Part Three: Foundations Examples of Successes leading to a New Indian Policy This Powerpoint is subject to continuous revisions. Written and Revised by.

Part Three: FoundationsExamples of Successes leading to a New Indian Policy

This Powerpoint is subject to continuous revisions.

Written and Revised by Scott Fritz, Ph.D. on October 27, 2015 at 11:45 a.m.Western New Mexico University

Lakota Sioux overturn Public Law 280 in 1964

Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota

Tribal leaders: Cato Valandra Referendum First time, Sioux voted in great

numbers

Cato Valandra: b. 1921, Rosebud Indian Reservation, S. Dakota, WWII, est. business, in 1954, treasurer of Rosebud Reservation, oversaw influx of federal monies in 1960s, elected tribal chairman in 1962, oversaw economic development, road building, housing, lowered unemployment, in 1970s he was Economic Development Administration director and administrator for Tribal Planning Office, in 1977, became director of Institute of Indian Studies at University of S. Dakota.

To be terminated in 1961 There was some support for

termination Each family would receive $30,000

because of timber resources Traditionals against termination

Lucy Covington against termination = “If an Indian doesn’t have land, he has nothing.”

B. 1910 Colville Indian Tribe, Washington Confederated tribe – Included Salish-speaking

tribes like Nespelem, Sanpoil, Wenatchi and Chief Joseph’s band of Nez Perce

Sold cattle to fight termination Pay for lawyers and airline tickets to Washington

D.C. Ran in 1968 tribal election on an anti-termination

slate won Covington held referendum for or against

termination Reservation residents to vote against it

Stopped the Colville Indian Reservation termination bill in 1971

Significance: movement toward Self-Determination

Died -- 1982

Background: Menominee (of Wisconsin) were terminated in 1961 Members went to cities Lands had transferred to Menominee Enterprises, Inc.

(MEI) Background: Menominee Enterprises: Monies

overseen by First Wisconsin Trust Co. Voting Trust – dominated by Anglos

Problems: Low sales of timber from outmoded lumber mill Pay taxes

Following Termination – tribe only had $1.7 million Assets drop to $300,000 in 1964

Consequences: Lost health facility Children dropped out of school Unemployed doubled

Attempted real estate development “Legend Lake” to sell to non-Indians

Determination of Rights and Unity for Menominee Shareholders (DRUMS) End Legend Lakes land sales End Termination

Leaders: Ada Deer Picketed Legend Lakes sales office and

promotional events in Milwaukee 1971 marched on Madison, WI. – DRUMS put up slate of candidates in

annual election of MEI voting trustees and won a majority of votes

ADA DEER, B. 1935, degree from University of Wisconsin, involved with DRUM, helped bring an end to Termination Era, Chair of Menominee Restoration Committee, served as first native woman to head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs 1993-1997.

By 1972, support from: Native American Defense Fund Wisconsin Legislators

Ada Deer went to Washington, D.C. to lobby for the Menominee Restoration Act Signed by President Richard Nixon Recreated reservation and tribal sovereignty

Act allowed for: Menominee Restoration Committee (headed by Ada

Deer) – draft new constitution Election of new tribal council New tribal police force and implementation of tribal

laws Enforcement of tribal hunting and fishing regulations New health clinic

NADF est. in 1970 to provide money to lawyers who worked for reservations. Background: Office of Economic Opportunity had funded lawyers to work in Indian Country. As cases increased, need to create a national organized was created, hence the NADF.

Est. 1964 – Reservations used funds for development programs Independent of BIA Community Action Programs (CAP)

President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty programs

Significance: OEO projects infused Indian country with great

confidence to continue fighting, such as against termination

Origin of Self-Determination

New Mexico Pueblos Programs to train silversmiths Factory to build adobe brick

Red Lake Chippewa Programs to train carpenters, plumbers, and

electricians Navajo

Rough Rock Demonstration School, est. 1966 First Indian-run school To teach Navajo children both Navajo culture and

English, reading, and math

Sacred lake for the Taos Pueblo Source of Rio Pueblo de Taos Drinking water

Pilgrimage to lake 25 mile trek in August Shrines along trail Done in secret; outsiders not allowed

Belief Taos Pueblo emerged from its waters Tribal leader Paul Bernal: The water “is purified by nature and

therefore is holy water coming from Blue Lake…Blue Lake is our Indian Church.”

Creation of the Taos National Forest, 1906 Included Blue Lake Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot did not

receive permission from Taos Pueblo Forest Service opened up the area

to camping, hunting, fishing Lake stocked with trout Religious sites destroyed

Taos National Forest renamed Carson National Forest)

Paul Bernal WW II Vet Appointed by elder Juan de Jesus Romero to be

Pueblo’s representative to outside world Indian Claims Commission

In 1965 -- offered money to Taos for loss of Blue Lake

Bernal against monetary payment; wanted land instead

Taos Pueblo hired lawyer Felix Cohen Submitted bills to Congress in 1950s Failed because Forest Service did not want to

encourage other tribes (like Tlingit and Tongass NF)

Indian Claims Commission, est. 1946

Felix Cohen: b. 1907, 1930s worked for the Department of the Interior, helped create legal framework for Indian Reorganization Act, published Handbook of Federal Indian Law in 1941, with new policy of Termination, he left public service to become private lawyer.

Republican Richard Nixon won 1968 election Saw return of lake as a

chance to appeal to Indian voters

Lake returned Nixon administration cited

freedom of religion

Context: Alaska Purchased in 1867 No treaties with federal government

Native groups like the Tlingit, Haida, Eyak, Inuit, and Athabascans Statehood in 1959 Put forward land claims when Alaska become a

state (claimed much of Alaska) State of Alaska, BLM, Forest Service, oil

companies made land claims too

Alaska Federation of Natives (est. 1966) Tensions between Indians and government “Deep Freeze” 1969

Secretary of Interior Stewart Udall imposed moratorium on decisions regarding land claims (for Indians and non-Indians)

Negotiations continued into early 1970s Indians, environmentalists, mining and oil interests

Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) signed in 1971 Tribes gave up 1/9th of the state in exchange for $962.5

Million) Tribes received 44 million acres

To administer money and lands Corporations selected lands

Held Title Receive monies from settlement

Invest funds, and give out payments to tribes

In 1972, Michigan Supreme Court overruled the Chosa Decision 1930, claiming that the 1854 Treaty with the Keweenaw Bay Band of Chippewa guaranteed fishing rights

In 1972, Idaho vs. Tinno Shoshone and Bannock had fishing and hunting rights guaranteed in Fort Bridger Treaty of 1868

United States v. Washington 1974 Billy Frank “Boldt Decision” Allow tribes to fish at traditional sites and

manage salmon fisheries

Today’s U.S. Indian Policy Indian Self-Determination and

Education Act (1975) Tribes receive money directly

and the tribes use the money independent of the federal agencies

Tribes administer their own (i.e.) day care centers, schools, health clinics, etc.

How did Self-Determination develop? Lets look at its foundations

Passamaquoddy Treaty of 1794 With state of Massachusetts Promised to the tribe some 23,000 acres and

15 islands Land had slipped into private hands Passamaquoddy leader John Stevens

Leads a sit-in (1964) to prevent a white landowner from building tourist cabins on land covered by the treaty

Tribe hired Tom Tureen to defend their land claims

Tom Tureen: b. 1945, lawyer, pioneered use of Nonintercourse Acts to obtain return of land. Helped gain recognition for five New England tribes and return of their lands

Was paid through Pine Tree Legal Assistance (an OEO Indian legal service program)

Realized that 1794 treaty was illegal because the 1790 Nonintercourse Act of 1790 required congressional approval of tribal land sales

This was same for Penobscot Choice: go to Indian Claims Commission for

monetary recompense or seek reclaiming of land (chose latter)

Signed by Jimmy Carter Provided tribes $81.5 million to be used to

purchase lands, including timber lands Tribes received federal recognition Other tribes from New England,

Alabamba, and Texas would do the same, claiming treaties signed between their ancestors and the states were illegal due to the Nonintercourse Act of 1790

Successes and Some Failures

Supreme Court made 120 decisions regarding Indian law from 1959 to the 2000s

Most decisions were in favor of Indians, until the 1980s

OEO legal service programs active on reservations

Indian Claims Commission ended and private law firms took over Indian cases, including: Native American Rights Fund, est. 1969 Indian Law Resource Center

Many Indians studied law

In 1967, Arizona sought to tax employees of Great Western Bank branch in Window Rock, capital of Navajo Nation (town is on the reservation)

Rosalind McClanahan, employee, contested Arizona’s right to tax on the reservation

She went to the OEO legal services program Dinebeiina Nahiilna Be Agaditahe or DNA (lawyers helping to revitalize the Navajo people)

DNA lawyers based their argument on Worcester v. Georgia 1832 = state of Georgia cannot pass laws on Cherokee lands

McClanahan case went to the Supreme Court of Arizona

The court found in favor of the Navajo Arizona cannot tax the Navajo

Significance – Turning points (or foundations) of Self-Determination Success for Indians

In 1967, Indian child Ivan Brown taken from his home because he was cared by an elderly Indian woman (Spirit Lake Sioux, N. Dakota)

Indians sued = separating children from the tribe destroyed their identity

Court found many instances of Indian children being removed from Indian homes into non-Indian homes

President Jimmy Carter signed the act, which said that tribes have jurisdiction over custody cases

BIA placed Indian orphans into white families Justification: stable homes, guardianship doctrine Case workers did not care, or BIA sought

assimilation Adoption of John Doe v. Heim (1976)

In 1975, Navajo child to be adopted, grandfather protested

Decision: Government has right to place Indian children into non-Indian households without tribal approval

Consequences of taking children out of tribes Language, culture, traditions not continued

Grandparents help raise children, impart tribal histories, mythologies, etc.

UN definition of genocide “Forcibly transferring children of one group to another

group.” (Echohawk, 220) Congress realized problem Indian Child Welfare Act (1978)

Required state courts to transfer Indian child adoptions to tribal courts when a reservation requests such actions

Oil and gas companies acquired leases in 1953 and tribal government could not tax leases

In 1969, Jicarilla tribal council amended constitution to implement tax oil and gas companies operating on Jicarilla land

Companies sued; went to Supreme Court Court ruled in favor of Jicarilla

Jicarilla has sovereign government, its own laws, police, etc.

Oil Companies benefited from the government Indians have right to tax leases

Oliphant Decision (1978) Mark Oliphant arrested for fighting by tribal

police on the Suquamish reservation in Washington

Justice Rehnquist = Indians lack criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians

Atkinson Trading Co. Decision (2001) Could Navajo Nation tax a non-Indian hotel

(on non-Indian land within reservation)? Justice Rehnquist = no, Indians cannot tax –

went against Merrion v. Jicarilla Apache

American Indian Religious Freedom Act, 1978

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 1990

Legislators who were pro-Indian: Morris Udall and John McCain (Arizona); Ben Nighthorse (Colorado); etc.

Senator Daniel K. Inouye (Hawaii) Chaired Indian Affairs Committee Helped get pro-Indian legislation passed

Fishing rights in Pacific Northwest and Great Lakes

Eagle feathers for ceremonial purposes Water rights in Colorado and Utah Peyote usage in Nevada and New Mexico Casinos in California and Connecticut Tribal taxation over non-Indians in

Arizona and Dakotas

Over-turning Public Law 280 in South Dakota Prevention of Colville Reservation Termination,

1971 Menominee Restoration 1973 Office of Economic Opportunity Return of Blue Lake 1970 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, 1971 Self Determination Act 1978 Maine Indian Settlement Act, 1980 Supreme Court Decisions