Annotated Links Post

At the beginning of my blog project I decided to compare the economy of the Seminoles and the Kickapoo. So in order to give a background of relations, I stated what type of government each tribe has. The Kickapoo have a Tribal Council. Having your own government and being able to decide where the money goes and projects and support programs begin on the reservation, are signs of tribal sovereignty. Native Americans today control their own economy. However, the federal government used to control any and all types of income gained by individual Native Americans and Native American tribes.

The Indian Removal Act of 1830 declared that all Native Americans east of the Mississippi River were to be removed to reservations in Kansas and Indian Country (Oklahoma). President Jackson signed the bill into law in September 1830. Ten years after the Removal Act became a law, 70,000 Native Americans had been forcibly removed to reservations. Many other Native Americans died along the way. The most famous, well known tale of Native American removal is that of the Cherokees and the Trail of Tears. The link gives an overview of relations between the Cherokee people and the United States, and the famous Marshall cases that coined the term "domestic dependent nation". It also includes the view of the state of Georgia and why they wanted the Cherokee removed. I included a list of reservations in my blog because more than the Five Civilized Tribes were moved to the reservations in Indian Country. This list shows all the current Native American reservations. The Five Civilized Tribes are the Seminole, Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, and Chickasaw. They called themselves the "Five Civilized Tribes" because they adopted white ways of agriculture, religion, and government. However, even though the United States' goal was to "civilize" the "savage" Native Americans, the Five Civilized Tribes were still removed and placed on reservations because of the extreme desire for land. Of course, the Native Americans would not go with a fight. The Seminoles engaged in three wars of Indian Removal. The link describes the date of the wars and the major battles and outcomes. The most important outcome is that the Seminoles were never completely defeated. While it is true that 3,000 Seminole were removed and became the Seminole Tribe of Oklahoma, the Seminoles hid in the Everglades and were never formally conquered. These links give a brief history of how some Seminole were removed to Oklahoma and became the Seminole Tribe of Oklahoma, while others, mostly women and children, hid out in the Everglades and were never found and removed. The Seminoles that remained became the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Miccosukee Tribe of Seminoles. These links give a description of the different tribes, how they came to be, and what their current economic, political, and social situation is. After a while the wars to remove the Seminole from Florida became too costly for the United States, so they eventually left the Seminole to their own devices. However by then the Seminole posed little threat, many of their number having died or been caught and taken to Oklahoma. Next came the Allotment and Assimilation Era. The reservation land of the tribes was further broken up into allotments, or 160 acres pieces of land given to the head of a family. Squatters would come and start building on reservation land, and the government would not kick them out. So in order to prevent fighting between the squatters and the tribes, the reservations were broken into allotments by the Allotment Act of 1891 and the leftover land was sold to whites. The best land was always taken by the white settlers, therefore leaving the worst land to the Native Americans. Consequently, there were horrible conditions on the reservation. Diseases ran rampant and food and water were scarce. The Buffalo were hunted to near extinction by white traders dealing in buffalo hide. The hide would be stripped and the carcass left to rot on the plain. As a result, hunting parties were no longer able to provide food for their tribes and clothing for the winter.

The Assimilation Era is a continuation of the attempt to "civilize" the Native American. This time, the attempt is focused on the children, as they are easier to teach and influence then adults. Teachers, sometimes nuns and preachers taught Native American children in boarding schools, sometimes miles away from the reservation. They were not allowed to see their parents until graduation or speak their native language. They were taught the English language and how to read, write, and sing American songs. Who decides what they should and should not be taught? This blog post considers the President's back to school speech. It debates the books and courses being taught in schools and who decides that they should be taught. Who is given the authority to decide what we learn and don't learn, and why are they given that power? Why are some books considered better than others and some styles of teaching considered better than others?

After a time the federal government grew tired of trying to assimilate Native Americans, and decided to withdraw their support and leave them to their own devices. Thus began the Termination Period. The Termination Period lasted from 1950-1960. During this period federal support for Native Americans was withdrawn and they were left to fend for themselves against their white neighbors and the state in which they resided. Public Law 280 gave civil and criminal control to the states. The states had the power to control any civil and criminal laws on Native American reservations, and any civil and criminal crimes were taken to state court.
States and white residents did not trust the Native Americans living nearby. Therefore, it became extremely difficult for Native Americans to hold onto what land and culture they had left. After it became apparent that Native Americans were not going to die out, the federal government began taking control of Native American affairs once more. This time however with a more positive mindset. The link connects to a blog post in which their is a video that describes racism the way Native Americans see it. Even today, there is racism everywhere; in the way that people think of Native Americans and how they act toward them. Native Americans became official citizens of the United States with the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. Any Native American born on a reservation who separates from their tribe and adapts the "civilized" white ways became a citizen. Also included in the Act are citizenship by marriage and by being in the Armed Forces. In an attempt to hold on to any remaining reservation land in Native American hands and protect them from state laws, Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. All the lands held by Native American were placed into federal government trust. That means that only the government may sell the land. Also, the Act stated that the Secretary of the Interior was to restore any tribal lands taken away during allotment, and proclaim new Native American reservations as needed.

Currently, Native American tribes are trying to become their own nations. Through self-determination Native Americans are controlling their own lives. They decide who runs their government, how their income is distributed, how they should maintain their culture, what support programs they should create, who can be a member of the tribe, and much more. Some, but not all, Native American tribes are prospering economically through Indian gaming, and the fact that tribal lands and goods cannot be taxed on their reservations. This means they can sell their products, such as native arts and crafts or cigarettes, cheaper than the state stores. As a result, people came onto the reservation and began buying native goods. However, the economy of the Native American tribes did not begin to truly turn around until the Seminole tribe of Florida invented Indian gaming. Indian gaming includes bingo halls, casinos and much more. The states became upset that Native Americans were making money, and in a way that the states could not. So, in order to appease them, the federal government wrote the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. It defines what the different classes of gaming are, what states they are allowed in, and any special conditions needed to have high stakes gaming. The National Indian Gaming Association was created in 1985, and consists of 184 Native American nations and other organizations, tribes and businesses engaged in tribal gaming. The Association works to better the lives of Native Americans through Indian gaming (same thing as tribal gaming and Native Amerian gaming). At the beginning of my blog project, I did not realize that Native Americans were making an attempt to become modern. I believed that if they tried, they would lose their culture and traditions. However, as I started my research, I came across many references to organizations dedicated to the preservation of Native American culture, language, and tradtions. At the same time, many teenage Native Americans are attending school and applying for jobs. Tribal elders know that their tribe must adapt to the modern technological world if they wish to survive. They are saving their past while preparing for the future.

The following links take you to books.google.com: High Stakes: Florida Seminole Gaming and Sovereignty, Atlas of the North American Indian, American Indian Law in a Nutshell, and American Indians and the Law. These are books I have read for my first year seminar class and found extremely helpful with my research on the economic relationship between Native American tribes and the federal government. Since I cannot provide a direct link to the book, I found them all online. The title and author is given, as well as a few pages from the book. What pages there are and how many are shown is at the discretion of the author.