curtis Act 1898 timetable for dissolution of tribal gov’t
C. Spanish American and Pilipino Wars: integrated into white units
Spanish American War 1898: Bert Holderman (Cherokee) Roosevelt’s cook
Philippine-American War 1899-1902: Victor M. Locke (Choctaw)
D. Reservation life
1908-1913Wanamaker photography Expedition of Citizenship
1907-1930 Edward Curtis photography
1878-1923 Hampton Institute in Hampton, VA for African Americans induct Indians
1879: opening of Pratt’s Carlisle Indian Industrial Training School
“Here is the solution of the vexed Indian problem. When we can educate the Indian children, other kindred questions will naturally take care of themselves.” [Rep. Nathaniel Cobb Deering (R-Iowa)] Waterloo Courier , July 26, 1882
1900: Indian Office 20,000 Indian students in government schools
E. Federal Policies 1900-1910
1900-7 Dawes Commission
1. Burke 1906“the Secretary of the Interior may, in his discretion, and he is hereby authorized, whenever he shall be satisfied that any Indian allottee is competent and capable of managing his or her affairs at any time to cause to be issued to such allottee a patent in fee simple, and thereafter all restrictions as to sale, incumbrance, or taxation of said land shall be removed.”
2. 1903 Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock gave government the ability to ignore or nullify Indian treaties
3. 1907 Oklahoma becomes a state
4. Inauguration of Teddy Roosevelt March 5, 1905(2:05)
delegation of Indians march included the imprisoned Geronimo
F. Public Perceptions of Indians
1. Wild West Shows
Buffalo Dance (1894) from Buffalo Bill's Wild West show (0:15)
Thomas Edison's Buffalo Bill Wild West Show (3:40)
“show Indians”
William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) and his Wild West Show
Mild success till 1882, 1885 Sitting Bull joins and goes to NYC
1887: Buffalo Bill + 97 Indians to London
1889: to Paris then Spain and Italy
1891: back to England
1893: World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago
“Indians in Wild West shows were obviously the employees of white people, but their participation in these displays ran completely counter to the government’s assimilation efforts.”
Many US senators and reps decried the shows as “the drama of savagery”
1891: Buffalo Bill supposed to leave for Europe, applies for imprisoned Sioux to join him, approved
By 1900 Buffalo Bill shows became commonplace, protests died down
2. Sports stars
Football:
Bemus Pierce (Seneca), Jimmy Johnson (Stockbridge-Munsee), Joe Guyon (Ojibwe)
John Levi and Red Grange All American football 1923 both originally from Haskell
Jim Thorpe (Sauk-Fox, OK) from Carlisle
Jim Thorpe: All American (1951) (2:10)
1912 final season of football played All American against Army and one Dwight Eisenhower
1912: Stockholm Olympics 2 gold medals (1913 newpaper noted played semi-pro baseball in 1909, medals revoked, medals returned 1983)
Afterward played pro football and baseball into the 1920s
Other Olympic Indians:
Louis Tewanima (Hopi, from Carlisle) 1908 and 1912 Olympics
Charles Bender (Ojibwe, Minnesota, from Carlisle) played baseball Philadelphia Athletics 1903-1917
John Meyers (Cahuilla, California) attended Dartmouth College, catcher for NY Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers 1908-1918
3. movies
Luther Standing Bear (Sioux) acted in Tom Ince films 1910
The Mended Lute 1909 (7:43)
Luther Standing Bear (Sioux) acted in Tom Ince films 1910
The Indian Brothers 1911 (14:04)
Fighting Blood 1911(11:02)
1913 The Battle AtElderbush Gulch (19:41)
II. WWI (60)
A. Homefront
Society of American Indians (SAI)
Indian Rights Association (IRA)
Sec. of Treasury William McAdoo spring of 1917 created war bonds and stamps
Indians bought $4.6 million worth initially
2nd round-3rd round an average of $4.3 million
Many Indian women held auctions for the Red Cross
At the end and after the war the BIA increased pressures on Indians to lease “unused” land to white farmers
B. Govt:
1. Woodrow Wilson appealing to Indians
2. Western Indians and meetings with the prez/govt
3. 1912: Congress begins funding better health services for Indians
4.. 1913 US v. Sandoval
5. Society of American Indians (SAI), Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB), and Sisterhood (ANS)
6. 1917 WWI ends most public health programs
C. Military outline
1. 1916 Pancho Villa with Pershing
2. April 1917 Declaration of war
3. Debate about segregated or integrated
4. May 1917 Selective Service Act
5. 1st and 2ndCall for enrollment and issues of classification
6. support and resistance to draft
Carlos Montezuma
7. Lost on the Road in Europe: Iroquois in Germany leads to Iro. decl. of war
8. Boarding school recruitment
D. Individuals and the war
1. why join-enroll
Private employment - $91.66 a year
1st year sailor $200 a year
Enlisted army - $528.00 a year
“Why did I enlist in the army? Because I wanted to hold up my flag which we and every one of us love so much! All that was in me was to save my Country for democracy, and I am a true American.”
Feb. 1918 Francis Nelson (Oglala Sioux) sought enlistment
“In an impassion appeal, Nelson stated that he was willing to “fight for his country and willing to die … I think lots of our country for I was born here in American and being a Real American I will fight and die for it.” To illustrate his eagerness (and lend greater weight to his request), Nelson noted that “if I could only get out in those trenches and scalp a few of this [sic] dirty Germans, I would be one of the happiest Indians living.’”
2. draft issues: language, health and citizenship
Citizen criterion:
1. patents before May 8, 1906 (effective Dawes Act)
2. patents after May 8, 1906 (effective Burke Act)
3. Indians who voluntarily lived off the rez and were “civilized”
4. minor children of the above
Classes of Draft:
I: immediate induction
II-III: men who married or worked in war industries
IV: married men with children, or exempted individuals
V: special exemptions (ministers, pilots, etc)
“Crowder responded in the affirmative on September 14, 1917, stating that “Indians must be classed as white men for the purpose of this movement. What we desire is to present numbers of the African race from moving with this white contingent.”
11,803 Indian registered before September 1918
6,509 inducted, 55% of registered, 13% of all Indian Men
Only 228 (2% of registrants) claimed deferment
5,500 more men registered after September 1918 (Total Reg. 17,000 +)
Inducted after September 1918 unknown
Illiteracy, stoicism, alcoholism, were often complaints from commanding officers
3. transport, bootcamp, to Europe
Cherokee, NC to Camp Jackson, SC;
Indians from OK to 4 camps in Texas
Apaches, Navajos, Pueblos at Camp Cody, NM or Camp Arthur J. Jones, AZ
Northern Plains to Camp Funston, KS and Camp Dodge, IA
After training boarded trains to embarkment at New York harbor, Hoboken NJ, or Newport News VA
4.Men and women
Miss Effie Barnett (Choctaw) and Agnes Anderson (Callam) were army Nurses in France
Lula Owl (E. Cherokee) in the Army Medical Corp
Tsianina Red Feather (Cherokee) 2 brothers in Army, she sang in France
E. European distinction,Code Talking begins
Prvt. William Stoneburner, Comp F 166th Regiment at Marne at Chateau-Theirrey
Crpl. John Victor Adams (Siletz, OR) 42nd “Rainbow” Division with Douglas MacArthur, wounded at Chateau-Theirrey
Srgt. Otis W. Leader (Choctaw) Battle of Soisson, Machine gunner, 16th Inf. Reg.
Accused of being a spy before the war so joins to prove his loyalty
Srgt. Thomas E. Rogers (charged Germans alone) (Arikara) Com. A, 18th Inf. Reg. at Battle of Soisson
Joe Young Hawk (Sioux)
Lt. Richard Bland Breeding along Ourcq River (Creek) killed
Srgt. John Northup (Chippewa) lost leg at Ourcq
Prvt. Arthur L. West (Winnebago) Com. C, 59th Inf. Reg. along Vesle
Prvt. John Claymore Com. K 355th Inf. Reg.
Prvt. Ernest Spencer (Yakima) Com. D, 6th Machine Gun Battalion, commended for St. Miheil offensive, Distinguished Service Cross at Theircourt
Sam Lanier (Cherokee) Com. B 315th Ammunition Train – Truck Driver
For most in WWI Meuse-Argonne offense begin Sept. 26, 1917 1st major battle
Mjr Tom Reilly“The Indians in the front ranks were thoroughly swept away,” he reported grimly. “When an Indian went down, another Indian stepped immediately to the front.’”
Robert Dodd (Paiute, NV) hurt in Lost Battalion
Physician Lt. Josiah A. Powerless, 308th Inf. Reg. 77th Division Oct. 1918 in Argonne forest
James McCarthy (Papago) Com. D 109th Inf. Reg. and Dysentery
Pooped during battle, later captured and hurt taken to camp near Restatt, Germany till end of war
Corp. Ammons Tramper (E. Cherokee) Com. I 321st Inf. 81st “Wildcat” Division at St. Etienne, on patrol got lost, Tramper got them back to base
Srgt. George Allen Owl (E. Cherokee) same unit – scout
“most famous” Prvt. Joseph Oklahombi (Choctaw, OK) Com. D 141st Inf. Reg. 36 Div. near St. Etienne – gets French Croix de Guerre
Walter G. Sevalia (Wisconsin) near Brieulles Com. F 7th Engineers
Srgt. James M. Gordon (Chippewa, Wis.) delivered his message then saved a French officer received French Croix de Guerre
Indian Aviators
Floberth (Philbert) W. Richester (OK) 7 kills Washington Sunday Star article
Ftn 37 Caroline D. Appleton “The American Indian in the War” Outlook 122 (May 21, 1919) 111
Barsh, “American Indians in the Great War” Ethnohistory 38(Summer 1991).
small # of Indian aviators
~1000 Indians in Navy
Wesley Youngbird (E. Cherokee) on the Wyoming
William Leon Wolfe (Cree) gunner Utah
F. Code Talking:
Oct. 1918 – 142nd Inf. Reg. 2 Choctaws to talk on Phone
Lt. Black conducted training afterwards
Lt. Ben Cloud (N. Cheyenne) conducted training for 41st Div.
Translation of English military language was difficult into Indian language
3rd Battalion = 3 Grains of Corn
Machine gun = little gun shoots fast
Casualties = scalps
Poison gas = bad air
Used during last two months of the war: Choctaws, Comanches, Osages, Cheyenne, Sioux
Wendell Martin and AlphonzoBulz (Osage) phone messages 36th Division
“In their discussion of Osage telephone messengers, Wendell Martin and AlphonzoBulz, veterans of the Thirty-sixth Division, remarked that the Osages “used to love to talk on our telephones and they’d talk in Osage. We used to wonder if the Germans could ever interpret those calls.” If the Germans could, they mused, “it would have confused the hell out of them.”
G. Stereotypes and Living up to them
“While the German affinity for native Americans may have continued through the war, German propaganda painted a much more negative picture of Indians than had Karl May. A piece in the Rhenish Westphalia Gazette, for example, indicated that there were no Native Americans fighting on the Western Front. Indians were dying out, the newspaper reported, and they were “thoroughly degenerated from drink” and thus unfit for combat.”
Indian Dancers: A’waTseighe (Pueblo) soldier with McKinley Two Elk (Oglala Sioux) did dances for other doughboys
Romanticized portrayal of Indians
1. ancestral fighting tactics and knowledge
2. unique physical-emotional ability to make them better soldiers
3. bloodthirsty
“A consequence of their acquiescence to the stereotypes was a causality rate significantly higher than that of other soldiers in the AEF.”
June 1919 40 Pawnee vets do a victory dance
H. Post War reception
1. back to bad and good
1918 Influenza
2. 1919 Indian Citizenship Act
3. re-enlistment vs. war bonuses
Oct. 27 1918 New York Times funeral of Allen Otterman (Sioux)
Samuel LaPointe, Headquarters, American 2nd Army
Receives discharge papers, uniform, coat, pair of shoes, bonus $60
“Former Army Chief of Staff Hugh C. Scott added that Indian soldiers “played a higher part in the war on the side of patriotism than the ordinary white man” and that “we may indeed all be proud of our red race and its record in the World War.”
Pres. Coolidge sent certificates to the 5 Civilized Tribes OK, Yumas, Sioux, Tulalip, Yakima, Warm Springs Indians; which were feted by recipients
Vets found jobs scarce at home
Full bloods tended to go back to rez more often than mixed bloods
Moses Trudell (Santee Sioux, NE) AEF 6th Div. played AEF Football
George Jewett (Cheyenne River Sioux) played AEF Football
Henry Tallman (Navajo) returned to lands to tend horses and sheep
Guy Lambert (Yankton Sioux) enlisted 1916 was stationed on Mexican border, later served as Indian police
Chester A. Four Bears (Cheyenne River Sioux) became showbiz bronc rider, tap dancer and singer, 1923 performed for Queen of England
Andrew DeRockbrain (Standing Rock Sioux) cowboy, then in 1920s moviestar with Anthony Quinn, Clark Gable, and Gary Cooper
Thomas Snow (Sioux, ND) reenlisted April 1919
James McCarthy (Papago) reenlisted on the day he received his discharge May 1919 for 3 or 4 years
“Frank fools Crow, the Oglala Sioux spiritual leader, recalled that many of the Sioux soldiers who went off to war came home wounded and crippled. “Others were physically well,” he remembered, “yet never mentally the same again.”
Some dealt with ‘maladjustment and alienation” with alcohol and drugs
Joseph Oklahombi (Choctaw) returned to wife in se OK, illiterate, alcoholism and poverty, short stint as lumber lifter by 1932 unemployed and seeking vet pension
Jesse Cornplanter (Seneca) 147th Inf. Reg. 37th Div. Meuse Argonne offensive
Survived gas attack suffered neurasthemia
Well known artist, author and storyteller
John J. Matthews (Osage) enlisted cavalry 1917, then into Aviation Signal Corps
Graduated Uni. of OK, wrote standard history of Osage
Steve Spotted Tail (Brule Sioux) enlisted 1917 42nd Rainbow division
Fred Blythe Bauer (E. Cherokee) army air corps
III. Roaring Twenties (60)
Progressive Era Indians: “Shackled by poverty and subdued by government regulations, Indians found that they were also immensely popular with the American public.”
A. 20s calamity, affluence and poverty
1918 Influenza
1919 Indian Citizenship Act
Many Indians did not receive their after war bonuses especially New York
B. Indian System
Where were Indians?
What were the needs-desires of Rez Indians-Urban Indians?
What obligations did Fed have to Rez?
What obligations did States have to Rez?
What was the status quo in each? ie conditions
1922: Bursum bill in NM to affirm non-indian squatter claims on Pueblo lands
Nov. 3, 1922 1st All Pueblo Council met to hear the Bursum bill and respond “An Appeal for Fair Play” published in papers
1923: Pueblo testimony in Congress effectively defeats the Bursum Bill
C. Indian affluence
Mildred Bailey (Mildred Rinker) (Coeur d’Alene, Washington) jazz singer with Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman and Bing Crosby, Mrs. Swing on CBS radio
Menominees in Wisconsin with help of Sen. Robert La Follette restricted timber leasing, 1904 Menominee timbering started
and 1908 sawmill in Neopit, through careful tribal management did not suffer the deforestation as it happened in other places
western groups used communal lands for livestock ventures
Wallace Altaha (Apache) began livestock venture 1890s by 1910s-1920s had $25,000 in War Bonds
Osages in OK were on rich oil fields 1900s in 3 years 50,000 barrels to 5 million barrels, even after allotment Osages kept sub-surface resource rights
Osage headrights rose to $13,000 per person in 1925
Whites often took advantage of Osage as “guardians”
Jackson Barnett (Creek) lived in Los Angeles mansion on Oil profits died in 1935 a tabloid regular
D. Indian poverty
1900-1910: allotment 6.7 million acres -31 million acres
1910-1920: allotment 31 million acres – 36 million acres
assault on land and resource base weakened ability of Indian communities to become self-sustaining leading to much higher poverty
1924: ZitkalaŠa publishes Oklahoma’s Poor Rich Indians
E. Rising Activism
1919 Society of American Indians petitioned to be included in Paris Peace Conf.
Dec. 1923 16 Arapaho from Wyoming arrived in Paris to petition for their rights (NY Times 14 Dec. 1923: 22)
Christine Quintasket (Morning Dove) (Salish) 1927 Cogawea
Luther Standing Bear (Sioux) 1928 My People
1923: John Collier and easterners create American Indian Defense Association (AIDA) to improve health care, promote arts and crafts sales, modernize government education programs
F. Fed responses
1923: Sec. Interior Hubert Work appoints SAI activist Arthur Parker (Seneca) to chair Committee of One Hundred to review Federal Indian policies does little due to weak leadership and is quickly forgotten
Virginia Racial Integrity Act of 1924
1924 Indian Citizenship Act Blanket
1926: 91 agency hospitals but barely deserved the name, no sewage and no budgets
1928: Meriam Report of Indian conditions: first report to attack allotment and boarding schools, suggested that Indian lives were inf fact not getting better but worse with federal policies
1929 Herbert Hoover appointed Charles Rhoads to Comm. Of Indian Affairs former chairman of Indian Rights Association
IV. What’s Great Dep (30)
Towards Collapse
I. The Great Depression and Present Comparisons
Get into groups and answer the following questions. Use your textbook for specific details. We will discuss the results afterwards.
1. What were the causes of the Great Depression?
2. How did Herbert Hoover handle the crisis?
3. How did Franklin D. Roosevelt initially handle the crisis?
4. What is one similarity and difference between the Great Depression and the current economic crisis?
5. What is one similarity and difference between FDR’s and Obama’s initial response to the economic crises?
II. Economic Collapse: The beginning of the Great Depression
A. Recession 1920-1922
B. Isolationism of Twenties
C. Supreme Court and Government support for business