America’s Holocaust

America’s Holocaust

Introduction

Have you heard of Pocahontas, Geronimo, or Crazy Horse? Did you know these were once real people? Have you heard of the Cherokee, Navaho, or Sioux? Maybe you have because they are the names of automobiles, but have you ever heard of the Taino?

Holocaust means “any widespread destruction.” The word comes from the Greek holokaustos, meaning “burnt whole.” This is the story most American history books leave out. It is the story of millions and millions of people who were living here when Columbus strayed into the Caribbean Ocean. It is the story of people who achieved some of the most unique cultures on this planet. It is the story of what happened to us after the Europeans came. It is my story too because I am the descendant of some of those people.

This book focuses primarily on the events that took place within the continental United States. The cultures that evolved in this area remain unique in the history of earth. Further south, indigenous people built great empires. Theirs is a different history.

I tell this story from my own viewpoint. I have listened to many and read a great deal to get this information. Yes, we made mistakes. Yes, we make mistakes. Yes, we may make mistakes in the future. Some of our leaders might say the biggest mistake we ever made was in helping the Europeans when they first arrived.

Several terms have been used to refer to the indigenous people of the Americas. Each group, of course, had names for themselves. Whenever possible, those names will be used. Until the eighteenth century, we were simply called Americans. This book generally refers to us as First Nations people or First Nations.

Too many emergency situations too close together for America’s First Nations created this holocaust. These emergency situations have been created through the mechanism of arbitrary rules imposed by various governments—European, U.S., and tribal—upon First Nations people. In order to begin to undo this trauma, we, the First Nations people, must be allowed to communicate fully and examine completely our own histories. This book attempts to begin this process.

Chapter One/Contact

There is evidence that people from Europe, Africa, and possibly Asia had visited the Americas before the 1400’s (Jack Forbes). To support this claim, there are the writings of a 4th Century Irish monk and the writings of the Vikings in the 10th Century. Additionally, there is evidence of widespread European-based plagues prior to the Spanish landing in many areas. This suggests that other Europeans, perhaps fishermen, had visited North America (Geary Hobson). Additional archaeological evidence suggests cultural exchanges between African and Asian peoples as well (Jack Forbes). However, most U.S. history books begin with Columbus’ voyage because that event sets the stage for the development of this country.

That is not the beginning of history in the Americas though. Most of our stories say we have been here since before the time that animals and people could still talk to each other. Most of our origin stories say that we either came from the stars or from within the earth (Geary Hobson). These stories are our history, and we consider them as valid as any written in a history book. We also consider that we are native or indigenous to these continents. That is the origin of the term Native American.

The Spanish and First Nations people

We did not call ourselves Indians or Native Americans. Most of us simply called ourselves people. The first people that Columbus met when he arrived in the Western Hemisphere were the Taino who had been living on the islands in the Caribbean Ocean fifteen hundred years. The year was 1492, and Columbus sailed for Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand—the rulers of Spain.

Isabella and Ferdinand had just united the different provinces of Spain after fighting many long wars against the Moors, Muslims from North Africa. Because Ferdinand and Isabella were Roman Catholics, they wanted all of Spain to be members of that religion. At the same time that they sent the Moors back to North Africa, they also expelled all the Jews or forced them to become Roman Catholic. They saw themselves as the protectors of Christianity in the entire world. This was the time of the Spanish Inquisition.

Since Ferdinand and Isabella had just completed a long and expensive war, they needed money. This is probably why Isabella gave money to Columbus for a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. Trade with Asia would mean more money for the rulers of Spain. While maps of that time were not very accurate, most educated Europeans knew there were continents between Europe and Asia. After all, writings by Europeans, who had previously visited the North American continent, did exist (Gordan).

Apparently, neither Columbus nor Isabella knew this. Columbus left Spain with three tiny ships because it was all Isabella could afford. After finding currents that would carry them across the Atlantic, Columbus and his crew finally saw land. This was their first meeting with people from the continents now called the Americas. The name America, by the way, comes from another explorer named Amerigo Vespucci who explored a part of South America now called Venezuela.

How did Columbus describe these people? Were they the “blood-thirsty savages” in Hollywood-made movies? No, Columbus found these people, who called themselves Taino meaning “good and noble people”, to be “well formed, with handsome bodies and good faces...All alike have very straight legs and no belly...very gentle” (Diario, pp. 67-71). Perhaps because of this perception of innocence, he called them yndios (De las Casas, p. 63). Many of our elders translate this term as “in God.” In actuality, the Indo-European roots of the Spanish en and dios do suggest this meaning. This is where we get the British word, Indian. Columbus knew that he had not arrived in Asia but believed that he must be close. At that time, the modern country of India was called Hindustan and the majority of Asia was called India. Columbus was very confused.

<Put in box>There are many such myths surrounding the “discovery” of America. In actuality, the inhabitants of the Americas had “discovered” it first.

When the Spanish arrived here, they were close to starvation. The Taino, who speak an Arawak language, welcomed the Spanish into their villages and fed them. At that time about eight million Taino lived on the islands in the Caribbean Ocean (Ward Churchill). This is more than most history books report. Most history books under identify the numbers of people living here to hide the crimes of the conquerors.

The Taino like other indigenous peoples of the Americas had developed “sustainable agriculture” (Ted Jojola). That means they developed ways to plant and grow crops that would feed all their people. This was basic survival for the group—to have all its members well fed. They cultivated corn or maize, manioc, sweet potatoes, yams, and cotton. They fished the waters around them. They ate shellfish, crabs, and sea turtle. Taino also kept tame parrots and small, yellow barkless dogs.

While the Spanish wanted money and wealth, the Taino put most of their energy into producing food (Bigelow et al). Whereas Columbus described them as poor because they wore little or no clothes, the Taino enjoyed a life rich in many other ways. The largest island Gaunahani—now the modern countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic—was the center of Taino culture. The Taino had organized a confederacy of five kinship nations. A cacique, who inherited his title from his mother, ruled each nation. When a cacique died, a son from one of his sisters became the next cacique. This class of people was called taino. Later, this name was extended to include all members of these nations.

Each province or nation was subdivided into districts and villages. A typical village had between 200 to 500 families. Village councils consisted of nataino. The priests came from this group. Their rich ceremonial life included both songs and dances called areitos. The priests oversaw the spiritual life of each village. Certain Taino were trained in diagnosis and treatment of physical illnesses. As with many of First Nations people, the Taino did not separate the spiritual from the physical aspects of life. For them, life was a balance of many elements, and their culture operated on the theme of cooperation. In order to maintain their high levels of personal cleanliness, most Taino bathed several times a day.

They built their villages inland and on high ground. Their houses made from natural materials were perfect for the climate, keeping the sun and rain out but letting the cool ocean breezes come through. Each round house held about fifteen families. Each person had a hammock made from cotton or woven palm strands for sleeping. They kept personal belongings on a wooden platform hanging from the ceiling. The Taino were master canoe builders. The word canoe comes from the Arawak word canoa. They carved their canoes from a single tree with some canoes measuring as long as seventy feet. With these canoes, they had migrated from the coast of South America throughout the Caribbean. Their only enemies were other Arawak speakers, called Caribs. The Caribs were a warrior society and more aggressive than the Taino (Jacobs).

While having several classes of people, all people were allowed to contribute and be productive. This pattern of cooperation is part of the reason why First Nations people lived so well. In comparison, the Europeans had developed a system where some people lived off the production of others. This is the basis for our current social class system. Within this system, often the most productive people get the least. This inequity was part of the reason for the rampant starvation in Europe at the time. Most of the Spaniards who came with Columbus would rather die than till the soil because only the lowest social strata of Europeans did this. One Taino cacique, Guarionex, offered to feed all of Europe if only the Spanish would go home. What had the Spanish done to make the Taino want them to go home? The Spanish kidnapped Taino to take to Spain to sell as slaves. In fact, Columbus was the first to enslave First Nations people of the Americas. Because of their gentleness, he thought they would make fine servants (De las Casas).

Five hundred of the best Taino were shipped to Spain. Three hundred more were given to the men who sailed with Columbus. The rest fled to the hills. Of the original five hundred shipped off, only three hundred lived to see Spain. There the remainder died within a few short years (Barreiro). Fortunately, Isabella forbade any further shipment of slaves to Spain. Instead, Columbus' men and those who came after made quotas of gold for each Taino. Seeing that some Taino wore small gold nuggets found in streams as ornaments around their necks, the Spanish assumed large deposits of gold on the islands. The Spanish coveted this gold. However, there were no large deposits of gold on the islands.

Since there was not much gold on the islands, the poor Taino could never find enough to satisfy their Spanish conquerors. For punishment, the Spanish unleashed vicious dogs. The dogs bred specifically for bringing down large game hunted the Taino. When they caught these gentle people, they shredded and ate them. Often, the Spanish cut off a foot or a hand of a person who did not bring in the quota. The person then bled to death. In one incident alone, the Spanish captured 700 Taino—men, women, and children—and stabbed them to death for not meeting their demands for gold. Under such brutality, many Taino soon lost all desire to live (Barreiro).

In the Americas, the Spanish brought with them the encomienda, a system of tributary labor originally used with the Moors that distributed whole villages to Spanish conquerors to work gold mines and till the soil. Along with the horrors of slavery and gold quotas, the Spanish brought new diseases—small pox, cholera, and measles to name a few. First Nations people died again by the thousands. Hundreds jumped to their own deaths from cliffs rather than live under Spanish rule. Hundreds more took poison to kill themselves. By 1496, just four years after Columbus landed, only one-third of the Taino were left on the island of Española (Ward Churchill).

Hundreds fled to the mountains to hide while hundreds more tried to defend their lands and their people from the Spanish. In fact, the first defenders fought against the Spanish because the Spanish had raped Taino women (Barreiro). According to European accounts, rape was unheard of among the First Nations: First Nations have always valued their women and children. After forty years of genocide, the Spanish began importing slaves from Africa to mine and to work the land. Indeed, one thing we can give Columbus credit for is beginning the slave trade in the Americas. Only a few hundred descendants of the Taino now live in the Caribbean, most of them in the country of Cuba and in Puerto Rico. Some Puerto Rican Taino have relocated to New Jersey and formed a community there.

The Spanish throughout Central and South America, Mexico, and the U.S. Southwest repeated this pattern of conquest and thievery. Las Casas, a Spanish monk protested the treatment of First Nations people under the encomienda system. Later the encomienda was replaced with other policies, but none really benefited First Nations people. As the Spanish moved north from the valley of Mexico, they encountered people who were used to determining their own futures. Theses smaller groups fought fiercely against any invaders. The Mexica or Aztecs called all these people Chichimeca. In reality, dozens of different groups lived in northern Mexico and the U.S. Southwest.

For these people, the Spanish turned to the establishment of missions and presidios. The Spanish also established the practice of moving large groups of previously Christianized Indians into these frontier areas. For example, much of northern Mexico and northern New Mexico was originally colonized by Tlascalans from central Mexico (Bannon). As a result of this Spanish policy, many First Nations people living in these frontier areas lost their traditional identities. Their descendants became the mestizos of Nuevo Leon, Chihuahua, and Sonora in Mexico and the Hispanic Americans of New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, and California.

These missions were not benign. In California, new evidence shows that those people brought by the soldiers to the Spanish missions and forced to live and work there not only died of disease but also malnutrition. The largest percentage of those who died was children. Possibly over ninety percent of all First Nations people of California were destroyed by this system (Churchill, Indians are U.S.). Revolts during this period were frequent. The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 is a good example. Following almost a hundred years of abuse and beginning with Oñate's enslavement of several hundred Acoma in 1598 for their audacity in refusing Catholicism, the Pueblos along with their Apache and Navajo neighbors united under the leadership of Popé and attacked the Spanish. Consequently, the Spanish retreated hastily to El Paso and were unable to return for thirteen years (Bannon).

In the meantime, the Spanish had softened their policies toward First Nations people. The new policies came too late and did too little to stop the destruction. The numbers of Pueblo people living in New Mexico today is about one-tenth of those living there when the Spanish first came (Terry Abeita). The Spanish attempted to exterminate all people, such as the Serí in Sonora and the Apache in Arizona, Sonora, Chihuahua, and Texas, who openly refused the benefits of Christianity and Spanish civilization. Spanish wars against the Apaches, resulting in wholesale slaughter and slavery of hundreds of women and children, reduced these peoples to the few bands remaining in the United States. Whole groups, such as the Muno, Jacome, and Jumano in Chihuahua, apparently have disappeared (Forbes).

<Put this inside a box or highlight it some way.>Criminals are people who take what others produce. They do not produce anything themselves. This is what the Spanish did in the Americas.

The British and First Nations people

The British who came to the Americas differed in two respects from the Spanish. First, they usually paid First Nations people some token amount for the land they occupied. Second, they came for the land itself. Within the British class system, land equaled position and power. To encourage others to come, the Protestant leaders used images and language from the Bible to justify the their taking the land and lives of First Nations people. They made taking the land from First Nations people a holy mission and portrayed themselves as God’s chosen people to populate this “paradise” (Hietala).

The first successful British settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia. This small colony, located in a swampy area, only made it because of the help of their neighbors, members of the Powhatan Confederacy. This powerful Confederacy represented many different nations and had a hierarchical governing structure with a de-centralized government. Each village had a representative on the council although all, including women and children, could and often did participate. Women had a strong voice and owned the property. A man's position and status was inherited from his mother. Religious leaders had great power and served as advisors to the council.

This group had about 30,000 members before the establishment of the Jamestown Colony. They were an Algonquin-speaking people. The Confederacy included approximately thirty nations, including the Pamunky, Mattapony, and Chickahominy—now primarily remembered because the local rivers bear their names. Earlier, the Spanish had visited Virginia and taken slaves. One of these escaped and returned with stories about Spanish cruelty in the Caribbean. Because of these stories, the Powhatan viewed the British with caution. The first step in learning is observing; consequently, the Powhatan observed the British.

Pocahontas was a member of the strongest nation in the Powhatan Confederacy. Her father was an exceptional leader and had spent the previous thirty years building and consolidating the confederacy to make it stronger against the encroachment of the Iroquois. The British called him a “King” and called Pocahontas a “Princess.” Actually, First Nations people never had any princesses. The next time you meet someone who is descended from an Indian Princess, you will know that is a hoax.

As a Powhatan woman, Pocahontas was free to make many decisions for herself. Perhaps, her father asked her to observe, or more likely she decided she wanted to learn more for herself. At any rate, she and other Powhatan women brought the colonists gifts of food so that they would not starve during their first winter. The British colonists were dependent on supplies from Britain. The crossing of the Atlantic from Britain was a long trip, and they had no precise way to navigate. Earlier attempts at planting a colony on the Atlantic coast had failed partly because of this inability to get supplies to the colony. Hence, the British colonists welcomed the help.

Undoubtedly, the Powhatan viewed the British with some contempt because they could not take care of themselves. Like the Spanish, the British settlers had never farmed before. They were primarily city dwellers—merchants and skilled laborers. In addition to bringing food, the Powhatan taught these first settlers how to plant gardens of corn, beans, and squash and to hunt. Both activities were new to the British: Only royalty and nobility were allowed to hunt in Britain (Rountree).

How did the British colonists repay the kindness of their Powhatan neighbors? After the success of this first colony, Britain sent more people to live on the North American continent. Unlike the Spanish, who wanted mostly gold and silver, the British wanted land. As the British always took the best land for themselves, the Powhatan began to have to defend their territory. While like the Taino many Powhatan died from disease, many also died in wars with the newcomers. For the Powhatan, fighting became their only chance for survival.

<Put inside box or highlight> In 1970, 3,000 or 1/10 of the original population of the Powhatan still lived in eastern Virginia.

What became of Pocahontas? In 1611, Samuel Argale kidnapped her and took her to Jamestown. There she received an British name—Rebecca—and eventually was persuaded to marry John Rolfe. In fact, marrying Rolfe was part of the terms for her release. John Rolfe, who receives the credit for beginning the tobacco industry in this country, took Pocahontas, whose Powhatan name was Matoak, to Britain. She never returned to her home. She died in 1617 at age 21 in Britain of tuberculosis (Rountree). Today many First Nations people still die of this European disease.

This pattern of relationship between First Nations people and British colonist repeated throughout the establishment of the British colonies. Most of New England was inhabited by Speaking-speaking people. The British took the best lands and gave First Nations people disease in return. Those who did not die of disease died in wars, sometimes between two European nations.

In 1637, the British colonists attacked a friendly Pequot village. William Bradford in his History of the Plymouth Plantation records this description.

Those that scaped the fire were slaine with the sword; some hewed to peeces, others rune throw with their rapiers, so as they were quickly dispatche, and very few escaped. It was conceived they thus destroyed about 400 at this time. It was a fearful sight to see them thus frying in the fyer, and the streams of blood quenching the same, and horrible was the stincke and sente there of, but the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice, and they [the British attackers] gave the prayers thereof to God, who had wrought so wonderfully for them, thus to inclose their enemise in their hands, and gave them so speedy a victory over so proud and insulting an enimie.

Cotton Mather, an American Puritan clergyman, wrote this of the same incident. "It was supposed that no less than 600 souls were brought down to Hell that day".

Metacom or King Philip, a named given to him by the British, was a Wampanoaq, an Algonquin-speaking people living in what is now Massachusetts. While they already had been reduced by disease, they still occupied over thirty villages in 1675. The colonists in New England deliberately instigated war so that they could eliminate the Algonquin people living in southern New England. Consequently, the Algonquin were forced to fight for their way of life, their land, and their families. The Nipmuck and Narragansett joined the Wampanoaq in this war. In August 1676, King Philip along with his wife and son were killed. The British had King Philip’s body drawn and quartered, that is dismembered by being pulled apart by four horses. They placed his head on a pole in Plymouth (Salisbury). This war destroyed these people and their way of life and made way for complete settlement of Massachusetts by the British. In addition to war, pestilence, and famine, the British also brought their notion of law. This idea was to become one of the most crippling weapons ever used against First Nations people (Lila Bird). Despite this treatment, close to a thousand descendants of the Wampanoaq still live in Massachusetts.

Some common words in American British come from Algonquin languages: opossum, raccoon, chipmunk, skunk, toboggan, moccasin, and tomahawk. Early Virginia colonists, such as John Rolfe, also became rich raising and exporting tobacco, one of the plants given them by their Powhatan neighbors. Among other gifts, First Nations peoples of this area gave the United States “Thanksgiving,” a traditional harvest festival they celebrated with their new British neighbors.

<Put in box or highlight>Like the Spanish, the British too used First Nations people as slaves although not in as large of numbers. In fact, First Nations people were legally kept as slaves in the United States long after people of African descent had been freed. Some may have been kept as slaves until the late 1800’s and early 1900’s (Geary Hobson).

The French and First Nations people

Many history books portray the French as the most benign of all the Europeans to colonize this continent. This idea rests largely on the fact that the French were soon driven out of the Americas. While it is true that the French were more ethical in matters of trade, when it came to actual conquest of land they were completely ruthless.

In the beginning, the French were interested primarily in only one thing—fur trade. Because of this, they probably contacted more First Nations on the North American continent than any of the other two major European powers, Spain and Britain. These Frenchmen traded in the Great Lakes region, up and down the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and across the plains into Colorado and Texas. The French traded guns and liquor along with things like pots and pans, cotton cloth, and metal fishhooks to First Nations people for furs. Soon First Nations people became dependent on the new things. As a result of this trade, First Nations people over-hunted their territories. When they had killed all the game in one area for their pelts, they moved into new territory. One result was more warfare among First Nations.

Like the Spanish and the British, the French also brought diseases. They also brought priests. The interference of the priests with the traditional ways of First Nations people sometimes cost First Nations people their lives. In 1626, Father Jean de Brébeut, a Jesuit priest, established a mission among the Huron, an Iroquois speaking people living on the shores of Lake Ontario in the present state of New York. He convinced them to lay aside their hostilities with their traditional enemies. The combination of cultural change and devastation by disease carried a high cost for the Huron. After losing three-quarters of their population to a series of small pox epidemics, the Huron were completely over-run by their hostile neighbors. The few hundred who survived fled into Canada where their descendants still live today.

France like Spain and Britain often used the armies of First Nations to fight each other. Such was the case of the French and Indian Wars in the British colonies. Many people died during these wars, wars that had only to do with the balance of power among European nations. The Mohecans, for example, lost many members of their nation fighting for their French “friends.” Consequently, literature declared them extinct. Today, the federal government has once again given recognition to the Mohecans. This is not the case, however, for over two hundred First Nations who have petitioned to gain federal recognition.

European nations fought whenever these powers came into contact with each other on this continent, mirroring on-going conflicts on the European continent. An instance of this occurred in 1686 when France sent Chevalier de Troyes with a handful of Frenchmen and their Mohawk and Mohecan allies to drive the British from James Bay in Canada. From there, they took the British Fort Pernaquid in Maine. In 1690, the French dipped down to Schenectady, New York, to destroy the British there. Officially, the Treaty of Ryswick (1697) had ended these wars. In reality, the fighting between the French and the British continued until 1763, just eleven years before the Declaration of Independence.

These wars destroyed many First Nations not only in New England but also in the South. In 1682, La Salle, a Frenchman, explored the mouth of the Mississippi. In 1699, Iberville, a Frenchman from Canada and the victor at Schenectady, established a colony in Louisiana. This colony put the French just adjacent to the Spanish colony in Florida and eventually brought them in contact with the British in the Carolinas. The French, like the Spanish, refused to work at all. Instead, they raided the cornfields of their neighbors to feed themselves.

Since there were few French in comparison to the Spanish and the British, France relied heavily on their First Nation allies to help them. They persuaded both the Chickasaw and the Choctaw, for example, to trade only with the French. The Choctaw, in particular, were an important military ally. They had dispatched DeSoto and the Spanish from their territory some hundred and fifty years earlier.

<Put in box or highlight>Some First Nations people living in the Louisiana area at that time were the Bayagoula, Houma, Mugulasha, Natchez, Toensas, Tunicas, and the Yazoos.

The Natchez had a highly advanced way of life. Like the Taino, they had four classes of people. They called their leader “Great Sun.” They built their villages around ceremonial mounds. Their settlement at Natchez, Mississippi, spread across three miles. Like other groups in the same vicinity, they had many cornfields and built houses with mud-covered walls and thatched roofs. The Natchez were renowned basket makers. Additionally, they enjoyed an abundance of deer and even woodland buffalo.

On the mound in the center of the village, the Natchez kept a ceremonial fire going for most of the year. They had a calendar, which may have been as sophisticated and accurate as the Aztec calendar. Periodically, based upon their calendar, they extinguished the old fires and rekindled new fires. The time in between was spent in prayer and fasting. The priests were in charge of this ceremony. The average height of a European male at the time of contact was five and a half feet. The Natchez averaged six feet tall. The French found them a very handsome people. They also admired the Natchez for their sophisticated battle strategies.

Like the Powhatan, the Wampanoaq, and the Pueblos, First Nations people of Louisiana also revolted. In 1729, the Yazoos and the Natchez attacked the French. As a result of this revolt and their on-going refusal to sign treaties with the French, the French destroyed whole villages of Yazoo and Natchez men, women, and children. Those who managed to escape death were sent as slaves to the Caribbean. Some Natchez fled as far away as to the Cherokee in the Carolinas and Georgia. This very ancient civilization of the Natchez had been completely destroyed (Woods).

<Put in box or highlight> The last speaker of the Natchez language died among the Cherokee in Oklahoma in the 1970’s (Geary Hobson).

Chapter Two

Some Good Advise

Prior to European contact, an estimated 18 and 25 million people lived in the area now called the United States (Ward Churchill). Close to a million and a half people lived in Florida alone and around six million in the Southeast (Geary Hobson). First Nations people had learned to live comfortably with the land and its various environments. They valued the care of people above anything else. Even when our ancestors signed treaties with the different European nations, they believed they were doing what was best for First Nations people to survive.

We have been called tribes because we were seen as primitive. The Europeans believed that their way of life was superior or better than ours. Of course, they never could have survived here if we had not helped them. The Taino fed the Spanish when they were hungry, and the Powhatan helped the British farm and hunt. The French were completely dependent on Indians to feed them and guide them through our lands. Our way of life suited us and helped us to survive. In reality, most of what is truly American are gifts from First Nations people. Some familiar gifts are corn or maize, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, beans, peanuts, sunflower seeds, blueberries, tobacco, chocolate, vanilla, Thanksgiving turkey, rubber, and plants that are the basis for 80% of modern pharmaceuticals.

Another gift we gave the world was the concept of democracy. Most history books talk about democracy coming from the Greeks. It is true that the word comes from the Greeks, but the ideas as enacted in the formation of the United States are ours. Actually, the U.S. Constitution is based upon the Iroquois Constitution. Benjamin Franklin consulted with some of the Iroquois leaders and began advocating a union modeled on this constitution as early as the 1750’s. Consequently, Franklin proposed that the new colonies form a union similar to the Iroquois League. Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Constitution, is another well-known U.S. leader who acknowledged a debt to the ideas of First Nations people.

The Iroquois League consisted of five nations originally—the Onandaga, the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Cayuga, and the Seneca. Later the Tuscarora were allowed to join but had no vote. Totally surrounded and out-numbered by Speaking-speaking people, they formed this league several hundred years before the British arrived. After the forming of the League, they were able to expand their territory. They survived better. In fact, the pattern of First Nations forming confederacies for mutual survival can be seen throughout the Atlantic colonies.

Within this constitution, there are many ideals found in the U.S. Constitution. Interestingly, the Iroquois Constitution guaranteed an equal voice for women and men. Even today, Iroquois chiefs are selected by the Clan Mothers. This constitution embodied the ideas of leaders as servants of the people, freedom of religion, two government houses, and a standing army. It provided the idea of states within a state. When comparing the two constitutions, it is easy to see the similarities (Fenton).

The Iroquois Constitution also provided the model for the United Nations. Both contain the idea of nations coming together to ensure lasting peace. The following two statements echo similar intent.

Iroquois Constitution

I am Deganwidah and with the Five Nations confederate lords I plant the tree of the Great Peace....Roots have spread out from the Tree... and the names of these Roots is the Great White Roots of Peace. If any man or any nation outside the Five Nations shall show a desire to obey the laws of the Great Peace...they may trace the Roots to their source...and they shall be welcomed to take shelter beneath the tree.

United Nations

We, the peoples of the United Nations, determined to save succeeding nations from the scourge of war...and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights... and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for law can be maintained...do hereby establish an international organization to be known as the United Nations.

The Iroquois League broke up during the Revolutionary War as its member nations chose different sides. Some nations sided with the British while others sided with the Colonists.

The Iroquois have reinstated their Confederacy. Today the Iroquois Nations remain nations within a nation. The Onandaga in New York, for example, issue their own passports. Their men are exempt from compulsory duty in the U.S. military. During W.W.I, the Iroquois League, as an independent entity, declared war on the Axis Powers (Momaday, et al). The Mohawk Nation now lies across international borders with part in Canada and part in the United States. Some of the Iroquois have moved to other places. For example, some Oneida now have land in Wisconsin while some Seneca and Cayuga removed to Oklahoma.

Although the numbers of First Nations people have been reduced to only 5% of their original numbers, their contribution to the formation of the United States has been tremendous. As said by C. Elmore Reaman, a historian,

Any race of people who provided the prototype for the Constitution of the United States, and whose confederacy has many of the aspects of the present-day United Nations should be given their rightful recognition (1967) (Johansen, p. 17).

According to another historian, Bruce Johansen, First Nations people are the forgotten “co-founders” of American heritage.

Sadly, while borrowing the ideas of democracy from First Nations people, the founders of the U.S. were already planning their genocide (Hietala). Indeed, part of the quarrel between the colonists and King George was over the occupation of First Nation lands. King George forbade the colonists from moving into these territories, calling First Nations people "my people." These were the very lands that the new United States first colonized.

<Put in box or highlight> The formation and expansion of the United States included the planned and systematic extermination of the original inhabitants of this country.

Chapter Three/Growing Pains

The Revolutionary War

The Revolutionary War, which gave the United States its start as a nation, destroyed its First Nations. Britain (formerly Britain), France, and Spain continued to court the loyalties of the First Nations through trade agreements. When the Colonists decided to separate from Britain, they too courted First Nations.

Most First Nations wished to remain autonomous and stay out of this fight, but they had already become dependent on trade for survival. Because of this, some First Nations wanted to stay with Britain because it was able to supply their needs better than the rebelling forces, known as Patriots. Also, colonists continued to invade the lands protected by King George’s edict, thereby creating many bad feelings toward the colonists. In the end, the American troops destroyed all First Nations in their paths whether they were friend or foe (Calloway). Many First Nations people fled to the plains, to Canada, to the Florida Everglades and even into Mexico to get away from the destruction of this war.

Ironically, part of what made First Nations so vulnerable was the adaptation of European styles in farming and the building of homes and villages. Prior to European contact, villages had been surrounded by forests and palisades, and the fields were some distance from the village itself. When attacked, they could retreat inside the protection of the village. This pattern had gradually changed. Many nations had cleared fields surrounding their villages. Some of First Nations people had started building their houses next to their fields.

When the revolutionary forces came, the women and children had to run through open fields where they were slaughtered. The revolutionists also burned all the crops, stores of food, and houses. Any people who had not been killed then starved (Calloway). This became a standard policy for the United States in dealing with First Nations people. Taking sides split communities; taking sides exploded the fragile cohesion of newly rebuilt nations. The First Nations affected by this war never regained their original populations, economies, or political integrity. These nations include the Miami, Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Penobscat, Abnaki, Oquaga, Catawba, Mohegan, Wyandotts, Ottawa, Mingoes, Chippewa, Peqout, Caughnawaga, Iroquois Confederacy, Sauk, Fox, Mdewanton, Wahpaton, Delaware, and the Shawnee.

<Put in box or highlight>The beginning of the United States was the end for First Nations people as nations.

The Effects of Trade

Part of the success of the United States was its ability to export more than it imported. In its infancy, the U.S. exported herbs, lumber, tobacco, and furs. While the French had opened fur trading with many of First Nations people, the British, Spanish, Russians, and ultimately the U.S. followed suit. This economic shift toward a trade economy greatly affected all First Nations people, including those living in Canada and Alaska—the Blackfoot, Cree, Yu'pik, and Inuit.

Originally, the Blackfoot and Cree were allies, but as the result of the fur trade—in this case the British owned Hudson Bay Company—the Cree were pushed into traditional Blackfoot territory and given more arms. At the same time, the Kutenai, traditional Blackfoot enemies, were also better armed. Essentially, the traders acted as a third party—for any conflict to continue there must be an unknown third party who promotes it.

At one time, the Blackfoot, consisting of the Piegan, Blood, and Siksiska, had been a very numerous people. They hunted, trapped and lived in an expansive territory filled with everything they needed for survival. They were gradually pushed south by the Cree, a group trading with the Hudson Bay Company. The Blackfoot, who had strongly resisted trade and its dependency, were now infringing upon other people. These other people already had traded and obtained guns (Lewis).

The Blackfoot, who had once declared their independence to the representatives of the Hudson Bay Company, now found themselves completely surrounded by groups who had traded. Consequently, the Blackfoot wound up without any allies and totally dependent on the British for everything. This dependency then shifted to the United States when the U.S. claimed part of their traditional territory. Essentially, the Blackfoot had become what they had resisted.

<Put in box or highlight>Today, there are three small bands of Blackfoot, two in Canada and one in the United States.

Most First Nations communities operated on the principles of cooperation and balance for survival. Killing to gain wealth upset this balance. One result was that the balance between women and men changed in favor of men. Due to hunting and trapping for trade, women and children were more frequently left unprotected for longer periods of time. Because of increased warfare, there were fewer men.

This may have been the time that First Nations people of the Plains adopted the custom of multiple wives. Additionally, men spent more time hunting for the traders than providing for their families and villages. Sometimes they traded for liquor, and their families went hungry. Whereas in the past First Nations people worked in cooperation, helping one another with survival, people within a nation learned to compete with each other for survival. This competition split communities. This new pattern of behavior created more disintegration of First Nations people as nations as well as individual degradation.

First Nations women lost much of their traditional status during this time. Originally, women had equal status. to men. They were the carriers of life in all senses of the word. Women had the babies, which represented the future. They gave their men everything—food, clothing, and shelter. They had their own societies and their own medicine: Women had a means of natural cleansing, menstruation. Menstruation and birthing, for example were a source of medicine for women. Men had to construct sweat huts to emulate the natural cleansing process of menstruation. Sweating for men was the counterpart to the woman’s natural medicine. Additionally, First Nations men valued women as counselors. They sought the advice of their women for all important decisions but most importantly that of making war.

All this changed when the Europeans came. Christian missionaries particularly targeted reducing the status of women. In letters, they stated that the status of women was an impediment to conversion. Consequently, they preached that women were inferior, this aberration having been introduced into Christian philosophy by Paul—not Jesus—during the First Century. Since the Europeans only traded with the men, trading also enforced the growing inequality.

Originally, Europeans had not brought their women to this continent and made it very clear that they felt treating and trading with women was contemptible. While many First Nations people resisted these changes, the Europeans were the winning personalities: It seemed that the only way they could survive would be to emulate whites. Hence, many First Nations people forgot who they were and began to act like whites.

The French and the Spanish had been the first to contact and trade with the Plains tribes, such as the Lakota, Cheyenne, Pawnee, Comanche, and Apache. The Spanish horse and the French rifle brought these warrior societies to their zenith and also sealed their doom. In the late 1800’s, the United States government would launch a cruel and bitter war against these people. These Indian Wars would give this country the phrase, “The only good Indian is a dead Indian.” Ironically, Abraham Lincoln, hailed as a humanitarian for freeing African slaves, is the president who vigorously enforced this policy.

The Removal Period

In the beginning, the United States was small but ambitious. The fledgling government used the continuous fighting among the major European countries to its own advantage. During this time, the U.S. experienced a series of rebellions and affairs as it began to define itself. Part of this definition included where its boundaries should be.

When the U.S. fought and won the War of 1812 against the British, it acquired more western territories. Since the population of the U.S. was still small, the U.S. fought this war with the help of armies from First Nations. The Choctaw Nation under the leadership of Pushmataha was one of these. Some historians give Pushmataha as much credit as Andrew Jackson for winning the War of 1812 in the southern states. The Cherokee under John Ross also supplied a large number of troops. Both chiefs served with distinction as officers in the American Army. Pushmataha was a national hero and well-loved. When he died of pneumonia in Washington, D.C., in 1824, Andrew Jackson gave him a general’s funeral. His funeral procession was a mile long. Pushmataha is buried in the Congressional Cemetery.

The British also used armies from First Nations. In the southern states, for example, the Creeks, known for their ferocity and warfare, fought for the British. Choctaw and Chickasaw armies fought and defeated them for the United States. As a result, the Creek Confederacy was broken forever. (See Appendix A for a description of the plight of the Creek Confederacy.) Further north, some of the Iroquois Nations had sided with the British. The Mohecans helped the U.S. army fight them. This was also the time of the Louisiana Purchase (1803). This purchase was made without consulting First Nations people who were already living there. Such is the history of the formation of the countries of the Americas. Even as the U.S. was forming itself, its leaders had decided that they could not live with First Nations people (Hietala). Settlers into the new territories also demanded First Nations people be removed.

Originally, the Choctaw Nation had occupied two-thirds of the present state of Mississippi, the eastern part of Alabama, and a section of Louisiana. By the time the U.S. had formed itself, 90% of First Nations people living in these areas had died of disease and war. At the time of removal, the Choctaw Nation contained three districts; each district had an elected leader called a mingo and its own council. Each Choctaw also had membership in a clan inherited matrilineally. In fact, Choctaw women owned virtually all real property, such as land and houses. Men only owned personal property. This system was also true for many Southeastern nations, such as the Creek and the Cherokee. Because of this close friendship between Pushmataha and Andrew Jackson, the Choctaw were both surprised and hurt to learn that Jackson had targeted them for removal from their ancestral homes. The Choctaw, who had never fought against the U.S., became the first to be removed from their ancestral lands.

<Put in box or highlight> Treaties between the U.S. and First Nations recognized them as nations. This practice, begun by the British, was continued by the U.S. These treaties along with the their indigenous status still serve as the basis for the special status of First Nations people today. In these treaties, First Nations people are referred to as Indians.

Through a series of treaties, the Choctaw had already given up twelve million acres, or one-half of their land. This land was needed to expand slavery. Beginning with the Treaty of Doak’s Stand in 1820 and ending with the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830, the Choctaw were persuaded to trade all their land in Mississippi for land in the newly formed Indian Territory. In the same year, Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act. (See Appendix B for a copy of this Act.) This law required the re-settlement of all First Nations people to west of the Mississippi. One primary purpose of the law was to open land for expansion of slavery (Hietala). The new state of Mississippi pressured the U.S. government very hard for a land swap. The Choctaw still owned some of the richest bottom land in Mississippi, making them one of the richest nations in North America. Most of this land later wound up in the hands of speculators who made a fortune off its sale and, then, reinvested in slaves for their own plantations.

In those days, states had more power than they did today: They had their own armies, or militia. To persuade the Choctaw to leave, the state of Mississippi passed a series of anti-Indian laws and used their militia to seize Choctaw land illegally. The U.S. government did nothing to protect the Choctaw. The Choctaw would have been forced into a war if they had not decided to leave. Since the Choctaw leaders did not want to see their people killed, they agreed to move west (De Rossier).

The Choctaw were only the first of many nations to be removed. Soon most First Nations people living east of the Mississippi River, an estimated 70,000, were pressured to move to Indian Territory. Some groups such as the Onandaga in New York managed to hang onto their land. Most of the New Britain groups had already changed to the European style of settling into townships with individual ownership of land. This gives the appearance that there are very few First Nations people living today in many of these states.

According to the terms of the 1830 treaty, one-third of the Choctaw Nation were to be ready to remove by the fall of 1831. Approximately 4,000 Choctaw gathered in October to begin the 550 mile journey to Indian Territory. What followed has to be one of the ugliest betrayals in U.S. history. The U.S. government had promised the Choctaw wagons, blankets, and food for their journey. The U.S. Army conducted the removal of this first group of Choctaw. First, the Army did not have enough wagons. Consequently, many Choctaw were forced to march into the worst blizzard the South had ever seen.

They had been issued only one blanket per family. As it was the custom of the Choctaw for the elderly and the children to stay indoors in “hot houses” during the winter, most of the children were barefoot and the younger ones were naked. Believing that each would be issued a blanket, the Choctaw were completely unprepared for cold weather. All the extra blankets, all the tents, and most of the food had been sent on to Fort Smith, Arkansas, at the end of their journey. Meanwhile, two hundred Choctaw were caught without food and blankets while standing chest high in freezing water in Louisiana swamps. This pattern repeated itself with subsequent removals of Choctaw.

Because of poor planning, many Choctaw, mostly the old and the young, died. An estimated one-third to two-thirds of the Choctaw Nation perished during removal. Interestingly enough, Secretary of War John C. Calhoun, who oversaw the removal of First Nations people, also advocated the removal of all people of African descent to Africa or South America. Some Choctaw remained in Mississippi. Most of them were cheated from owning land by an Indian Agent named John C. Walker. Walker told many Choctaw that he was writing their names on the list when he was not. Those Choctaw who did get their names on that list later lost their land when the state of Mississippi passed a law forbidding any Indian from inheriting property.

Until the early part of this century, the Choctaw in Mississippi lived as sharecroppers. They applied for and received federal recognition during the twentieth century and have a small reservation in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Today, the Mississippi Choctaw are recovering and are the single, largest employer in that state (Shelby Tallchief). After the peaceful removal of the Choctaw, the Creek were next. They had already been decimated by wars with their white neighbors for a couple hundred years and forced off their ancestral lands by white slave-owners. The same men who had forced them off their lands handled their removal. About a thousand drowned in icy waters when a drunken pilot ran the steamboat transporting them into some rocks (Geary Hobson).

The Seminole, another Southeastern group, had originally been part of the Creek Confederacy but had relocated to Florida. When Florida had belonged to Spain, that protected them for awhile from slavers. To gain their freedom, many runaway slaves went to Florida and married into the Seminole Nation. Armed slavers and sometimes soldiers forced Seminole of African descent back into slavery. Many Seminole hid in the swamps to keep their freedom. In fact, hunting the Seminole proved to be one of the most expensive wars ever fought by the U.S. Those who were caught were shipped to Indian Territory in chains. One of these was Osceola, who had fought the U.S. because the soldiers took one of his wives of African descent to be sold into slavery.

The Cherokee, although well-educated, prosperous., and peaceful, were forced off their ancestral lands in North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee at gun point when gold was discovered there. The Cherokee call their removal “The Trail of Tears.” An estimated one-third to one-half of the Cherokee died during this removal (Paul White Eagle). The only major Southeastern group to avoid these tragedies were the Chickasaw, who removed themselves at their own expense in 1836 (Geary Hobson). The Choctaw and Cherokee rebuilt their nations in Indian Territory. They published newspapers and built schools. The treaties promised them the land for “as long as the grass grows” or forever. It turned out “forever” was just around the corner for these First Nations.

In 1907, the U.S. admitted the once Indian Territory as the state of Oklahoma. By this time, the number of whites and blacks out-numbered First Nations people. This pattern for admission of new states was repeated for both Arizona and New Mexico. Except in those cases, they weren’t admitted until the number of English speakers out-numbered the Spanish speakers.

<Put in box or highlight> The U.S. simply legislated some of the greatest nations of North America out of existence. Despite these efforts to eradicate First Nations people, Oklahoma has the second largest First Nation’s population in the U.S. The Cherokee have the largest enrollment of any Indian group in the U.S., and Choctaw is the seventeenth largest language group in this country.

Chapter Four

Prisoners of War

For the next hundred years, First Nations people continued to suffer degradation and further devastation. It seemed First Nations people could do nothing to win. Whatever it cost, some white Americans intended that the United States would belong solely to them. Again, First Nations people died by the hundreds. Those who survived had their land swindled, their children stolen, and their spirit crushed. As a result, the 1920's found First Nations people at their lowest ebb. Our numbers fell to about a quarter million, and most of us lived in poverty. This period starts with what is often called the Indian Wars and ends with the Indian New Deal.

The roots of the on-going conflict lay in the dim past of both peoples. White Americans are descended from Europeans who long ago had developed the philosophy of "hit them as hard as you can." They are the offspring of people who had to fight their way into every inch of land they had ever occupied as they swept westward from the Ural Mountains. Wave after wave of refugees flowed before some new conqueror or war until they spilled into the ocean and landed here. These new people had a lust for land that none of the First Nations people could possibly understand. Europeans also brought with them a way of life that allowed a few to live off the production of many. These Europeans brought with them cultures laden with excesses. One of these was drinking.

First Nations people, whether sedentary or nomadic, had developed survival strategies that balanced work with play and sport. The concepts of balance and harmony are basic to most First Nations. Within our cultural frameworks, all First Nations people are allowed to contribute and participate. Among First Nations people, giftedness is defined as sharing an expertise with others (Mary Romero). Within this context, for example, a woman who makes good piki bread will be asked to prepare it for a special feast. A good story-teller will be invited to tell a story; a good singer will be asked to sing in a ceremony. Traditionally, leaders were those who took the most responsibility for their own people, who contributed the most, and who lived their lives in balance. These leaders, however, had no power to command. In a true democratic fashion, they served the decisions made by the majority.

For First Nations, all aspects of living involved spirituality. Spirit is senior to physics. This was and remains at the core of our ability to survive. It is part of remembering who we are. In some respects, our cultures are more similar in principle to Asian cultures than European. However, we differ in one main area, the sense of having been given a special and ancient trust to care for the land and to keep the universe whole (Donna Pino-Martinez).

Our warfare too was governed by the same general principles. For the most part, warfare was a game of skill as much as anything else. With only a few exceptions, excessive killing, like excessive wealth, was considered an aberration. Where there were heavier concentrations of people, more conflicts occurred. However, warfare was primarily used to maintain a balance of power among various nations living in the same region. Prior to European contact, First Nations people were more likely simply to move rather than engage in long term fights over territory. Among some groups, disputes might be decided by ball games. European history, on the other hand, is littered with centuries of blood feuds, holy wars, enslavement of people, and genocide.

In 1848, the United States began the completion of its "Manifest Destiny," a phrase coined by John O'Sullivan about 1787 and preached by all the leading political leaders after that. This doctrine represents a conversion of the religious beliefs of the promised land to civil purposes. Within this concept, the leaders of this country envisioned the United States occupying at least all of North America and possibly South America as well.

Parts of this vision were later abandoned for various reasons. One reason was that the Canadians had no interest in becoming American. For another reason, only twenty percent of the land in Mexico is arable. With the notable exception of the isthmus of Panama, Central and South America seemed too remote and had no abundance of known natural resources (Hietala). To create this “manifest destiny,” the U.S. annexed Texas in 1845 after a handful of Americans and mostly Hispanic Texans had defeated the Mexican army for control of that vast territory. These Hispanic Texans were for the most part the descendants of First Nations people who had been missionized by Spanish priests.

The U.S. then seized California and the Southwest at the end of the War with Mexico (1846-48). During the same time, it resolved its boundary dispute with Great Britain and gained the Pacific Northwest. While it had gained vast territories rich in mineral deposits, particularly gold, First Nations already occupied this land. This was a problem to a country eager to build itself into a world power. The U.S. solved this problem by encouraging Europeans to immigrate and sending the new immigrants immediately to the newly acquired territories.

Because of this unyielding drive for expansion, the next thirty to forty years were to be some of the saddest for First Nations people. This is the time of the Indian Wars. This is the time we were held as prisoners of war, starved, and force-marched to concentration camps. This is the time when our great leaders were tricked and murdered or imprisoned. The United States itself was engaged in a bloody civil war during this period. First Nations people were seen as just another impediment to making a great and united country. First Nations people simply did not fit into the political and economic scheme.

The driving political force was gaining territory for the purpose of making the U.S. a world commercial power. Following this plan, the period between 1820 to 1920 saw the U.S. gain vast territorial holdings, including islands in the Caribbean and Pacific. The U.S. favored rapid construction of a transcontinental railroad, a coast-to-coast telegraph, government subsidies to shipping companies, a policy of cheap lands, and liberal immigration and naturalization laws—all of which spelled the end of very workable indigenous technologies.

During the early 1800Õs, racism governed internal politics. Some politicians, particularly Southern, argued for the removal of all “people of color.” Additionally, Robert J. Walker, Senator from Mississippi, made a fortune off the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek and Choctaw land and had re-invested it in African slaves. At the same time, some unknown number of Choctaws and other First Nations people were held in bondage in the South. Walker had this to say in the 1840's about the future of this country if slaves were freed.

...the poor house and the jail, the asylums of the deaf and dumb, the blind, the idiot and insane, would be filled to overflowing if indeed, any asylum could be afforded to the millions of the negro race [did Walker make a differentiation among people of color] whom wretchedness and crime would drive to despair and madness (quoted in Hietala).

Additionally, these same politicians complained that the lands belonging to First Nations people and First Nations people themselves prevented them from expanding as they needed. Basically, the Democrats looked to an expanding western frontier as a dumping ground for First Nations people.

Most of the land occupied by First Nations people was rich in natural resources. Because of this and racism, First Nations people became on-going targets of suppression and genocide. Seward, Secretary of State, under Lincoln and Johnson stated the position of White America in 1854.

...the nation that draws the most materials and provisions from the earth, fabricates the most, and sells the most of productions and fabrics to foreign nations, must be, and will be, the great power of the earth (Paolino).

This was the "manifest destiny" of this new nation. First Nations people had to be contained, removed, reformed, or annihilated so that the U.S. could prosper. The U.S. was also in a fever to legitimize their title to the land by having First Nations people give up their claims and to settle for money instead of their traditional stewardship.

Consequently, generals were ordered to expedite treaty negotiations (Ellis, 1970). Territorial Governors wanted all problems with First Nations people handled quickly and permanently. To make this happen, the U.S. continued its previous policy of taking land by force after tricking some of First Nations people into signing treaties. Any First Nations people who opposed the U.S. were killed or imprisoned. Once the U.S. had a treaty, First Nations people were placed on small pieces of land, often under guard, and allowed to starve slowly to death.

<Put into a box or highlight> Governments that rule another country or colony are called imperialistic. Imperialism as policy is how the U.S. became a world power.

The reservation system was the preferred manner for handling the "hostiles." Under this system, First Nations people had limited land. It was often land that no one else wanted. This policy allowed the U.S. and private industry and business to own the better land. Additionally, First Nations people who managed to survive the sweeping epidemics of small pox, cholera, whooping cough, and typhus were to be pushed rapidly into the current culture of the U.S. as Christian farmers. Most of their sovereignty and dignity as a people was systematically stripped from them.

This process began in the Pacific Northwest with the Walla Walla Council of 1855. At that time, Isaac I. Stevens, Governor of the Northwest Territories negotiated a treaty with the Nez Perce, Cayuse, Yakima, Wallawalla, and Umatilla. He originally proposed two reservations. The first in Nez Perce country would include the Spokane—not at the treaty negotiations, Cayuse, Wallawalla, and Umatilla. The second reservation was to include all tribes along the Columbia River from the Dalles to the Okanogan and Colville Valleys. Most of the groups included in this second reservation were not invited to the council .

Delegates were pressured to "hurry up" and sign. First Nations men, who the U.S. had designated as chiefs, such as Lawyer—a Christianized Nez Perce, were bribed with special concessions. Many details of the treaties were never translated for the signers. In the end, however, the Umatilla managed to negotiate their own reservation separate from the others. The remainder—the Cour D'Alene, Jusa, Tutinti, Alesea, Tenino, Spokane, Kalespel, Methow, Palus, Cowlitz, Chehalis, Quinault, Nisqually, Squamish, and Makah to name some—were rounded up and removed from their homes.

In 1851, 6,500 Sisseton, Wahpaton, Mdewakanton, and Wahpekute—collectively known as the Santee—under Little Crow had agreed to live on a reservation ten miles wide in the valley of the Minnesota River. This treaty cleared title to about 24 million acres. However, by 1862, conditions had became intolerable. This band of Sioux or Dakota had given up their traditional hunting patterns and agreed to stay on their designated land. In return, the U.S. government was to supply them with food, blankets, and other necessities to live on until they could become self-sufficient farmers. Additionally, they were to receive cash payments. (See Appendix C for a copy of the treaty.)

For two years, Thomas Galbraith at the Redwood Agency, the Indian Agency for that reservation, had refused to release their supplies until their annuity or cash payment also came in. First Nations people didn’t understand this because most of the money went to local traders, who had required an agreement to have debts paid from the annuity moneys. Local traders also refused to issue credit to the starving group. When Little Crow complained that his people were starving, Andrew Myrick, a trader, callously said, "Let them eat grass and dung."

On August 4, hungry Santee broke into the agency warehouse for their provisions. On August 17, a group of young hunters from the reservation killed five whites. Fearing reprisals, feeling betrayed, and watching his people starve, Little Crow—at the prompting of his warriors—led a retaliation against the white population. Their intention was to restore some of the balance, to get enough food to feed themselves, and draw some attention to their plight. Because most of the immigrants in Minnesota were Scandinavian with no understanding of frontier life, the Sisseton, Wahpaton, Mdewakaton, and Wahpekute easily swept through their settlements, burning and killing and forcing the remainder to flee. This hostility lasted about a month. After this bloody melee, the bulk of the Santee surrendered because the women and children were still suffering.

General Sibley, who claimed $145,000 from the moneys promised the Sisseton, Wahpaton, Mdewakanton, and Wahpekute (Utley), wanted to punish them and make them afraid to ever attack an American again. He tried and convicted 306 Santee warriors for the crime of murder. However, President Lincoln insisted on reviewing the court records personally. In the end, 36 were hanged for the crime of fighting back. The Minnesotans, most of whom had just recently come from Europe, insisted that all First Nations people be removed from Minnesota. Minnesota had been the traditional home of the Sisseton, Wahpeton, Mdewakanton, Wahpekute, Ojibwa, Sauk, Fox, Winnebego, and the Iowa, some of whom had already removed earlier. The U.S. government conceded. Sadly the Sisseton, Wahpaton, Mdewakanton, Wahpekute, and the long peaceful Winnebego had to leave their homes.

The U.S. government placed some of the Sisseton, Wahpaton, Mdewakanton, and Wahpekute on a reservation at Crow Creek on the Missouri River in South Dakota and others at the Devils Lake Reservation in North Dakota. Some managed to stay in Minnesota, and a fourth group gathered at the Flandeau Colony in South Dakota. The Crow Creek Reservation proved very unsuitable, and many died from malnutrition, starvation, and disease. Those that survived moved to land near the mouth of the Niobrara River in Nebraska (Ellis, 1970).

<Put in box or highlight>Dividing us is still one of the strategies the U.S. uses to keep us weak.

At the same time in the territory of New Mexico, the United States became embroiled in a centuries-old dispute between the Spanish New Mexicans and the Navajo or Diné. For a long time, the New Mexicans had been stealing Diné women and children to be used as slaves. A teenage Diné boy or girl would sometimes sell for as much as $200. These Diné were not just sold in New Mexico, but many were taken into Mexico and sold there. Hundreds of Diné children had been taken.

<Put in box or highlight> Indians remained as slaves in parts of New Mexico through the end of the nineteenth century.

At the same time, some Diné raided the farms of the New Mexicans and the Pueblos. They raided all the way from Questa and Rio Costillo and Tesuque Pueblo in the north to Corrales and Isleta Pueblo in the east. While they took mostly horses and corn, they occasionally took women and children as well. The Diné felt their actions were justified to restore balance among the groups.

The U.S. sent James Calhoun to be the new governor of the territory of New Mexico. James was cousin to the same John C. Calhoun who had cheated the Choctaw and advocated removal of all people of color. James Calhoun took the side of the New Mexicans against the Diné. To make matters worse, he used militia made up of the very men who had enslaved the Diné. In 1849, Calhoun met with several Diné leaders and told them that they would have to stop raiding. In return, he promised he would stop the New Mexicans from stealing Diné children.

The Diné, meaning People, are organized around a dual clan system. A child's primary clan comes from his mother. His secondary clan comes from his father. A Diné introduces him/herself by saying, "I am born to (the name of mother's clan) people and I am born for (the name of father's clan) people. This tells the other person many things, including whether or not they were related to each other. In the Diné way, all members of the same clan are related. Clan membership and families constituted the primary organization for Diné.

In those days, usually the women owned the hogan, the sheep, and the fields. Men owned personal property, which often included jewelry and horses. Husbands managed their wife or wives' property. The Diné also occupied a large area, and they had no single governing body. Diné highly value and respect each individual's right for self-determination. Not all Diné lived the same way, and raiding for some Diné was an important part of their survival. The U.S. wanted to treat Diné as a nation and get the signature of a few men on a treaty. In reality, these men could only speak for themselves and no one else. The Diné tried to tell the Biligáánas or white people this, but they would not listen. During the negotiations, the soldiers, made up of mostly New Mexicans, fired on the Diné delegation. They killed Narbona, one of the most respected of the Diné.

<put in box or highlight>Killing or imprisoning our strongest leaders is another of the strategies the U.S. still uses to keep First Nations people under control.

After this, the Diné went home. Most of the Diné probably knew nothing about the agreements made between the U.S. and some of the leaders. While the peace lasted for a short while, the New Mexicans and Diné soon continued their previous activities. The U.S. did not stop the New Mexicans from stealing Diné children, and some Diné continued to raid.

By the 1850's the New Mexican population had grown and fanned out westward and northward from the Rio Grande corridor. This put some of them close to the territory traditionally belonging to Diné. For fifty years, the Diné had successfully contained the westward expansion. Both New Mexicans and Pueblos complained loudly to the new U.S. government about the Diné. Consequently, the U.S. established Fort Defiance in the heart of Diné land in 1851. This seemed to be working for awhile. More and more Diné drifted in to find out what the Biligáána were about. The Indian agent, Captain Henry Linn Dodge, traveled among them without fear and persuaded them to keep the peace. Also, the new territorial governor, Meriwether, was able to see all sides of the issues. This fair treatment persuaded most Diné to honor the treaty.

This peace was shattered, however, when the Territorial congress decided that there was no Indian land in New Mexico, thus allowing the New Mexicans to move their flocks onto traditional Diné land. Again when First Nations people tried to fight back, they were punished. In 1863, General Carleton ordered Kit Carson to "hunt and kill" all Diné. This Carson did. He and his troops killed men, women, and children indiscriminately. His troops trampled, burned, or consumed all Diné crops. They burned every hogan. They slaughtered every head of sheep. At the same time, Carson allowed the Ute to continue to steal Diné women and children.

During the winter, Diné warriors retaliated, stealing many of Carson's horses and killing some of his men. Unfortunately, the warriors were not able to feed the women and children. When the Diné finally began to surrender, they were starving and freezing. All their hogans and crops had been destroyed, and they were without winter clothing. This treatment of the Diné eventually destroyed the careers of both Kit Carson and General Carleton (Trafzer). Once they realized they would not be shot when they surrendered, about 8,000 or half the Diné surrendered. Upon surrender, they became prisoners of war (Leonard Tsosie).

It was winter. As usual the U.S. government had underestimated the numbers of First Nations people and did not have enough supplies to feed and clothe them. There was little or no shelter. Many Diné died of exposure. When the food came in, it was often spoiled. This caused more deaths and suffering. Epidemics of small pox, cholera, and other diseases swept through the malnourished Diné. In the spring, the Diné were removed in groups of 400 and force-marched under guard for over 300 miles. Stragglers were shot. New Mexicans continued to steal children even as they marched. Along the way, the Diné died of malnutrition, dysentery, and disease—there were epidemics of small pox.

The Fort at Bosque Redondo was too small for the large number. There, they lived behind barbed wire fences under armed guards. They were constantly underfed. They had no firewood for cooking so the bacon and meat they received had to be eaten raw. The water was not suitable for drinking. The land could not be farmed. About one-third to one-half the Diné died during this time. Today at Bosque Redondo—now a state monument—there is little mention of this travesty. The numbers of Diné who died there is under reported.

Some Diné refused to surrender. Manuelito was the most famous of these. Because the Holy People had given the land to the Diné, he said he could not leave it. However, his relatives were starving, and finally even Manuelito took the long walk to Hwééldi, the Diné word for Bosque Redondo. After five years of confinement, a group of Diné head men—Manuelito, Narbancito, and others—went to Washington, D.C. to talk to Andrew Johnson. They wanted to go home. In June, 1868, the treaty was finally signed, and the Diné began their long walk home. Part of the stipulation of the treaty was that the Diné would send their children to schools. Even today, the Diné have not forgotten that they had to give up their children to get to go home.

Chapter Five

Expansion Consumes First Nations people

The Loss of Sovereignty

The new nation was building itself and nothing would stop it. By 1871, Congress decided to stop negotiating new treaties with First Nations as nations. From that time forward, First Nations people were to be subject without their consent to one law after another (Leonard Tsosie).

<Put in box or highlight>Governments who pass laws without the consent of the people they govern are called tyrannies. The U.S. became a world power through the use of tyranny.

Any group will survive to the degree that its individual members are self-determined. On reservations, First Nations people as individuals had becomes degraded and made dependent on hand-outs from whites. No longer were they allowed to produce and contribute to their own survival. Consequently, many starved, drank too much, killed each other, and learned to forget who they were.

The pattern of planned destruction through starvation, disease, warfare, imprisonment, and relocation was repeated throughout the west. In California, Kintpuash, or Captain Jack, a famous Modoc war leader with only sixty men held off an army of about a thousand. When he and his men were finally persuaded to negotiate a peace, his warriors refused to follow him. Instead, they killed the peace negotiators. Because General Canby, one of the negotiators, was a national hero, white America rose up in a fury of revenge. This sealed the fate of the Modoc. Kintpuash and three others died on the gallows, and his head was cut off and sent to the Army Medical Museum. The remaining Modoc were exiled fifteen hundred miles to the east to Indian Territory. They have never been allowed to return to their ancestral homes (Ellis, 1972).

Everywhere First Nations people were starving, even in the frozen north. In 1879, 80% of the Inuit or Eskimo people living in Alaska Territory starved when all the walrus were slaughtered to feed growing commercial enterprises. On the great plains, First Nations people were starving. With the adaptation of the horse and rifle, they had become great buffalo hunters. However, by 1883 due to the commercial killing of buffalo, only two hundred buffalo could be found in the West. During this time, white hunters often killed buffalo simply for the hides, leaving the carcasses to rot. Sometimes, sportsmen from passenger train cars slaughtered whole herds.

Many, many First Nations people had already died from small pox, which the first whites brought with them in the 1820's and 1830's. Entire communities of the Assiniboine, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara were already gone. This left the land vacant for the new people to come in. Because of this devastation, First Nations were forced to surrender and agree to reservations. In many places, First Nations were not allowed to keep their homes. By 1859, Texas had emptied itself of all the remaining People—Comanche, Tonkawa, Lipan, Apache, and Llanero, forcing them north to Indian Territory. Many like the Waco, Tawakoni, Alakapa, and Karankawa, for example, had already been annihilated as groups. Their descendants became the Hispanics of Texas (Mapitzmitl).

In other places, men, women, and children were held as prisoners of war, and their leaders jailed or hanged. In the Southwest, the famous Chiricahua Apache, known for their raiding and warring, along with their most famous medicine man, Geronimo, were loaded into box cars—every man, woman, and child—and shipped to Florida. There over half died of disease and malnutrition. They were held without shelter in an old fort built for half their number. After about a decade, the survivors were then shipped to Alabama where they continued to die. Finally, the few survivors, approximately 196, were sent to Indian Territory.

In the early part of the twentieth century, the Chiricahua were given the choice of remaining in Oklahoma as farmers on individual plots of land or joining the Mescalero in New Mexico. However, they were never allowed to return home. Geronimo, their powerful medicine man, refused to teach his medicine to anyone else and died at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1906. The U.S. had used maximum force against him, but he was never caught. Indeed, the war against Geronimo had cost the U.S. dearly. He surrendered because he believed that the Chiricahua people could go home. He was betrayed. His surrender on September 4, 1886, ended the period known in U.S. history as the Indian Wars.

While the U.S. was busy rounding up First Nations people, one lone man changed history forever. In 1879, Standing Bear and thirty other Ponca returned from Indian Territory to their traditional land on the Niobrara River. At that time, no First Nations people could travel legally. They had to get permission from the U.S. government. <drawing of Standing Bear in court>

General Crook was ordered to arrest Standing Bear and his people. He did, and the Ponca were kept at Fort Omaha. Fortunately, the Ponca had many friends in Nebraska. With the help of these friends, including General Crook, Standing Bear filed a lawsuit against the U.S. The U.S. claimed that Standing Bear was not a person nor a citizen and therefore could not bring a case against the U.S.

Standing Bear appeared in court in his traditional dress and spoke eloquently on his own behalf. In the end, Judge Dundy rendered this decision. If an Indian must obey the laws, he must also be protected by the law. Also, the term person in legal terms was meant to exclude no one, and the Ponca were being illegally detained and must be freed. This marked the beginning of the Indian Rights Movement in this country. This victory came years after people of African descent had achieved the same status.

Re-Forming US

Those who had survived and agreed to live on reservations found their culture further assaulted through two institutions, churches and schools. Christian missionaries had been active in the territories even before the territories had become part of the U.S. By the 4th Century, Christianity had defined itself as the only true religion. Consequently, the spiritual beliefs and practices of First Nations people were labeled heathen. The presence of missionaries divided First Nations people between the Christian or progressives, meaning those who believed in learning white ways, and the traditionals, meaning those who wished to continue their old style of living to whatever extent they could. This division can still be seen today on many reservations.

Even today, religious freedom remains a problem. Sandra Day O'Conner, a Supreme Court Justice, in a minority opinion stated that guarantee of Religious Freedom only applies to large, organized religions. While white ranchers go unpunished for killing eagles who take livestock, First Nations people are persecuted and jailed for taking eagles to use in their religious ceremonies. First Nations people had to go to Congress to get special laws to protect their spiritual and religious beliefs because they are not automatically covered under the U.S. Constitution (Terry Abeita).

From 1870-1882, the U.S. government enacted a policy of dividing Indian territories among various Christian missionary groups. For the most part, Protestant groups saw this as a way to further their anti-Catholic purposes. This policy of asking the churches to become involved came about because the Quakers protested the corruption of Grant's presidency. Consequently, different denominations were asked to submit candidates for Indian Agents. This did not eliminate all corruption or bring about lasting peace. Conditions for some of First Nations people did improve, however, according to white standards. The Yakima in the Northwest were one of these groups. Under the tutelage of the Methodists, the Yakima became farmers and built schools. They were able to once again feed themselves (Utley). Now is a good time to recall that First Nations people began starving when the U.S. government forced them to give up their traditional ways. For many groups, this did not change. First Nations people were forbidden to practice their own religions. This was the expressed policy of the Department of Indian Affairs that was enforced by the U.S. Army.

Any custom which conflicted with accepted Christian doctrine of the time often became law. For instance, dancing has always been an integral part of the spiritual, ceremonial, and community lives of First Nations people. Unfortunately, many Christian groups believed that dancing was evil. Because of this, dancing was particularly forbidden. Some groups, such as the Comanche, Kiowa, Southern Arapaho, and Cheyenne, lost this tradition completely for a while. Others, such as the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Pueblo, had to hold their traditional dances in secret. During this time, a new religion swept across the plains. Based upon the vision of a Paiute medicine person, it promised its practitioners hope of returning to former affluence and balance. This was the Ghost Dance religion. The Ghost Dance religion incorporated the Christian idea of the Holy Ghost along with traditional practices.

People who danced the Ghost Dance hoped to gain great enough spiritual strength to allow them to overcome many common phenomenon experienced in the physical universe, such as starvation and disease. The Ghost Dance gave its practitioners a sense of hope. It attempted to restore the spiritual base of the lives of First Nations people. The last great massacre of First Nations people happened because they were dancing the Ghost Dance. That is the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890. Over 380 men, women, and children were slaughtered that day as they practiced their own religion. Because of a blizzard, their bodies lay frozen to the ground for days afterwards. (See Appendix D for a copy of letter regarding dancing.)

Perhaps the single strongest destroyer of the spirit of First Nations people has been the advent of schools. In an attempt to indoctrinate First Nations people, children sometimes as young as six were forcibly taken from their homes and sent to boarding schools as far away as Pennsylvania. Once there, their hair was cut and their traditional clothing burned. They were given new names, Christian names, white names. They were punished, sometimes whipped, for speaking their own languages.

<Put in box or highlight>Brainwashing can be defined as "forcing an identity beyond reason." This is exactly what First Nations people experienced in schools.

Many never survived this force and died without their families ever knowing what happened to them. Many ran away from schools. Many returned to their own people and practices, "returning to the blanket" as the whites said. Some who returned to their own people became alcoholics, thieves, and prostitutes in the border towns. Few actually entered white society. A few, however, did return to help assimilate more of First Nations people. They felt that the old ways were gone forever and the only way to survive was to become as much like the whites as possible. This is not a surprising conclusion given the amount of force that had been used against them.

Today, schools remain one of the strongest political weapons the U.S. has for destroying First Nations people. In this century, psychiatry and psychology have transferred the racist policies of early Christian missionaries to public education, furthering the forced indoctrination of First Nations children. As recently as ten years ago, I saw a white school counselor and a white teacher corner a six-year-old Laguna/Lakota boy, screaming at him that he was lying. Following the teachings of First Nations people that all life is related, he had called his dog "his brother.” The child lay with his arms over his heads, curled up against the wall sobbing.

Excessive numbers of First Nation children are labeled emotionally and learning dysfunctional (Citizens Commission on Human Rights). Because traditionally First Nation children have been raised to be self-determined and responsible, they have been particularly targeted for increasing suppression. Consequently, thousands of First Nation children are drugged in schools—“the only good Indian is a quiet Indian.” Teacher education programs teach that First Nations people cannot learn the same way as white middle-class children and that we cannot and should not achieve at the same level as our white counterparts. Teachers coming from these programs have extremely low expectations for First Nation students. Not too surprising, these students do not perform well.

Curriculums in schools for First Nation children reflect the ideals of white America. The same values that destroyed First Nations people are the same values that continue to suppress them. History books talk of First Nations people in the past tense as if all were dead while suggesting that the U.S. was right to kill First Nations people or it was simply an unfortunate mistake. <drawing of Santo Domingo child looking at a chart of the presidents>

In one on-reservation school run by a non-Indian school district, I watched a third-grader peering intently at a chart of U.S. presidents. I noted that there was not one Indian face among them. He agreed and looked back at the chart with a sigh. By only portraying the viewpoint of the conquerors, schools teach our children that the "only good Indian is a dead Indian."

<Put in box or highlight>Our children commit suicide in alarming numbers.

Accelerating Our Demise

No sooner had all First Nations people been rounded up and herded onto reservations or removed to Indian Territory than Congress changed its mind. At the urging of Christian missionaries, Congress decided what First Nations people really needed was to be assimilated as soon as possible. This was the heyday of the Industrial Age, a time of territorial and commercial expansion. To feed the growing industrialization and expansion, immigrants continued to flood the U.S.

To make room for this planned expansion, Congress enacted the Dawes act in 1887. This divided the land allotted to various First Nations into individual allotments of 160 acres per adult and 40 acres per child. This too was the beginning of enrollment and blood quantums. Blood quantum is perhaps one of the most insidious racial policies ever enacted against a people (Nantinki Rose). Under this system, a person is labeled according to the perceived quantity of “blood” inherited from a First Nations ancestor. This system has further divided First Nations people along racial lines. These policies have worked as a double-edged sword, reducing both our land base and officially our numbers. First Nations people are the only people in the U.S. who have to prove racial identity and are required to have special ID or papers to verify that.

In 1887, the Five Civilized Tribes—the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole—sent delegates to Congress to lobby against this legislation, arguing that this would completely undermine the economic future of First Nations people. Because of their eloquence and perceived level of “civilized state,” they had been originally exempt. In 1898, however, the Curtis Act corrected this oversight, and the U.S. government began the dismantlement of these nations. After allotment, any excess land was to be sold, thus opening more land for white and black settlers. The U.S. government was moving First Nations people further and further under the law for the common good. They were moving them from their treaty status as separate nations to a status similar to resident alien. This dual attitude continues to create imbalance in the lives of First Nations people.

To further erode the land base of First Nations, Congress allowed leasing of Indian land in 1891. This meant that the land would no longer be held in trust for First Nations people. In 1902, Congress authorized Indians to sell inherited lands. In 1906, the Burke Act enabled the Secretary of the Interior to decide when Indians were competent to receive title to their allotments and manage their own affairs (Ellis, 1972). All this plunged First Nations people into landlessness and poverty. Most of the land First Nations people held was no good for farming and would not support them. Among the Santee—the Sisseton, Wahpaton, Mdewakanton, and Wahpekute—for example, only one-third of the land would support the families living on it. During this same period, the Lakota in South Dakota lost two-thirds of their reservations.

Many First Nations people had no concept of individual ownership, did not read, did not understand taxes or white laws. One good example of the devastation created by this legislation is the case of the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho. Originally, they had been given a small reservation in Kansas in 1859. When gold was discovered in 1861, they were pushed into a small, barren reservation in Southeastern Colorado. In 1869, they moved and settled on the North Canadian River in Indian Territory.

When the Dawes Act was passed, most of them still practiced their traditional ways, including having multiple wives, medicine making, and group property. Each adult received an allotment of 160 acres and each child an allotment of 40 acres. These allotments were held in trust for only 25 years. The U.S. then purchased the surplus lands for one and a half million dollars. One million was deposited into the U.S. treasury at 5% interest and the rest was to be distributed to members in two payments. By 1901, whites had acquired 2,000 of 3,293 allotments (Ellis, 1972).

This pattern was repeated all over the former Indian Territory. As an additional burden, land belonging to First Nations people was assessed higher for tax purposes than land owned by whites. They also paid higher interest rates for loans. Without funds, First Nations people were unable to purchase tools and equipment for farming the land. Finally, First Nations became a minority surrounded by a hostile and dangerous majority. Linda Hogan portrays this situation in her novel Mean Spirit.

Chapter Six

Manifest Destiny Completed

By the 1920's, only about a quarter million First Nations people were left, at least according to the U.S. Many First Nations people were recorded as “mulatto” during this time. Most had been reduced to abject poverty. First Nations people still died in great numbers of disease. The drunk Indian with his slovenly squaw had become stereotypes. Segregation laws in the South with separate bathrooms and drinking fountains for Colored created continuing discrimination against First Nations people. Even where there were no laws, First Nations people had to wait in stores for white customers to be served first. Many restaurants would not serve First Nations people, placing NO INDIANS ALLOWED signs in their windows.

During the next thirty or so years, First Nations people were subjected to a number of changes in policy regarding their future. One such change was the granting of U.S. citizenship. For all practical purposes, this eliminated any further need for an Indian policy as most of First Nations people could now become totally subjected to U.S. laws. However, to facilitate a complete loss of identity as a people, more policy was enacted. Two of the most devastating policies were Relocation and Termination. Relocation was the policy of offering First Nations people incentives to leave their lands and move into cities. Once again, this freed up more land for whites. Once in the cities, many First Nations people became ghettoized.

Wilma Mankiller, Principle Chief of the Oklahoma Cherokee for two terms, described this experience for her and her family. In Oklahoma, she had grown up in a close knit family among other Cherokee. She knew who she was. While the family was poor, they felt no stigma because of this. The U.S. convinced her father that his family would be better off economically by moving to San Francisco where he would receive training, housing, and subsequently a job.

Once there, they did not receive the help they had been promised. For one thing, no housing had been provided. Consequently, they were forced to live together in worse squalor than they had previously known on their own land where at least they could garden and hunt. Eventually, her father finished his training, got a job, and found them a place to live.

In schools, Wilma experienced racism for the first time. Without the support of community, Wilma soon felt dejected and alienated. She spent years regaining her own identity. N. Scott Momaday in his novel, House Made of Dawn, portrays the bewilderment of a Pueblo man who also has been relocated. This story deals with this traditional man's inability to reconcile the richness of Pueblo life to the barrenness of city life where he is disconnected from all his relatives. His reality becomes shattered, resulting in a shattered spirit.

In the 1950’s, Dillon S. Myer, Commissioner of Indians Affairs, particularly pushed the policy of relocation. His previous experience had been with holding the Japanese in concentration camps in the U.S. (Ellis, 1972). Thousands and thousands of First Nations people were moved to cities where they became disassociated with their languages and cultural values. Today the Bay Area along with the Twin Cities in Minnesota have some of the largest Indian populations in the U.S. In fact only 25-40% of First Nations people still live on reservations. As a result, many First Nations children grow up without knowing who they are. Relocation attempts forever to sever First Nations people's ties to the land, a traditional trust. In the end, many First Nations people lose themselves among the many brown faces of the city.

<Put in a box or highlight>As long as First Nations people live and still know who they are, their presence mocks a government that says it is of the people, by the people, and for the people.

At the same time, Commissioner Myer targeted certain groups for termination. Under this proposal, the lands of this group would no longer be held in trust but would come under State and County jurisdiction. The targeted group was to become a business corporation. Essentially, this act intended to and did terminate the long-standing trust relationship between the U.S. and First Nations. It also served the purpose of once again opening up Indian land for white commercialism.

The Menominee of Wisconsin were one of these groups. The Menominee may have become the target for termination because they had expelled Mormon missionaries. The senator pushing their termination was Watkins from Utah (Ellis, 1972).

First Nations people do not see forests as a resource for short-term private exploitation. The Menominee, for example, had the last expansive tract of virgin hardwood forest. It was almost a quarter of a million acres that had been carefully cultivated by the Menominee based upon traditional wisdom to allow cutting while enhancing its natural wealth. Under their management, they had more trees than when they started. Outside their land, almost all the forests are second growth with heavy soil erosion and massive reduction in wildlife.

Within a decade of termination, the county formed from the former Menominee Reservation became the poorest in the state. The Menominee had borrowed heavily to build their timber business. Because they now had to pay land taxes, they were unable to meet their payments. Termination effectively demonstrated that First Nations people could not survive if their property is taxed.

<Put in box or highlight>The sole purpose of taxation is to slow productivity, and this weapon has been used repeatedly against First Nations.

Ada Deer with a group called DRUMS led a drive for reinstatement of tribal status that finally succeeded in 1974. Today the Menominee also have a gambling casino along with their forest industry and have been able to provide much needed housing, roads, education, and health care for themselves.

Chapter Seven

Coming Into Present Time

The Continuing Suppression

In recent years, First Nations people have been the target of several special actions which have contributed to further genocide and degradation. Three of these are (1) the FBI covert operations through COINTELPRO, (2) increased racism through psychiatric and psychological abuses primarily through schools, incarceration, and Indian Health Services, and (3) increased environmental pollution on reservations.

<Put into box or highlight>Ward Churchill observes that whatever can be or has been done to First Nations people can be done to others as well. The actions taken against First Nations people are often repeated with other groups.

COINTELPRO is an acronym for an FBI Counter Intelligence Program. For fifteen years, it had infiltrated groups, enacted illegal wiretappings, committed burglaries, arson, murder, and spread libelous disinformation against many Americans. On April 27, 1971, the FBI told the American people that it had terminated this program. After this date, however, the same tactics used by COINTELPRO caused terror to reign on Indian reservations across the country. Several components contributed to the actions that culminated in the second Wounded Knee, the death of two FBI agents, hundreds of uninvestigated deaths, the jailing of Leonard Peltier, and the discrediting of the American Indian Movement—AIM.

Inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr.’s success on behalf of African Americans, the members of AIM wanted to better conditions for First Nations people. It attracted both young people and elders and represented most of the First Nations found in North America. AIM has never been one large organization but has consisted of many grassroots organizations around the United States. The supporters of AIM included not only members of the First Nations but people of various ethnic backgrounds, including ex-Viet Nam veterans, African-Americans, and Chicanos. Demonstrations were often spur of the moment and communication about these were by word of mouth.

One of its leaders was Dennis Banks, an Ojibwa/Chippewa. Dennis Banks had been responsible for organizing a program for the youth of First Nations people in Detroit. This program kept many off drugs and alcohol. He and other leaders of AIM became the target of planned discrediting. In order to bring this about, the FBI recruited a former Des Moines policeman to pose as a mixed-blood Chippewa (Ojibwa) and infiltrate AIM. This man had been fired from the police force for alleged involvement in prostitution and fencing stolen goods. He eventually rose to the rank of AIM security director and positioned himself as chief advisor to AIM leader Dennis Banks. This put him in a position to influence any decision making of the group as well as keep the FBI informed of any of the group’s plans.

The elders of Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations in South Dakota had invited AIM to help them with problems they were having. Frequently, governments on reservations have been set up and endorsed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. These entities rarely have anything to do with traditional socio-political structures. Such was the case on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations. Both these reservations were experiencing wide-spread poverty, poor sanitation, high unemployment, and high incidences of alcoholism. These were some of the problems AIM wanted to eradicate. At that time during the early 70's, Dickie Wilson, a mixed-blood, and his political appointees, also mixed-bloods, who called themselves GOONS (Guardians of the Oglala Nation) were administering the Pine Ridge reservation. Their tactics were similar to the KKK. Over 200 unsolved murders or disappearances happened on the Pine Ridge Oglala Lakota Reservation alone (Whitte). This brought the murder rate to eighteen times the national average.

Those being murdered were those who spoke against the deplorable poverty and health conditions. Often those speaking out were the elders and women. Our women have always been at the forefront of resistance. Most of these murders and disappearances remain uninvestigated or unsolved. One of the better known murders was of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash. Anna Mae was a Micmac, who had come down from Canada to help women and children with health issues. The FBI had pulled her in on numerous. occasions for questioning. Despite this fact, FBI agents claimed they were unable to identify her body. According to the FBI, they had cut off her hands and sent them to Washington, DC. for fingerprint identification. She was buried as a Jane Doe. The FBI report stated that she died of exposure. Once exhumed, she was found to have died of gunshot wounds.

In March 1973, several thousand people came to Wounded Knee, the site of the 1890 massacre. The gathering was intended to be peaceful and to commemorate the first Wounded Knee. The demonstrators were soon surrounded by the FBI and GOON Squads. Later, U.S. Marshals also joined the other two groups. Some of the participants at Wounded Knee were Viet Nam veterans. One of them described the scene this way.

Wounded Knee is in a little valley. There are three roads coming in. The FBI had one road; the Goons had this other road; and the U.S. Marshals had this one over here[pointing at a map on the board]. Back over this hill, the U.S. Army was waiting. The Goons would run back and forth creating cross-fire so that the FBI was always a little jumpy (Bob Anderson).

Many people left Wounded Knee voluntarily, but a few hundred stayed. While the U.S. thought they had everyone safely pinned down, the elders of Pine Ridge were slipping in and out with supplies at night. Even the AIM people came and went. Finally after twenty-two months, the occupants of Wounded Knee surrendered because they were out of bullets and food.

In the meantime, the U.S. had brought its most sophisticated weaponry to combat First Nations people. First Nations people, who had been defending their women and children from wanton violence, were armed with hunting rifles and some semi-automatics. The U.S. responded with small tanks and short range rockets. There was so little media coverage of this event that many of the white occupants of the surrounding area never even knew what was going on.

AIM stayed on these two reservations; people continued to die. Two years after Wounded Knee, two FBI agents were killed by an unknown person. The FBI tried to frame AIM members Leonard Peltier, Dino Butler, and Bob Robideau with these murders. All three had previous convictions, and that formed the basis of the FBI’s evidence. Both Dino Butler and Bob Robideau were acquitted because of lack of evidence. Eventually Leonard Peltier received a conviction, but only after the judge refused to let his lawyers launch an effective defense (Matthiessen).

12/14/00

Hon. Don Edwards

P.O. Box 7151

Carmel, CA 93921

As a former Congressman from California for over thirty years, a former FBI agent and a citizen committed to justice, I wish to speak out strongly against the FBI's efforts in opposing the clemency appeal of Leonard Peltier. I served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights in the U.S. House of Representatives.

I took a personal interest in Mr. Peltier's case and became convinced that he never received a fair trial. Even the government now admits that the theory it presented against Mr. Peltier at trial was not true. After 24 years in prison, Leonard Peltier has served an inordinate amount of time and deserves the right to consideration of his clemency request on the facts and the merits.

The FBI continues to deny its improper conduct on Pine Ridge during the 1970's and in the trial of Leonard Peltier. The FBI used Mr. Peltier as a scapegoat and they continue to do so today. At every step of the way, FBI agents and leadership have opposed any admission of wrongdoing by the government, and they have sought to misrepresent and politicize the meaning of clemency for Leonard Peltier. The killing of FBI agents at Pine Ridge was reprehensible, but the government now admits that it cannot prove that Mr. Peltier killed the agents.

Granting clemency to Mr. Peltier should not be viewed as expressing any disrespect for the current agents or leadership of the FBI, nor would it represent any condoning of the killings that took place on Pine Ridge. Instead, clemency for Mr. Peltier would recognize past wrongdoing and the undermining of the government's case since trial. Finally, it would serve as a crucial step in the reconciliation and healing between the U.S. Government and Native Americans, on the Pine Ridge Reservation and throughout the country.

[signature]

Don Edwards (D-CA), ret.

Member of Congress, 1963-1995

Despite this breach of U.S. law acknowledged by more than one federal judge, Leonard Peltier has never been allowed a retrial. To date, not one piece of conclusive evidence implicates Leonard Peltier in these murders. The only evidence the FBI ever had is that Leonard was in the area at the time of the murders. There is some evidence, however, that suggests one of the FBI's own provocateurs may have been involved. In present time, an unidentified person has confessed to these murders. To this date, Leonard Peltier remains jailed. At the same time that violence was occurring on Pine Ridge, Diné too were dying mysteriously. Both areas have rich mineral deposits. Thomas G. Whitte (1986), journalist, concludes "that government and industry have been in collusion in a case of outright destruction of cultures and people.”

In addition to these efforts, the multi-million dollar mental health industry has taken its toll among First Nations people. This attack has primarily been launched through the educational system. Since the introduction of ideas promoted by this industry, literacy rates for minorities have plummeted. This is true for First Nations people as well. In the 1880's among the Five Civilized Tribes, literacy rates were ten times greater than among their white neighbors. In the 1930's, First Nation children read as well as white children. Today, First Nations people have the lowest literacy rates in the U.S. Our children are our future. We can ill afford to lose them. About 44% of First Nations people are between ages 0-19. This is the population that has been specifically targeted by the mental health industry.

In 1965, the U.S. Elementary and Secondary Education Act established "special education." This new program, fueled by the pseudo-scientific rhetoric of psychiatry and psychology, costs about 31 million dollars a year. Through this program, education has been turned into a "medical problem" with disastrous. results: 70% of special education students drop out, "age out" (reach their 22nd birthday), are expelled, or leave school with unearned diplomas. First nations children are almost twice as likely to be labeled "retarded" as white children. Compare this with the actual statistics of high school graduates on reservations, 43%, and the answer to the failures becomes apparent. Additionally, many of our children are given drugs, the same drugs that consistently produce violent and suicidal behaviors. First Nations people are more likely than any other group, with the exception of African Americans, to die violent deaths or commit suicide, especially between the ages of 16-25 (Citizen’s Commission on Human Rights).

The U.S. government pays for these mental health workers not only in the schools but also through the Indian Health System. On many reservations, Thorazine, advertised as a chemical lobotomy by its manufacturer, has been the drug often prescribed to cure marijuana and alcohol addiction. Since the release of Thorazine, pharmaceutical companies have released a slew of newer drugs, all of which cause permanent neurological damage.

John Trudell, former Chairman of AIM and Ward Churchill, faculty of University of Colorado in Boulder, both cite the use of drugs as chemical warfare against First Nations people. Trudell specifically cites the spread of LSD as an example of this, believing that drug addictions among First Nations people best suit the purposes of the U.S. government. The use of psychotropic drugs funded by the U.S. further insures the chemical destruction of First Nations people. The theories fueling such abuses are the opposite of a traditional beliefs. At the core of these theories is that people are soulless, that they are biologically preprogrammed, hence having genetic limitations (cf. the two most pervasive learning theories in education--Behaviorism and Piaget Developmentalism), and that certain races are genetically inferior is evidenced by their continued primitive states, i.e., not emulating white middle-class culture.

Jim Cummins, himself an Educational Psychologist, labels these "medical" approaches to education particularly destructive to First Nation children as well as to their cultures. To further these goals, the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) recommended that school curriculums should be designed to "bend the student to the realities of society" (see definition of brainwashing) and "to promote mental health as...a means of altering culture" (Citizens Commission on Human Rights, p. 2). The national curriculum movement intends to do just this. Additionally, we have the opinion stated by Ernst Rodin, American Psychiatrist, in 1971 when he advocated pychosurgery to control violence. "The castrated ox will pull his plow" and "human eunuchs, although at times quite scheming entrepreneurs, are not given to physical violence. Our scientific age tends to disregard this wisdom of the past... “(Citizens Commission on Human Rights, 1995, p. 13).

By contrast, Luther Standing Bear reminds us that we are spirits. He goes on to say that each of us has a body, but that we ourselves are that which animates the body. He concludes by noting, that most people nowadays have that confused. Dr. William Tutman of the African American Coalition for justice in Social Policy, states: "To oppress a race, and then label its reactions as 'mental illness,' is not only morally wrong, it is criminal and a fraud" (Citizens Commission on Human Rights, 1995, back cover). While speaking of his own race, the same can be said for First Nations people.

Referrals from social service agencies and incarceration also cause First Nations people to fall prey to psychiatric abuses. Instead of improving after receiving treatment, the arrest rate of patients almost doubles and one-third commit suicide. At the same time, First Nations communities are torn apart by gang violence, fractured families, rising arrest rates among youth primarily for drug abuse, violent crimes, and thefts, rising unemployment, and more signs of cultural stress. This disintegration of culture correlates positively with the rise in funding and implementation of mental health programs.

Instead of giving malnourished children meals, the U.S. now gives them drugs. Instead of shooting First Nations people who complain, the U.S. now gives them "mental treatment." First Nations people, especially the men, are jailed at much higher rates than their white counterparts. Drug abuse and alcoholism are the two problems that precipitate these encounters. While 60% of all street drugs are being consumed by White America, 80% of those being jailed are non-Whites—African Americans, Hispanics, and First Nations people. Such targeting is the direct result of the influence of psychiatry and psychology on the politics of this nation (Citizen’s Commission on Human Rights). The advancement of commercialism and industry have been the primary motivations for the extermination of First Nations people. Mental health and pharmaceutical companies are two of the largest commercial enterprises in this nation.

Chemical warfare against First Nations people also comes from environmental pollution. The land designated for First Nations people has been targeted by commercial enterprises as sites for garbage dumps, incinerators, and nuclear waste repositories. The land held by First Nations people also contains one-third of the low-sulfur coal, 37% of the uranium, and substantial deposits of oil and gas located within the borders of the U.S. Many U.S. companies want First Nations people to let them come onto their land, strip it, and leave poisonous wastes. This has been the case with uranium mining on both Diné and Laguna lands.

After the Diné returned to the land given them by the Holy People, they prospered. Today they occupy 17 million acres or land about the size of West Virginia. There are over 143,000 people living on that land. In 1993, approximately half the population had housing without complete plumbing. The median annual family income was less than $10,000. Only about 20% had telephone service, and about half had electricity (1980 statistics). Unemployment ran about 30% with 56% living in poverty. There were only about 2,000 miles of paved roads. Most information had to go out via radio broadcasts. While economic improvements still lag, the Diné suffer from increased drug usage and violence.

In the 1930's, the U.S. government came onto Diné land and forcibly reduced their livestock, mostly sheep and goats. Because of the depression, the government could not find enough buyers. The livestock was subsequently shot, and their carcasses left to rot. This was the second such devastation of the traditional Diné way of life. After this reduction, many Diné were forced to work as laborers. When the uranium mine in the Four Corners area opened in the 1950's, nearly 3,000 Diné worked there.

The Diné lived in worker-built housing constructed of Celotex, made from compressed sugar cane pulp and usually used for insulation and sound-proofing with corrugated metal atop a wooden frame. Better housing was provided for the non-Diné workers. The workers were sent into the mine immediately after dynamite blasts while the air was still thick with radioactive dust. One Diné supervisor was informed of the risk but was warned not to tell the workers.

Many, many Diné died of lung cancer. Birth defects in that area have increased sharply as have alcoholism and drug abuse: One of the side effects of radiation poisoning is depression. Dependents of the victims did not receive any compensation until almost thirty years later (Schwab). Today there is still a gigantic pile of uranium tailings in the Shiprock area. When the wind blows, the tailings spread not just across the land of the Diné but into surrounding areas occupied by whites and Hispanics. The same is true for uranium tailings on Laguna land outside of Grants, NM.

On July 16, 1979, at Churchrock, Dinetah–Navajo Nation, New Mexico, 94 million gallons of radioactive contaminated materials and toxic chemicals spilled into the Rio Puerco. This was one of the largest spills in the U.S., yet virtually no one heard of it. This spill contaminated 100 miles of the Rio Puerco, the only source of water in this desert region. A Diné woman who was in the river bed with her livestock died of severe radiation burns. More importantly, no one could or still can use the water. In a desert, water is vital for survival for both people and their livestock. Even ten years later, radiation levels were 100 times higher than the maximum allowed under Arizona laws, which are stricter than New Mexico's.

Mining on the land held by First Nations people often follows the pattern of opening the land of First Nations for commercial enterprise—the continuation of “Manifest Destiny.” Getting tribal leaders to sign the necessary agreements followed the historical patterns of bribery, the use of whiskey, and negotiating with the more "progressive leaders," often appointed by the government. In 1948, the Three Affiliated Tribes—what was left of the Mandan, Arikara, and Hidatsa—at Fort Berthold signed away their best land for the construction of Garrison Dam. George Gillete, chairman of the business council for Fort Berthold, cried at the signing. The dam destroyed a way of life for other First Nations as well. It totally ruined the pasture land and economy of the Yankton, Lower Brule, and Crow Creek Sioux. Many people had to be relocated.

This unexamined plan for commercializing resources has destroyed centuries-old ways of life in Arizona and created a bitter dispute between the Hopi and Diné. For hundreds of years, these people had co-existed in the same area, using the same land for grazing, planting crops, and religious. ceremonies. Many Hopi and Diné families are related through marriage. Unfortunately, the joint-use land contains a great deal of coal. In order to get exclusive mining rights, a disagreement was provoked between these two nations. In the end, Congress awarded the Hopi exclusive usage of the land. As a result, all Diné, whose families had lived in the area for centuries, are being forcibly removed (Schwab). The benefactor, no doubt, has been the Peabody Mining Company.

These atrocities continue into present time. On July 14, 1996, the Albuquerque Journal reported that New Mexico had approved the strip mining of 9,000 acres northwest of Quemado. The mine will be operated by the Salt River Project to save money for Arizona rate payers. This mining operation is only twelve miles from the sacred salt lake belonging to Zuni Pueblo. All First Nations people of that area, including Diné and Apache, consider the lake sacred. The lake is the home of Salt Woman, a main character in Zuni origin stories. Donald Eriacho, governor of Zuni, had asked the state to turn down the request, citing the destruction of a religious site. Despite this plea, the plans were not altered. This mining operation will take place in an area of extreme fragile ecology. Additionally, it will disrupt the way of life of First Nations people for at least fifty years.

<put in a box>The Zuni were there when Coronado marched into New Mexico five hundred years ago.

The Renaissance

Despite the on-going suppression, First Nations people continue to survive. While an estimated 10% of Americans are descended from First Nations people (Jack Forbes), only two million still claim that identity. That there are so few of us speaks to the effectiveness of the holocaust. That our numbers are growing speaks to our spirit. Our identity comes to us through family, community, and tribal/national memberships. We do not need a U.S. ID to affirm us.

In the midst of the suppression, our own integrity has carried us through. Today we are experiencing a quiet renaissance. This renaissance takes many forms. For example, Grace Thorpe, daughter of Olympian Jim Thorpe, leads the fight against environmental abuses. She lobbies tirelessly on behalf of First Nations people. In the southwest, Lila Bird from Santo Domingo Pueblo has a non-profit research organization called Southwest Environmental Research, Inc., which gathers the latest data on environmental pollution not just on Indian land but all over the world. Lehua Lopez, native Hawaiian, has a non-profit organization entitled Native Lands Institute which focuses on preventing commercialization of Indian lands and educating the public about traditional uses. Martin Vigil, from Tesuque Pueblo and the first Indian EMT (Emergency Medical Technician), leads programs to insure that First Nations people have emergency medical attention on reservations.

In growing numbers, First Nations people are regaining control of the education of the children, either by taking them out of schools and educating them at home or through direct control of curriculums. Two such educators are Lorene Legah of Window Rock, co-author of the Beauty Way curriculum, and Herbert Lee, teacher/educator. Both use traditional Diné wisdom for the teaching of Diné children and adults. Laguna Pueblo recently has started a private middle-school that is creating a curriculum that reflects Laguna philosophy. In Milwaukee, a group of urban people have come together to start the Indian Community School.

Everywhere, First Nations people are creating cultural renewal. One of these areas is language. Out on Hualapai land, Philbert and Lucille Watahomogie, working from scratch, were able to create an award-winning curriculum for Hualapai children. The Watahomogies worked with the elders and community to develop an orthography for their language and eventually written materials. Today Hualapai children can learn to read and write in their own language. At the University of Arizona, Ofelia Zepeda, Tohono O’odham, worked tirelessly many years to establish the American Indian Language Development Institute. Every summer, people from as far away as Alaska, Hawaii, and even New Zealand come to learn how to teach their languages. In Oklahoma, Margaret Mauldin, Muskoke, has offered language lessons in her living room. She also travels to Florida and Texas to work with speakers of Muskoke languages there. In Wisconsin, the Oneida have opened their own language schools.

The Sak'n'Fox in Iowa offer classes in their language. Many California groups now have language classes. On Santa Ana Pueblo, Donna Pino-Martinez requested space and recruited teachers to begin teaching classes in Keres. In fact, most First Nations now offer classes in their own languages. Tribal colleges, such as Sinte Gleske College or Salish Kootenai College offer courses in both language and culture as well as a variety of degree programs. Urban Indian Centers too offer classes in native languages. In the southwest, Albuquerque Indian Center has offered a variety of language classes, including Lakota, Cherokee, and Navajo. State universities in states with large First Nations populations, such as the University of New Mexico and the University of Oklahoma, offer classes in First Nation languages.

In addition to our languages, we are rediscovering other aspects of our cultures. Dance has always been central to our religious practices, and traditional dancing is enjoying a revival. Traditional dance is often an integral part of traditional ceremonies. One of these revivals is the plains Sun Dance. Leonard Crow Dog, Lakota medicine man and a participant at the second Wounded Knee, has been instrumental in reinstating this ceremony. His Cousin Phil Crazy Bull conducts the Sun Dance throughout the Southwest and world wide. Dancing has always been central to the ceremonies of the Pueblos. Unfortunately, interest among the young people in dancing had dropped so that participation had become almost nil in some pueblos. This too has changed, particularly in those Pueblos which have casinos. The plazas are now full of dancers, ranging from toddlers to elders.

In Albuquerque, a Purepecha Indian named Mapitzmitl and his dance group Ehecatl bring performances of Mexica/Chichimeca Warrior style dance to audiences all over the nation. This dance, also known as Aztec dance, in the U.S. serves to remind “Hispanics”—this term more accurately denotes the language of a person than the racial origins—of their First Nations roots. Part of the mission of this group is to build a community around the dance. As a result of his efforts, a dozen or so Aztec groups have sprung up in New Mexico, coming together for ceremonies. John Jaramillo, trained in both modern dance and traditional dance, trains children at Isleta Pueblos. The number of performing groups continues to grow.

While interest in the priesthood of the Catholic church wanes, we are still training medicine men and medicine women. Paul White Eagle–Ani-Yun-Wiya, Hlanatubbe–Chahta, and many others still provide spiritual guidance for First Nations people. Just recently, Phil Crazy Bull after a vision began and has now completed his training to conduct yuwipi ceremonies. This ceremony is designed to enable the medicine man to locate the owners of repatriated sacred objects. Both the physical remains of First Nations people as well as their personal items are held by museums around the world, including both the Smithsonian and the Vatican. These include scalps, mummified babies and children, clothing, and, of course, feathers and other sacred items. Anna Lee Walters writes about this issue in her novel, Ghost Singer. All this is part of the dehumanization— the depersonalization —that First Nations people have had to endure.

First Nations people have been publishing in European languages since the 1600s. Some of the finest writing being produced today in the United States is being written by First Nations people. Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony is beyond a doubt one of the finest works ever produced by an American author. Leslie is a member of the well-known Marmon family from Laguna Pueblo where she grew up. N. Scott Momaday, Kiowa, won a Pulitzer prize for his novel House Made of Dawn. Momaday, whose father was a well-known Kiowa painter and his mother a Cherokee writer, grew up outside of Jemez Pueblo. Louis Owens, Choctaw-Cherokee from Mississippi, intertwines the stories of the Choctaw in his novels, which are set in San Francisco. These are just a few examples. There are literally so many fine novels written by First Nations people that they are too numerous. to mention.

Two of my favorite poets are Joy Harjo, Muskoke, and Simon Ortiz, Acoma. Joy is a master of metaphor, and Simon captures the language and images of life. Like novelists, poets among First Nations people abound. Joe Bruchac and Geary Hobson started the Native Writers Circle of the Americas to recognize this contribution by First Nations people. WordCraft headed by Lee Francis, who grew up outside of Laguna Pueblo, offers mentoring to unpublished writers. While membership is not limited to First Nations people only, this organization has encouraged many young First Nations people to write and publish.

First Nations people have excelled in other art areas as well. Will Rogers, Cherokee, enchanted audiences in the earlier part of the twentieth century. Many others have followed him. For example, John Trudell, Lakota, is a fine musician and poet. He masterfully combines these two talents on his album A.K.A. Graffiti Man. Bob Dylan called this album the "best he had ever heard." Buffy St. Marie has been strumming out tunes since the sixties. Joanne Shenendoah has produced a masterful collection of traditional Iroquois women’s songs. Paul Ortega from the Southwest adds a country twang to his songs.

From New York City, three Kuna women have put together an incredible act, entitled Spider Woman's Theater. Using their own creative works and talents, they poke fun at stereotypes of First Nations people as well as enacting some of the discrimination they have experienced. First Nations people have always used humor to relieve tension and stress. Spider Woman's Theater is the best of that tradition. Another humorist is a talented Diné named Vincent Craig , creator of the cartoons entitled "Mutton Man. Some of my personal favorite painters include Sam English, Carl Gorman—now deceased and one of the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II, and Mapitzmitl. These are, of course, only a sample of the talent. More complete lists can be found on the World Wide Web. Furthermore, First Nations people have inspired thousands of images via poetry, novels, music, and movies. Just as First Nations people played themselves in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, today they portray First Nations people on screen. Also, they portray First Nations people in stories written by First Nations people. Any example of this is the film Smoke Signals based upon a novel by the same name written by Sherman Alexie. This movie captures the spirit and humor of First Nations people in the midst of continuing tragedies.

First Nations people, using traditional values and structures, have proven to be good business people also. The Menominee and their forest industry is one example of that. Other examples include Laguna Industries (Laguna Pueblo), All Pueblo Cultural Center (owned and operated by the All Indian Pueblo Council), Inn of the Gods (skiing resort owned and operated by Mescalero), and Chemehuevis tourist operations on Lake Havasupai (one of the most popular retirement sites for snowbirds—retired people from the rest of the U.S. and Canada who only come during the winter). The case of the Mississippi Choctaw is another excellent example. Their enterprises include assembling wire harnesses for Ford and Navistar, telephones for AT&T, and audio speakers for Chrysler, Harley-Davidson, and Boeing. They own a greeting card plant that hand-finishes 83 million cards each year. They operate one of the largest printing plants for direct-mail advertising in the South. It has full employment for its own members. Fifty percent of their employees are other Mississippians.

Intended to provide “seed” money to build other industries, casinos have brought both economic and spiritual revival to First Nations people. In virtually every Pueblo that has casinos, participation in traditional activities has increased. Additionally, these communities have been able to improve housing, roads, schools, and health care facilities. Essentially, the money from gambling has increased the ability of First Nations people to have. It has increased our ability to really be self-determined. However, gambling, which has always been a part of the culture of First Nations people, flies in the face of Christian beliefs and threatens existing economic/political structures.

<Put in box or highlight>While the U.S. passes laws to protect the gambling interests of whites, gambling operations run by First Nations people have been vigorously opposed.

Chapter Eight

Some Final Thoughts

Official history wants us to believe that the holocaust of Native America is over. It is not. Economic and educational levels remain exceedingly low and far behind other groups, only 9.3% have a Bachelor’s degree compared to 114% for African Americans and 22.0% for White Americans. Additionally, the planned genocide continues. We are being poisoned through chemical warfare: environmental pollution, street drugs, psychiatric drugs, and alcohol. We are dying from biological warfare: diet-related and life-style diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and AIDS. As long as we survive, our existence questions the very legitimacy of the U.S. government.

<put this in a box>Members of the St. Croiz Band found this pinned to the bulletin board of Tombstone Plaza, Medford, Wisconsin. It had been circulated among Montana, Idaho, and Washington anti-Indian groups. (Southern Poverty Law Center, 1994)

First Annual Indian Shoot

Time: Early spring, beginning of walleye run

Place: Northern Wisconsin lakes

Rules: Open shoot, off hand position only, no scopes, no sling, no tripods, and no whiskey for bait!

OPEN TO ALL WISCONSIN TAXPAYING RESIDENTS

Residents that are BLACK, HMONG, CUBAN or those on WELFARE, A.D.C., FOODSTAMPS, or any other GOVERNMENT GIVE-A-WAY program, are not eligible. (Don’t complain about discrimination, you’ll have your own shoot later.)

Scoring: Wisconsin rules apply. Point system will be used.

ˆ PLAIN INDIAN 5 points

INDIAN WITH WALLEYES 10 points

INDIAN WITH BOAT NEWER THAN YOURS 20 points

INDIAN USING PITCHFORK 30 points

INDIAN WITH HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA 50 points

SOBER INDIAN 75 points

INDIAN TRIBAL LAWYER 100 points

(Does not have to be speaking.)

JUDGES: Governor Tommy Thompson, Rev. Jesse Jackson

PRIZES: Fillet-O-Fish sandwiches and six packs of treaty beer

SPONSOR: Society Helping Individual Taxpayers Own Nothing:

(Known as SHIT ON)

ENTRY BLANK:

I will attend shoot

I will will not be talking scalps.

I BELIEVE SENATOR ROSWELL IS:

HONEST CORRECT

ACCURATE A SAINT

ALL OF THE ABOVE

I am enclosing $ for his re-election

Bumper stickers reading “SAVE A FISH—SPEAK AN INDIAN” only $5.00 each. “T” shirts with same message only $10.00 each.

Leonard Peltier is still jailed. In fact, the FBI has launched a media campaign to prevent his release. In states with heavy Indian populations, hate crimes against First Nations people continue. In New Mexico, Diné have been kidnapped, tortured, and brutally murdered in towns bordering their nation. Even when caught, those committing the crimes have received unusually light sentences. These crimes make a mockery of the basic premises most Americans purport to believe in—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These crimes mock the U.S. Constitution.

As long as these things can be done to First Nations people, there is no freedom; there is no justice in this country.

Appendix A

Creek agency, 6 Sept. 1813

Govr. Mitchell,

Milledgeville, Ga.

I have a runner from Cowetau. Our chiefs are still under the influence of fear. Four towns have fortified; Tallahassee, Cowetau, Tookaubatchee and Cufsetau. The Chiefs are apprehensive that First Nations people of Fowltown/ Kinnards settlement/ are preparing to join the "red club men". The Chiefs meet today at Ooseoochee to ascertain the fact; as well as whether any of the settlements low down on Flint and Chattahoochee will join the prophets. Peter McQueen's people have joined the aultosus(?) they are dancing "the dance of the Indians of the Lakes".- The Chiefs are in great need of powder, flints, lead and guns; and very desirous some troops would march for Chattahoochee to build some blockhouses there to "keep the ground and have all clear in front and behind them." To the first of this month they have taken for the war party 200 cattle and some horses, and several parties were still out.

Mr. Barnard informs me he has communicated to you an outrage committed by some people of Hartford on two sons of Perrimans. I wish it could be examined into that justice may be done. I am informed some scout parties on horse, said to be from Jones, have been out above me and reported their orders were to kill every Indian they saw who had not something white about their heads. I do not know who could have given such an order. The Chiefs have stated the mark by which the prophets party [this is apparently a reference to Tecumseh] may be known. The Chiefs among the hostile party are exerting themselves to get the government of the prophets; but hitherto with but little success.

I hope by this you have something definitive from Government. I have nothing.

I am respectfully Dear Sir yours

Benjamin Hawkings

Appendix B

The Removal Act

28 May 1830

An Act to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That it shall and may be lawful for the President of the United States to cause so much of any territory belonging to the United States, west of the river Mississippi, not included in any state or organized territory, and to which the Indian title has been extinguished, as he may judge necessary, to be divided into a suitable number of districts, for the reception of such tribes or nations of Indians as may choose to

exchange the lands where they now reside, and remove there; and to cause each of said districts to be so described by natural or artificial marks, as to be easily distinguished from every other.

And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the President to exchange any or all of such districts, so to be laid off and described, with any tribe or nation of Indians now residing within the limits of any of the states or territories, and with which the United States have existing treaties, for the whole or any part or portion of the territory claimed and occupied by such tribe or nation, within the bounds of any one or more of the states or territories, where the land claimed and occupied by the Indians, is owned by the United States, or the United States are bound to the state within which it lies to extinguish the Indian claim thereto.

And be it further enacted, That in the making of any such exchange or exchanges, it shall and may be lawful for the President solemnly to assure the tribe or nation with which the exchange is made, that the United States will forever secure and guaranty to them, and their heirs or successors, the country so exchanged with them; and if they prefer it, that the United States will cause a patent or grant to be made and executed to them for the same: Provided always, That such lands shall revert to the United States, if the Indians become extinct, or abandon the same.

And be it further enacted, That if, upon any of the lands now occupied by the Indians, and to be exchanged for, there should be such improvements as add value to the land claimed by any individual or individuals of such tribes or nations, it shall and may be lawful for the President to cause such value to be ascertained by appraisement or otherwise, and to cause such ascertained value to be paid to the person or persons rightfully claiming such improvements. And upon the payment of such valuation, the improvements so valued and paid for, shall pass to the United States, and possession shall not afterwards be permitted to any of the same tribe.

And be it further enacted, That upon the making of any such exchange as is contemplated by this act, it shall and may be lawful for the President to cause such aid and assistance to be furnished to the emigrants as may be necessary and proper to enable them to remove to, and settle in, the country for which they may have exchanged; and also, to give them such aid and assistance as may be necessary for their support and subsistence for the first year after their removal.

And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the President to cause such tribe or nation to be protected, at their new residence, against all interruption or disturbance from any other tribe or nation of Indians, or from any other person or persons whatever.

And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the President to have the same superintendence and care over any tribe or nation in the country to which they may remove, as contemplated

by this act, that he is now authorized to have over them at their present places of residence: Provided, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed as authorizing or directing the violation of any existing treaty between the United States and any of the Indian tribes.

And be it further enacted, That for the purpose of giving effect to the Provisions of this act, the sum of five hundred thousand dollars is hereby appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the treasury, not

otherwise appropriated.

(Itals have been added for emphasis)

Appendix C

TREATY WITH THE SIOUX–MDEWAKANTON AND WAHPAKOOTA BANDS, 1851.

Articles of a treaty made and concluded at Mendota, in the Territory of Minnesota, on the fifth day of august, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, between the United States of America, by Luke Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and Alexander Ramsey, governor and ex-officio superintendent of Indian affairs in said Territory, commissioners duly appointed for that purpose, and the Med-ay-wa-kan-toan and Wah-pay-koo-tay bands of Dakota and Sioux Indians.

ARTICLE 1.

The peace and friendship existing between the United States and

the Med-ay-wa-kan-toan and Wah-pay-koo-tay bands of Dakota or Sioux Indians shall be perpetual.

ARTICLE 2.

The said Med-ay-wa-kan-toan and Wah-pay-koo-tay bands of Indians do hereby cede and relinquish all their lands and all their right, title and claim to any lands whatever, in the Territory of Minnesota, or in the State of Iowa.

ARTICLE 3.

[Stricken out.]

ARTICLE 4.

Appendix D

Department of the Interior

Office of Indian Affairs

Circular No. 1665 Washington April 26, 1921

To the Superintendents:

An examination of the latest reports of the Superintendents on the subject of Indian dances reveals encouraging conditions. Apparently, they are growing less frequent, are of shorter duration, and interfere less with the Indian’s farming and domestic affairs, and have been better supervised than formerly. One a number of reservations, however, the native dance still has enough evil tendencies, to furnish a...ing influence and at times a troublesome situations which daily for careful consideration and right-minded efforts.

It is not the policy of the Indian Office to denounce all forms of Indian dancing. It is rather its purpose to be somewhat tolerant of pleasure and relaxation sought in this way or of ritualism and traditional sentiment thus expressed. The dance per se is not concerned. It is recognized as a manifestation of something inherent in human nature widely evidenced by sacred and profane history, and as a medium through which elevated minds may happily unite art, refinement, and healthful exercise. It is not inconsistent with civilization. The dance, however, under most primitive and pagan conditions is apt to be harmful, and when found to be so among the Indians we should control it by educational processes as far as possible, but if necessary by punitive measures when its degrading tendencies persist.

The sun-dance and all pagan similar dances and so-called religious. ceremonies are considered “Indian Offenses” under existing regulations, and corrective penalties are provided. I regard such restrictions as application to any dance which involves acts of adultery and immoral relations between the sexes, the sacrificial destruction of anything or other useful articles, the reckless giving away of property, the use of injurious. drugs or intoxicants, and frequent or prolonged periods of celebration which bring the Indians together from remote points to the neglect of their crops, livestock, and home interests; in fact, any disorderly or plainly excessive performance that promotes superstitious. cruelty, licentiousness, ..., danger to health, and shiftless indifference to family welfare. In all instances, the regulations should be enforced, but only through the exercise of thoughtful restriction and mature judgment, after patient advisory methods have been exhausted. Among these methods should be the efforts of the superintendent to read an understanding and agreement with the Indians to confine their dances and ceremonials within such bounds as he may with reasonable conscience approve; and arrangement for careful supervision at such gatherings...as far as possible for auxiliary dance places with decent surroundings, and something in the way of wholesome, educational entertainment that will tend to divert interest from objectionable native customs. The moral influence of our schools must of course go far toward fixing the standards of individual virtue and social purity that should prevail in all forms of amusement or symbolism’s and our field workers should be able to strengthen cooperation’s with missionary activities in the attractions of the Indian to a higher conception of home and family life, and to the dignity and satisfaction of his personal labor and attainment. It seems to me quite necessary to Indian progress that there should be no perversions of those industrial and economic essentials which underlie all civilizations, and that therefore meetings, or convocations for any purpose, including pleasurable and even religious. occasions, should be directed with due regard to the every-day work of the Indian which he must learn to do well and equal to the tests that await him.

These suggestions are offered with a view to drawing the attention and efforts of our Service towards a better control of Indian dancing insofar as it retains elements of savagery or demoralizing practices. I feel that it is within our power to accomplish more than we are doing for the Indian’s social and moral elevation, not by offending his communal longings or robbing his nature of it rhythm, but by encouraging these instincts to serve his higher powers and directing his desires and purposes towards the things he needs to make him strong and capable and fit to survive in the midst of all races.

I shall hope that Superintendents will give some special thought to this subject, with a view of developing a line of action that will in the next few years reduce to the minimum all objectionable conditions attending Indian dances or ceremonial gatherings.

Respectfully,

CHAS. H. BURKE

Commissioner

retyped from a very poor copy

My Teachers

Abeita, Terry—Isleta Pueblo

Abeita, UlyssesÑIsleta Pueblo

Anderson, Bob—Vietnam Vet

Bad Cob, Reed—Oglala Lakota

Barker, Angela Belone—Diné

Bee, Tom—Lakota

Begay, Cynthia—Diné

Begay, Nelson—Diné

Biakakshush (Matthew Gregory)—Choctaw/Cherokee

Bird, Lila—Santo Domingo Pueblo.

Bird, Penny—Santo Domingo Pueblo

Bolin, Patrick—Cherokee

Bolin, Winona—Cherokee

Botone, Barnie—Blackout/Kiowa

Boyd, Paula—Diné

Miller, Sarah—Choctaw

Carmona, Aureliana—Maya

Chambers, Cynthia—Professor of Education, University of Lethbridge

Chavez, José—Quechua

Churchill, Ward—Muskoke

Corrigan, Buck—Blackfeet

Cramer, Maia—Lakota

Crazy Bull, Phil—Lakota

Deloria, Sam—Lakota

English, Sam—Chippewa/Ojibwa

Elijah, Mary Joy—Oneida

Ellis, Richard—Historian

Fiscus, Carolyn—Winnebego

Forbes, Jack—Delaware.

Frank, Della—Diné

Goodstriker, Evelyn—Dakota.

Gorman, Carl—Diné

Grammie—Cherokee

Hill, David—Choctaw/Chickasaw

Hill, Gerald—Oneida

Hlahantubbe—Chahta Ikbi

Hobson, Geary—Cherokee/Quapaw.

Hubbard, L. Ron—philosopher

Jacques, Frieda J—Onandaga.

Jaimes, M. Annette—Mission/Yaqui

Jaramillo, Odell—Zuni Pueblo

Jojola, Ted—Isleta Pueblo

Knight, Lona—Lakota

Lee, Herbert—Diné

LaBoueff, Steve—Blackfeet

Lopez, Lehua—Hawaiian

Loretto, Irene—Jemez Pueblo

Loretto, Rachel—Jemez Pueblo

Manuel, Maxine—Cherokee

Mankiller, Wilma—Cherokee

Mapitzmitl—Purepecha/Pueblo

Marmon, Harriet—Laguna Pueblo.

Mauldin, Margaret—Muskoke

Miller, George Eugene—Choctaw

Mina, Anna Marie—Santo Domingo Pueblo

Momaday, N. Scott—Kiowa

Mondragon-Lujan, Rose—Taos Pueblo

Montes, Claudine—Southern Ute.

Nahgahnub, Esther—Ojibwa

Ocelo—Mexica

Ortega, Paul—Apache.

Owens, Louis—Choctaw/Cherokee

Pecos, Regis—Cochiti Pueblo.

Pino-Martinez, Donna—Santa Ana Pueblo.

Quiver, Robert—Oglala Lakota

Red Elk, Lenora C.—Assinoboine/Gros Ventre

Romero, Mary E.—Cochiti Pueblo

Romero, Robert—San Juan Pueblo

Rose, Richard—Cherokee

Rose, Nantinki—Pasmaquodi

Sanchez-Benitez, Gabino—Mexica

Sergio—Mexica

Shade, Arlene—Blackfeet/Cree.

Shade, Bobbie—Blackfeet

Shirley, Bert—Diné

Smiley, James—Diné

Tallchief, Shelby—Choctaw

Tecumseh, Ki—Winnebago

TaloaIkba (James I. Smiley)—Diné/Choctaw/Cherokee

Thompson, Freddie and Pauline—Diné

Toya, Doris—Jemez Pueblo

Two Wolves, David—Onandaga

Trudell, John—Lakota.

Tsosie, Leonard—Diné.

Tzen—Mexica

Walking Elk, Mitch—Cheyenne/Hopi

Watahomogie, Lucille and Philbert—Hualapai

Whirlwind Horse, Devona—Oglala Lakota

White, Verine—Oglala Lakota

White Eagle, Paul—Ani-yun-wiya

Willie, Mary Ann—Diné.

Zamora, Rita—Diné, descendent of one of the stolen children

Zepeda, Ofelia—Tohono O’odham.

Sources and Suggested Readings

Bannon, John Francis. The Spanish Borderlands Frontier: 1513-1821. University of New Mexico Press, 1974.

Barreiro, José, ed. View from the Shore: American Indian Perspectives on the Quincentenary. Cornell University: Akwe:kon Press, 1992.

Bigelow, Bill, Miner, Barbara, and Bob Peterson, eds. Rethinking Columbus. Milwaukee: Rethinking Schools, Ltd., 1992.

Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winter, 1971.

Calloway, Colin G. The American Revolution in Indian Country. New York: The Cambridge University Press, 1995.

“Census Finds Many Claiming New Identity: Indian,” The New York Times, Tuesday, March 5, 1991, p. A1.

Churchill, Ward. Cages of Steel: The Politics of Imprisonment for the U.S. Washington, D.C.: Mainsonville Press, 1992.

Churchill, Ward. The COINTELPO Documents from the FBI's Secret Wars Against Domestic Dissent. Boston: South End Press, 1990.

Churchill, Ward. Indians Are U.S.? Culture and Genocide in Native North America. Monno, ME: Common Courage Press, 1994.

Citizens Commission on Human Rights. Psychiatry's Betrayal. Los Angeles: Citizens Commission on Human Rights, 1996.

Citizens Commission on Human Rights. Psychiatry’s Betrayal: Creating Racism. Los Angeles: Citizens Commission on Human Rights, 1995.

Cohen, Felix S. “Americanizing the White Man,” The American Scholar, vol. 21, pp. 177-191, 1952.

Cummins, Jim. Preventing Pedagogically-Induced Learning Difficulties among Indigenous Students, Journal of Navajo Education, Spring 1991, pp. 3-9.

Davis, William T. ed. Bradfords’s History of the Plymouth Plantation, 1606-1646. New York: Barnes & Nobles, 1946.

De las Casas, Fray Bartolomé. The Diario of Christopher Columbus's First Voyage to America: 1492-1493. Oliver Dunn and James E. Kelly, Jr., Ed. & Trans. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989.

De Rossier, Arthur H., Jr. The Removal of the Choctaw Indians. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1971.

Dozier, Edward P. The Pueblo Indians of North America. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1970.

Dumas, Jennifer. How Native Women View Themselves. Unpublished paper, University of New Mexico, 1996.

Ellis, Richard N. General Pope and the U.S. Indian Policy. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1970.

Ellis, Richard N. The Western American Indian: Case Studies in Tribal History. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1972.

Fenton, William N. Parker on the Iroquois. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1968.

Forbes, Jack. Apache, Navajo, and Spanish. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1960.

Gordon, Eric Valentine. An Introduction to Old Norse. New York: Clarendon Press, 1981.

Green, Rayna. Women in American Indian Society. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1992.

Hietala, T.R. Manifest Design: Anxious Aggrandizement in Late Jacksonian America. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985.

Hodgkinson, Harold. “The Current Condition of Native Americans”, Eric Digest, Sept. 1992.

Hogan, Linda. Mean Spirit. New York: Ivy Books, 1992.

Hubbard, L.R. All About Radiation. Los Angeles: Bridge Publications, 1989.

Jacobs, Francine. The Taino: The People Who Welcomed Columbus. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1992.

Jaimes, Annette, Ed. The State of Native America: Genocide, Colonization, and Resistance. Boston: South End Press, 1992.

Johansen, Bruce. Forgotten Founders. Harvard & Boston: The Harvard Common Press, 1992.

. Lewis, Oscar. The Effects of White Contact upon Blackfoot Culture. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1942.

Lyons, Oren, Mohawk, John, Deloria, Jr., Vine, Hauptman, Laurence, Berman, Howard, Grinde, Jr., Donald, Berkey, Curtis, and Venables, Robert. Exiled in the Land of the Free: Democracy, Indian Nations, and the U.S. Constitution. Santa Fe: Clear Light Publishers, 1992.

Middlekauft, Robert. The Mathers: Three Generations of Puritan Intellectuals, 1596-1728. New York: Oxford University Press, 1971.

Matthisesson, Peter. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse. New York: Viking Press, 1991.

“Mine Near Zuni Gets OK: Tribe Fears for Sacred Sites, Lake,” Albuquerque Journal, Sunday, July 14, 1996, C6.

Momaday, N. Scott, Warriner, Gray, Denke, Conrad, Camera One Productions. More Than Bows and Arrows. (videorecording). A Production of Camera One, Gray Warriner, director, a film by Conrad Denke, 1994.

Morrison, James D. Schools for the Choctaw. Durant OK: Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Choctaw Bilingual Education Program, 1978.

Native Americans’ Growing Pride, Christian Science Monitor, Friday, March 22, 1991, p. 13.

Paolino, E.N. The Foundations of the American Empire: William Henry Seward and U.S. Foreign Policy. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1973.

Paredes, J. Anthony, Ed. Indians of the Southeastern United States in the Late 20th Century. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1992.

Rountree, Helen C. Pocahontas’s People: The Powhatan Indians of Virginia through Four Centuries. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990.

Salisbury, Neal. The Indians of New Britain: A Critical Bibliography. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1982.

Schwab, Jim. Deeper Shades of Green. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1994.

Southern Poverty Law Center. “The Hidden Victims: Hate Crime Against American Indians Under-Reported,” Intelligence Report, 75, 1-4.

Special Subcommittee on Indian Education. Indian Education: A National Tragedy–A National Challenge. 1969 Report on the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, United States Senate. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1969.

Trafzer, Clifford E. The Kit Carson Campaign: The Last Great Navajo War. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1982.

Utley, Robert M. The Indian Frontier of the American West: 1846-1890. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1991.

Weatherford, Jack. Native Roots: How the Indians Enriched America. New York: Crown Publishers, 1991.

Weyler, Rex. Blood of the Land, the Government and Corporate War Against the American Indian Movement, New York: Vintage Books, Random House, 1984.

Whitte, Thomas G. "War Against the Indians," Freedom Magazine, September 1986.

Woods, Patricia Dillon. French-Indian Relations on the Southern Frontier, 1699-1762. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1980.

Wright, Ronald. Stolen Continents: The Americas Through Indian Eyes Since 1492. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992.

U.S. Federally Non-Recognized Indian Tribes by State

This is a partial list.

ALASKA

1.Tlingit communities left out of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement have no land and no subsistence rights.

2.Tsimshian Tribe

ALABAMA

1.Cherokees of Jackson Co.

2.Cherokees of N.E. Alabama

3.Eagle Bear Band of Free Cherokees

4.Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama

5.Star Clan of Muskogee Creek Tribe of Pike Co.

6.Prinicipal Creek Indian Nation East of the Mississippi

7.Machia Lower Creeks of Alabama

8.Cherokees of S.E. Alabama

9.United Cherokees

10.Langley Band of Chickamogee Cherokee Indians in the Southeastern United States

ARIZONA

1. Yaqui

ARKANSAS

1.Revived Ouachita Indians of Arkansas & America

CALIFORNIA

1.Amah Band of Ohlone/Coastanoans

2.American Indian Council of Mariposa Co.

3.Antelope Valley Indian Community

4.Atahun Shoshones of San Juan Capistrano

5.Big Meadows Lodge Tribe

6.Calaveras Co. Band of Miwok Indians

7.Choinumni Tribe

8.Chukchansi Yokotch Tribe

9.Coastal Band of Chumash Indians

10.Coastanoan Band of Carmel Mission Indians

11.Death Valley Timba-Sha Shoshone Band

12.Dunlap Band of Mono Indians

13.Federated Coast Miwok Tribe

14.Gabrielino/Tongvah Nation

15.Hayfork Band of Nor-El-Muk Wintu Indians

16.Hownonquet Community Association

17.Indian Canyon Band of Coastanoan/Mutsun Indians

18.Ione Band of Miwok Indians

19.Juaneno Band of Mission Indians

20.Kern Valley Indian Community

21.Maidu Nation

22.Melochundum Band of Tolowa Indians

23.Mono Lake Indian Community

24.Mukwema Ohlone tribe

25.Northern Maidu Tribe

26.Nor-El-Muk Band of Wintun Indians

27.Northfolk Band of Mono Indians

28.Ohlone/Coastanoan Muwekma Tribe

29.San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians

30.Salinan Indian Nation

31.Salinan Tribe of Monterey County

32.Shasta Tribe

33.Tehatchapi Tribe

34.Tsnungwe Council

35.United Hourma Nation, Inc.

36.Wintoon Indians

37.Wintu Indians of Central Valley

38.Wintu Tribe of Northern California

39.Wukchunmi Council

40.Washoe/Paiute of Antelope Valley

41.Wintoon Indians

42.Yokayo Tribe of Indians

COLORADO

1.Munsee Thames River Delaware

2.Council for the Benefit of the Colorado Winnebagoes

CONNETICUT

1.Nipmuc Indian Bands

2.Scaticook Bands

3.Schaghticoke Indian Tribe

4.Paucatuck Band of Pequot Indians

DELAWARE

1.Nanaticoke Association

FLORIDA

1.Creeks East of the Mississippi

2.Florida Tribe of East Creeks

3.Topachula Tribe

4.Oklewaha Band of Seminoles

5.Tuscola United Cherokees of Florida & Alabama, Inc

GEORGIA

1.Cane Break Band of E. Cherokees

2.Cherokees of Georgia, Inc.

3.Georgia Tribe of E. Cherokees

4.Lower Muskogee Creek Tribe- East of the Mississippi

5.Southeastern Cherokee Confederacy, Inc.

IDAHO

1.Delawares of Idaho

INDIANA

1.Miami Nation of Indiana

2.Upper Kiskopo Band of the Shawnee Nation

3.Northern Cherokee Tribe of Indiana

KANSAS

1.Wyandot Nation of Kansas

2.Delaware- Muncie Tribe

3.Swan Creek & Black River Chippewas

4.United Tribe of Shawnee Indians

LOUISIANA

1.Caddo Adala Indians, Inc.

2.Clifton- Choctaws

3.Jena Band of Choctaws

4.Choctaw- Apache Indian Community

5.United Houma Nation

MARYLAND

1.Piscataway- Conoy Confederacy & Sub- Tribes, Inc.

2.Piscataway Indians

3.Youghiogheny Shawnee Band

MASSACHUSETTS

1.Nipmuc Tribal Council of Massachusetts (Hassanamisco Band)

2.Nipmuc Tribal Council of Massachusetts (Chaubunagungamang Band)

3.Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe

4.Narragansett Tribal Council of Indians

MICHIGAN

1.Lake Superior Chippewa of Marquette, Inc.

2.Burt Lake Band of Ottawa & Chippewa Indians, Inc.

3.Consolidated Bahwetig Ojibwas and Mackinacs

4.Grand River Band of Ottawa Indians

5.Gunlake Village Band of Grand Lake Ottawa Indians

6.Swan Creek and Black River Chippewa

MINNESOTA

1.NI-MI-WIN Ojibways

2.Kah-Bay-Kah-Nong (Warroad ChIppewa)

3.Sandy Lake Band of Ojibwas

MISSISSIPPI

1.Grand Village Natchez Indian Tribe

MISSOURI

1.Dogwood Band of Free Cherokees

2.Northern Cherokee Nation of the Old Louisiana Territory

3.Northern Cherokee Tribe of Indians

4.Northern Chicamunga Cherokee Nation of Arkansas and Missouri

MONTANA

1.Little Shell Tribe of Chippewas of Montana

2.Swan Creek & Black River Chippewa

NEW HAMPSHIRE

1.Abenaki Nation

NEW JERSEY

1.Ramapough Mountain Indians

2.Nanaticoke Lenni- Lennapes of New Jersey, Inc.

3.Powhatan-Renape Nation

4.Osprey Band of Free Cherokees

NEW MEXICO

1.Cañoncito Band of Navajos (Note: this is a Chapter (governing unit) of the Navajo Nation but has petitioned for independent federal recognition)

2.Piro/Manso/Tiwa Indian Tribe of the Pueblo of San Juan de Guadelupe

NEVADA

1.Pahrump Band of Paiutes

NORTH CAROLINA

1.Person Co. Indians

2.Coree Indians

3.Cherokees of Hoke Co.

4.Meherrin Indian Tribe

5.Haliwa Saponi Indian Tribe

6.Hattadare Indian Tribe

7.Kaweah Indian Nation, Inc.

8.Faircloth Indian Tribe

9.Cherokees of Robison & Adjoining Counties

10.Coharie Intra- Tribal Council

11.Waccamaw Siouan Tribe

12.Hatteras Tuscarora

13.Lumbee Tribe

14.United Lumbee Nation of North Carolina and America,

15.Cherokee Powhattan Indian Association

16.Tuscarora Tribe

17.Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina

NORTH DAKOTA

1.Little Shell Band of the North Dakota Tribe

2.Christian Pembina Chippewa Indians

OHIO

1.Alleghenny Nation (Ohio Band)

2.Shawnee Nation United Remnant Band

3.Piqua Sept of Ohio Shawnees

4.N.E. Miami Inter- Tribal Council

NEW YORK

1.Deer Council of Free Cherokees, Brooklyn, NY

OKLAHOMA

1.Cataba Tribal Association

2.Delaware Tribe of Eastern Oklahoma

3.Yuchi Tribal Organization

OREGON

1.Celilio-Wyam Indian Community

2.Tolowa- Tututni Tribe

3.Tchinouk Indians

4.N.W. Cherokee Wolf Band of S.E. Cherokee Confederacy ,

5.Chinook Indian tribe

6.Chetco Tribe

SOUTH CAROLINA

1.Summerville Indian Group

2.Chicora-Siouan Indian People

3 .Four Hole Indian Organization

TENNESSEE

1.Cumberland Creek Indian Confederation

2.Etowah Cherokee Nation

3.Elk Valley Council Band of Free Cherokees

4.Red Clay Band of S.E. Cherokee Confederacy

TEXAS

1.Creek Indians of Texas at Red Oak

UTAH

1.N.E. Band of Shoshone Indians

2.White Mesa Ute Council

3.Cedar City Band of Paiutes

VERMONT

1.Abenaki Nation

2.St. Francis/Skokoki Band of Abenakis of Vermont

VIRGINIA

1.Chickahominy Indian Tribe

2.Monacan Indian Tribe

3.Nansemond Indian Tribal Association

4.Upper Mataponi Tribe

5.United Rappahannock Tribe

WASHINGTON

1.Mitchell Bay Band

2.Snoqualmoo Tribe of Whidbey Island

3.Duwamish Indian Tribe

4.Steilacoom Tribe

5.Chinook Indian Tribe, Inc.

6.Snohomish Tribe of Indians

7.Noo-Wha-Ha Band

8.Cowlitz Tribe of Indians

WISCONSIN

1.Brotherton Indians of Wisconsin

Federally Recognized Indian Groups

Alaska Native Villages

1. Akiachak Community

2. Akiak Community

3. Aleut Community of St. Paul Island

4. Allakaket Community

5. Andreafski Tribal Council

6. Angoon Community

7. Aukquan Traditional Council

8. Beaver Village

6. Birch Creek Village

7. Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Tribes

8. Chilkat Village of Klukwan

9. Chilkoot Indian Association of Haines

10. Chinik Eskimo Community

11. Circle Native Community

12. Cook Inlet Tribal Council

13. Craig Community Association

14. Dillingham Village Council

15. Douglas Indian Association

16. Egekik Village Council

17.Ekwok Village Council

18. Gulkana Village Council

19. Healy Lake Village

20. Hoonah Indian Association

22. Hughes Village

23. Huslia Village Council

24. Hydaburg Cooperative Association

25. Igiugig Village Center

26. Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope

27. Iqurmuit Tribe

28. Ivanoff Bay Village

29. Kenaitze Indian Tribe

30. Ketchikan Indian Corporation

33. King Island Native Community

34. Klawock Cooperative Association

35. Knik Village Council

36. Levelock Village

37. Lime Village

38. Lower Kalskag Village

39. Mentasta Lake Village

40. Metlakatla Indian Community Council

41. Mountain Village

42. Napaskiak Village Council

43. Nenana Native Association

44. New Koliganek Village Council

45. Newhalen Village Council

46. Newtok Village Council

47. Ninilchik Village Traditional Council

48. Nome Eskimo Community

49. Nondalton Village Council

50. Noorvik Native Community

51. Nulato Village Council

52. Orutsararmuit Native Council

53. Oscarville Traditional Council

54. Pedro Bay Village

55. Perryville Village

56. Petersburg Indian Association

57. Pilot Station Traditional Council

58. Platinum Village Council

59. Point Hope Village Council

60. Rampart Village Council

61. Red Devil Village

62. Seldovia Village Tribe

63. Shoonaq Tribe of Kodiak

64. Sitka Tribe of Alaska

65. South Naknek Village

66. St. George Island

67. Stebbins Community Association

68. Teller Village Council

69. Tetlin Village Council

70. Tsimshian Tribal Council

71. Tuluksak Native Community

72. Twin Hills Tribal

73. Ugashik Village

74. Umkumiut Village Council

75. Valdez Native Association

76. Venetie Village Council

77. Village of Kokhanok

78. Village Arctic Village

79. Village of Afognak

80. Village of Akhiok

81. Village of Akutan

82. Village of Alakanuk

83. Village of Alatna

84. Village of Aleknagik

85. Village of Algaaciq

86. Village of Ambler

87. Village of Anaktuvuk Pass

88. Village of Aniak

89. Village of Anvik

90. Village of Atka

91. Village of Atmautluak

92. Village of Atqasuk

93. Village of Barrow

94. Village of Belkofsky

95. Village of Bill Moore's Slough

96. Village of Bravig Mission

97. Village of Buckland

98. Village of Cantwell

99. Village of Chalkyitsik

100. Village of Chanega

101. Village of Chefornak

102. Village of Chevak

103. Village of Chickaloon

104. Village of Chignik

105.Village of Chignik Lagoon

106. Village of Chignik Lake

107. Village of Chinita

108. Village of Chistochina

109. Village of Chuloonawick

110. Village of Clark's Point

111. Village of Crooked Creek

112. Village of Deering

113. Village of Diomede

114. Village of Dot Lake

115. Village of Eagle

116. Village of Eek

117. Village of Eklutna

118. Village of Ekuk

119. Village of Elim

120. Village of Emmonak

121. Village of Evansville

122. Village of Eyak

123. Village of False Pass

124. Village of Fort Yukon

125. Village of Gakona

126. Village of Galena

127. Village of Gambell

128. Village of Georgetown

129. Village of Goodnews Bay

130. Village of Grayling

131. Village of Hamilton

132. Village of Holy Cross

133. Village of Hooper Bay

134. Village of Iliamna

135. Village of Kake

136. Village of Kaktovik

137. Village of Kalskag

138. Village of Kaltag

139. Village of Kanatak

140. Village of Karluk

141. Village of Kasaan

142. Village of Kasigluk

143. Village of Kiana

144. Village of Kipnuk

145. Village of Kivalina

146. Village of Kluti-Kaah

147. Village of Kobuk

148. Village of Kongiganak

149. Village of Kotlik

150. Village of Kotzebue

151. Village of Koyuk

152. Village of Koyukuk

153. Village of Kwethluk

154. Village of Kwigillingok

155. Village of Kwinhagak

156. Village of Larsen Bay

157. Village of Manley Hot Springs

158. Village of Manokotak

159. Village of Marshall

160. Village of McGrath

161. Village of Mekoryuk

162. Village of Minto

163. Village of Naknek

164. Village of Nanwalek

165. Village of Napaimute

166. Village of Napakiak

167. Village of Nelson Lagoon

168. Village of New Stuyahok

169. Village of Nightmute

170. Village of Nikolai

171. Village of Nikolski

172. Village of Noatak

173. Village of Northway

174. Village of Nuiqsut

175. Village of Nunapitchuk

176. Village of Ohogamiut

177. Village of Old Harbor

178. Village of Ouzinkie

179. Village of Piamuit

180. Village of Pilot Point

181. Village of Pitka's Point

182. Village of Point Lay

183. Village of Port Graham

184. Village of Port Heiden

185. Village of Port Lions

186. Village of Portage Creek

187. Village of Ruby

188. Village of Salmantoff

189. Village of Sand Point

190. Village of Savoonga

191. Village of Saxman

192. Village of Scammon Bay

193. Village of Selawik

194. Village of Shageluk

195. Village of Shaktoolik

196. Village of Sheldon's Point

197. Village of Shishmaref

198. Village of Shungnak

199. Village of Skagway

200. Village of Sleetmute

201. Village of Solomon

202. Village of St. Michael

203. Village of Stevens

204. Village of Stoney River

205. Village of Takotna

206. Village of Tanacross

207. Village of Tanana

208. Village of Tatitlek

209. Village of Tazlina

210. Village of Telida

211. Village of Togiak

212. Village of Toksook Bay

213. Village of Tuntutuliak

214. Village of Tununak

215. Village of Tyonek

216. Village of Unalakleet

217. Village of Unalaska

218. Village of Unga

219. Village of Wainwright

220. Village of Wales

221. Village of White Mountain

222. Village of Yakutat

223. Village of Mary's Igloo

224. Wrangell Cooperative Association

ALABAMA

1. Mowa Band of Choctaw

2. Poarch Band of Creek

ARIZONA

1. Diné Nation

2. Cocopah

3. Colorado Indian Tribes

4. Colorado River Reservation

5. White Mountain Apache

6. Fort Mojave Reservation

7. Quechan

8. Gila Bend Papago

9. Gila River Reservation

10. Havasupai

11. Hopi

12. Hualapai

13. Kaibab Paiute

14. Maricopa

15. Pascua-Yaqui

16. Salt River Pima-Maricopa

17. San Carlos Apache

18. San Juan Southern Paiute

19. San Xavier Papago

20 Tohono O'Odham at Sells

21. Tonto Apache

22. Yavapai-Prescott Reservation

Arkansas

none

CALIFORNIA

1. Agua Caliente Reservation

2. Alturas Rancheria

3. Augustine Reservation

4. Barona Reservation

5. Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria

6. Utu Utu Gwaitu Paiute

7. Berry Creek Rancheria

8. Big Lagoon Rancheria

9. Big Pine Reservation

10. Big Sandy Rancheria

11. Big Valley Rancheria

12. Bishop Indian Tribal Council

13.Blue Lake Rancheria

14. Bridgeport Indian Colony

15. Buena Vista Rancheria

16. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians

17. Cahuilla Band of Mission Indians

18. Campo Band of Mission Indians

19. Capitan Grande Reservation

20. Cedarville Rancheria

21. Chemehuevi Reservation

22. Chicken Ranch Rancheria

23. Chico Rancheria

24. Cloverdale Rancheria Council

25. Cold Springs Rancheria

26. Colusa Rancheria

27. Cortina Rancheria

28. Coyote Valley Reservation

29. Cuyapaipe General Council

30. Death Valley Indian Community

31. Dry Creek Rancheria

32. Elk Valley Rancheria

33. Fort Bidwell Community Council

34. Fort Independence Reservation

35. Fort Mojave Reservation

36. Greenville Rancheria

37. Grindstone Rancheria

38. Guidiville Rancheria

39. Hoopa Extension Reservation

40. Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation

41. Hopland Reservation

42. Inaja & Cosmit Band of Mission Indians

43. Jackson Rancheria

44. Jamul Band of Mission Indians

45. Karuk Tribe of California

46. Kashia Business Committee

47. La Jolla Band of Mission Indians

48. La Posta Band of Mission Indians

49. Laytonville Rancheria

50. Lone Pine Reservation

51. Lookout Rancheria

52. Los Coyotes Band of Mission Indians

53. Lytton Rancheria

54. Manchester/Port Arena Rancheria

55. Manzanita General Council

56. Mesa Grande Band of Mission Indians

57. Middletown Rancheria

58. Mooretown Rancheria

59. Morongo Band of Mission Indians

60. North Fork Rancheria

61. Pala Band of Mission Indians

62. Pauma Band of Mission Indians

63. Pechanga Band of Mission Indians

64. Picayune Rancheria

65. Pinoleville Rancheria

66. Pit River Tribal Council

67. Potter Valley Rancheria

68. Quartz Valley Reservation

69. Ramona Band of Cahuilla Indians

70. Redding Rancheria

71. Redwood Valley Rancheria

72. Rincon Band of Mission Indians

73. Robinson Rancheria

74. Covelo Indian Community

75. Rumsey Rancheria

76. San Manuel Band of Mission Indians

77. San Pasqual General Council

78. Santa Rosa Rancheria

79. Santa Rosa Reservation

80. Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians

81. Santa Ysabel Band of Mission Indians

82. Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians

83. Sherwood Valley Rancheria

84. Shingle Springs Rancheria

85. Smith River Rancheria

86. Soboba Band of Pomo Indians

87. Stewarts Point Rancheria

88. Sulphur Bank Rancheria

89. Susanville Rancheria

90. Sycuan Reservation

91. Table Bluff Rancheria

92. Table Mountain Rancheria

93. Timbisha Shoshone Tribe

94. Torres-Martinez Band of Mission Indians

95. Trinidad Rancheria

96. Tule River Reservation

97. Tuolumne Me-Wuk Rancheria

98. Twentynine Palms Band of Mission Indians

99. United Lumbee Nation of NC & America

100. Upper Lake Rancheria

101. Viejas Reservation

102. Winnemucca Indian Colony

103. Woodfords Community Council

104. Yurok Indian Reservation

COLORADO

1. Southern Ute

2. Ute Mountain Ute

Conneticut

none

Delaware

none

FLORIDA

1. Big Cypress Seminole

2. Brighton Seminole

3. Miccosukee

4. Seminole

Georgia

none

IDAHO

1. Coeur D'Alene Reservation

2. Fort Hall Reservation

3. Kootenai

4. Nez Perce

5. Northwestern Band of Shoshoni Nation

Indiana

none

IOWA

1. Sac and Fox

KANSAS

1. Iowa of Kansas

2. Kickapoo of Kansas

3. Prairie Potawatomi

4. Sac and Fox of Missouri

LOUISIANA

1. Chitimacha

2. Coushatta

3. Tunica-Biloxi

MAINE

1. Aroostook Band of Micmac Indians

2. Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians

3. Indian Township Passamaquoddy Tribe

4. Penobscot Reservation

5. Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy Tribe

Maryland

none

MASSACHUSETTES

1. Wampanoag Tribal Council of Gay Head

MICHIGAN

2. Bay Mills Executive Council

3. Grand Traverse Band Tribal Council

4. Hannahville Indian Community

5. Saginaw-Chippewa Tribal Council

6. Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa

7. Keweenah Bay Tribal Council

8. Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa Tribal Council

MINNESOTA

1. Fond Du Lac Chippewa

2. Grand Portage Chippewa

3. Leech Lake Chippewa

4. Lower Sioux

5. Mille Lacs Chippewa

6. Minnesota Chippewa

7. Nett Lake Chippewa

8. Prairie Island Chippewa

9. Red Lake Chippewa

10. Skakopee Souix

11. Upper Sioux

12. White Earth Chippewa

MISSOURI

1. Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma

MISSISSIPPI

1. Mississippi Choctaw

MONTANA

1. Blackfeet

2. Crow

3. Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribe

4. Fort Belknap Reservation

5. Fort Peck Reservation

6. Northern Cheyenne

7. Rocky Boy's Chippewa-Cree

NEBRASKA

1. Omaha

2. Ponca Tribe of Nebraska

3. Santee Sioux

4. Winnebago

NEVADA TRIBES

1. Battle Mountain Band

2. Carson Indian Colony

3. Dresslerville Indian Colony

4. Duck Valley Shoshone Paiute

5. Duck Valley Shoshone Paiute

6. Duckwater Shoshone

7. Elko Indian Colony

8. Ely Indian Colony

9. Fallon Reservation and Colony

10. Fort McDermitt Reservation

11. Las Vegas Indian Colony

12. Lovelock Indian Colony

13. Moapa River Indian Reservation

14. Pyramid Lake Paiute

15. Reno-Sparks Indian Colony

16. Ruby Valley (Te-moak) Western Shonshone

17. South Fork Indian Colony

18. Stewart Indian Colony

19. Summit Lake Paiute

20. Walker River Paiute

21. Washoe Tribe of Nevada & California

22. Wells Indian Colony

23. Winnemucca Indian Colony

24. Yerrington Paiute Indian Colony

25. Yomba Reservation

New Hampshire

none

New Jersey

none

NEW MEXICO

1. Acoma Pueblo

2. Cochiti Pueblo

3. Diné

4. Isleta Pueblo

5. Jemez Pueblo

6. Jicarilla Apache

7. Laguna Pueblo

8. Mescalero Apache Reservation

9. Nambe Pueblo

10. Picuris Pueblo

11. Pojoaque Pueblo

12. San Felipe Pueblo

13. San Ildefonso Pueblo

14. San Juan Pueblo

15. Sandia Pueblo

16. Santa Ana Pueblo

17. Santa Clara Pueblo

18. Santo Domingo Pueblo

19. Taos Pueblo

20. Tesuque Pueblo

21. Zia Pueblo

22. Zuni Reservation

NEW YORK

1. Seneca Nation Tribal Council

2. Cayuga Indian Nation

3. Oil Spring Reservation

4. Oneida Indian Nation of New York

5. Onondaga Nation Tribal Council

6. Poospatuck Reservation

7. Seneca Nation of Indians

8. St. Regis Mohawk

9. Tonawanda Band of Senecas

10. Tuscarora

NORTH CAROLINA

1. Eastern Band of Cherokee

NORTH DAKOTA

1. Devil's Lake Sioux

2. Fort Berthold Three Affiliated Tribes

3. Ojibwa of the Red River

4. Standing Rock Sioux

5. Turtle Mountain Reservation

Ohio

none

OKLAHOMA

1. Absentee-Shawnee

2. Alabama-Quassarte

3. Apache Tribe of Oklahoma

4. Caddo

5. Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma

6. Cheyenne-Arapaho

7. Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

8. Citizen Band Potawatomi

9. Comanche Indian Tribe of Oklahoma

10. Creek Nation of Oklahoma

11. Delaware Tribe of Western Oklahoma

12. Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma

13. Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma

14. Kaw Tribe of Oklahoma

15. Kialagee

16. Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma

17. Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma

18. Miami Tribe of Oklahoma

19. Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma

20. Osage Tribe of Oklahoma

21. Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma

22. Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma

23. Pawnee Indian Tribe of Oklahoma

24. Peoria Indian Tribe of Oklahoma

25. Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma

26. Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma

27. Sac & Fox Nation

28. Seminole Nation of Oklahoma

29. Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma

30. The Chickasaw Nation

31. Thlopthlocco Tribal Town

32. Tonkawa Tribe of Oklahoma

33. United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee

34. Wichita Tribe of Oklahoma

35. Wyandotte Tribe of Oklahoma

OREGON

1. Burns Paiute Indian Colony

2. Confederated Tribes of Coos Lower Umpqua & Suislaw Indians

3. Coquille Indian Tribe

4. Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians

5. Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde Council

6. Klamath

7. Siletz

8. Umatilla

9. Warm Springs Reservation

RHODE ISLAND

1. Narragansett

SOUTH CAROLINA

1. Catawba

SOUTH DAKOTA

1. Cheyenne River Sioux

2. Crow Creek Sioux

3. Flandreau Santee Sioux

4. Lower Brule Sioux

5. Pine Ridge Oglala Lakota

6. Rosebud Sioux

7. Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota

8. Yankton Sioux

Tennessee

none

TEXAS

1. Alabama-Coushatta Tribe

2. Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas

3. Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo

UTAH

1. Goshute Reservation

2. Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah

3. Skull Valley Indian Community

4. Uintah & Ouray Reservation

5. Washakie Reservation

Vermont

none

VIRGINIA

1. Cherokee Tribe of Virginia

2. Pamunkey

WASHINGTON

1. Chehalis

2. Colville

3. Elwha S'Klallam

4. Hoh

5. Jamestown S'Klallam

6. Kalispel

7. Lummi

8. Makah

9. Muckleshoot

10.Nisqually

11. Nooksack

12. Port Gamble S'Klallam

13. Suquamish Tribal Council

14. Puyallup

15. Quileute

16. Quinault

17. Sauk-Suiattle

18. Shoalwater Bay Tribe

19. Skokomish

20. Spokane

21. Squaxin Island Tribe

22. Stillaguamish

23. Swinomish

24. Tulalip

25. Upper Skagit

26. Yakama

WISCONSIN

1. Bad River Reservation

2. Forest County Potawatomi

3, Ho Chunk (Winnebago)

4. Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation

5. Lac Du Flambeau Reservation

6. Menominee

7. Oneida

8. Red Cliff

9. Sokaogon Chippewa Community

10. St. Croix Reservation

11. Stockbridge-Munsee Community

WYOMING

1. Wind River Shoshone & Arapaho

If you would like to help First Nations people of the Americas regain their self-determination, you can contact one of these organizations.

American Indian College Fund (AICF)

8333 Greenwood Blvd.

Denver, CO 80221

(303) 426-8900/(303) 426-1200 Fax

1-800-776-3863

www.collegefund.org

Helps fund tribally-controlled colleges.

American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC)

4520 Montgomery Blvd., NE, Ste. 1-B

Albuquerque, New Mexico 87109

505-881-4584

Provides scholarship assistance.

American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC)

121 Oronoco Street

Alexandria, VA 22314

(703) 838-0400/(703) 838-0388

www.aihec.org

Organization of tribally controlled colleges in the United States and Canada.

American Indian Library Association (AILA)

c/o American Library Association

50 E. Huron St.

Chicago, Illinois 60611

Dedicated to providing assistance to Native Americans in library services.

American Indian Research and Development (AIRD)

2233 West Lindsey, Ste. 118

Norman, Okla. 73069

405-364-0656/405-364-5464 Fax

Seeks to improve the quality of education for the gifted Native American student.

Americans for Indian Opportunity (AIO)

681 Juniper Hills Road

Bernalillo, NM 87004

(505) 867-0278

Helps in establishing self help programs in education, health, housing, job development and training opportunities.

Association of Community Tribal Schools (ACTS)

c/o Dr. Roger Bordeaux

616 4th Ave., W.

Sisseton, South Dakota 57262-1349

605-698-3112

Advocates Indian self-determination and tribally controlled schools.

First Nations Development Institute (FNDI)

11917 Main Street-The Stores Building

Fredericksburg, VA 22408

(540) 371-5615/(540) 371-3505 FAX

www.firstnations.org

Helps tribes achieve self-sufficiency by promoting economic development and commercial enterprise.

Ho Anumpoli!

1700 A Coal Avenue SE

Albuquerque, NM 87196

(505) 254-9826/(505) 254-9826 FAX

www.avenue1.com/hoanumpoli

Promotes survival of Native people through literacy and Native languages and culture.

Leonard Peltier Defense Committee

www.freepeltier.org

Provides on-going legal efforts to free Leonard Peltier

Catching the Dream

8200 Mountain Road NE, Suite 203

Albuquerque, NM 87110

(505) 262-2351

Provides scholarships for Native Americans

Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas

The University of Oklahoma

805 Dale Hall Tower

455 West Lindsey

Norman, OK 73019-0535

Phone (405) 325-2312

Fax (405) 325-0842

E-mail: nas@ou.edu

Provides awards to Native American writers

Ramah Navajo Weavers Association

PO Box 153

Pine Hill, NM 87357

(505) 775-3253

A group of 40 women who want to promote self-sufficiency for the Ramah Navajo

Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers

www.wordcraftcircle.org

Provides support for beginning Native American writers