Territory and Sovereignty on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, 1934-1960
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TAKEN LANDS: TERRITORY AND SOVEREIGNTY ON THE FORT BERTHOLD INDIAN RESERVATION, 1934-1960 by Angela K. Parker A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History) in The University of Michigan 2011 Doctoral Committee: Professor Philip J. Deloria, Chair Professor Gregory E. Dowd Associate Professor Stuart A. Kirsch Associate Professor Tiya A. Miles ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thank you to my advisor, Phil Deloria, and my dissertation committee: Greg Dowd, Tiya Miles, and Stuart Kirsch. Through their examples I have begun to learn what it means to be a rigorous, creative, and kind scholar. Phil and Greg threw the weight of their institutional support behind me at every milestone of my program, and offered their personal support during the most difficult times of the past seven years. My favorite experience in graduate school was completing my prelims field with Phil, because it meant that I got to talk history with him for an hour every week. I will probably never achieve the easy brilliance that made most of the people in my Art History seminar say after he guest lectured, ―That‟s your advisor? You‘re so lucky!‖ But it has been exciting to benefit from and be pushed by a powerful mind at the top of his game. Greg has taught me to be a kinder, more insightful scholar. He is all that is best about history as a discipline: thoughtful, rigorous, creative in his analysis, and finely attuned to the human story. Even better, he carries his powerful intellect and insight with great modesty and humility; it was not until I completed prelims that I understood how deeply his works are respected by all who study early America. ii Tiya and Stuart generously gave me their time and their patience, as well as a deep reading of my early chapters. They both are highly sought after as advisors and committee members, for graduate students have seen that they give their best to their students. I was lucky to be one of the graduate students whose work received their attention; I was luckier to also receive their patient advice on how to navigate the ins and outs of departmental politics and interactions with other professors. Although I can be rash, I have tried to learn from the examples Tiya and Stuart provided about when to speak up, and how to make the most impact when I do so. Also through their examples, they gave me the courage live an ethical commitment to my research. I will doubtless continue to use them as role models of brilliant researchers who understand that a long-term commitment to a community only makes your work better – and as beautifully insightful writers who illuminate and elucidate the most complicated and contradictory dynamics. Throughout graduate school, I benefitted from a cohort of fellow graduate students whose generosity is matched only by their rigorous intellect. My experience at the University of Michigan was made vibrant by the discussions, arguments, and laughter shared in the classroom, after speakers, or over dinner at a tiny grad student apartment. In particular, Alice Weinreb, Kisha Simmons, and Isa Quintana gave me the benefit of their experience with a mixture of common sense, kindness, and telling me to stop being ridiculous. I would not have made it through my first two years of graduate school were it not for the camaraderie and support of Nicol Partida and Tandi Moyo-Aebi. Kea iii Cook, Josh Mound, Patrick Parker, Elspeth Martini, Sam Erman, and Rabia Belt have kept me laughing, sane, and thinking rigorously. Two historians, Ronit Stahl and Daniel Hershenzon, saved me when I would have been homeless in DC or Madrid; thanks to Ronit for giving me a free place to stay during that last research trip, and thanks to Hershenzon for taking me on his patented Madrid for Pigs tour. Outside of the History Department, Kathy Zarur (Art History) and Catherine Meier (Studio Art) kept my history honest by encouraging me to see the visceral beauty of my research. In Anthropology, the piercing insights of Regev Nathanson, Guillermo Salas and Margarita Huayhua made me wish I had trained as an anthropologist; Guille and Margarita were also so generous to read and give feedback on several of my chapters. In the joint program of Anthropology and History, Federico Helfgott, Esteban Rozo, and Chris Estrada have all, at various times, laughed with me, challenged me, and made me wish I was as smart as them – even as they were thousands of miles away doing their fieldwork. Thank you Fede for reading a few of my chapters as you walked, bussed, and I‘m sure combi‘d your way across Peru. Last but not least, I have immense gratitude for the continued activism and vision of the entire Native Graduate Caucus. I feel especially indebted to Veronica Pasfield (Crane Clan) and Kelly Fayard (Poarch Creek Nationalist), who with kindness and understanding served as my support, sounding boards, and study buddies during my entire seven years in Ann Arbor. Veronica helped edit several of my chapters, and her editorial notes kept me laughing during the stress of revisions. iv Kelly gave me pep talks over lunch and over text messages as she completed her own dissertation. My support system outside Ann Arbor includes my partner, Tyonek Ogemageshig, who in this last year has lovingly given me immeasurable personal support, joy, and laughter. My greatest gratitude goes to my family and relatives, who were excited about and supportive of my dissertation even when it was hard for me to be: my parents, Larry and Karol Parker; my sisters, Myra and Sara Parker, Leslie Morsette, and Elizabeth Sumida Huaman; my aunties, Tillie Walker, Elizabeth Morsette, Patty Baker-Benally, and Phyllis Howard; and the kids I've helped to take care of along the way who taught me patience, kindness, and perspective, Katana LaSarte and Tolaska Hunts Along. Thanks to Katana for encouraging her auntie to ―keep being silly,‖ and thanks to Tolly for teaching me to be a better, more thoughtful person. I love these two kids very much. I wrote my dissertation for Tolaska and Katana, so that when they grow up they will be able to read about the history lived by their grandparents and great-grandparents, and thus understand their own lives better. I also wrote my dissertation for my grandmother, Myra Snow, and my aunt, Tillie Walker, because they lived that history and taught it to me. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF IMAGES ix CHAPTER I. Introduction 1 Sources and Methods 8 Historiography 17 The Garrison Dam/Pick Sloan Plan 17 Fort Berthold 22 Native History 25 Chapter Summary 29 II. Growing Place and Defending Territory: Fort Berthold before 1934 36 Growing Places: Land and Narrative 39 Spaces of Change 54 Sovereign Territoriality and the State 69 Conclusion 88 III. Authority and Indian Reorganization on Fort Berthold, 1934-1941 93 Reorganizing Authority: Passing the Indian Reorganization Act on Fort Berthold 100 Exercising Authority: Land and Belonging 124 Contesting Authority: Factionalism on Fort Berthold 140 Conclusion 154 IV. Performing Citizenship: The Cultural Production of Indigenous Citizenship, 1940-45 157 ―They honored them; they danced‖: Remembering ‗USO‘ Dances at Fort Berthold 159 vi The Work of Citizenship: How the ‗USO‘ Dances Could Exist 170 Imagining Territory: A Fort Berthold Flag Song 201 Conclusion 205 V. ‘You feel it inside that you’re not given a good deal’: The Fight Against the Garrison Dam 208 Torrent: The Pick-Sloan Plan 212 Throwing Up Levees: The Fight Against the Garrison Dam 219 Deluge: Narrating Resistance 242 Conclusion 259 VI. Saying Goodbye 261 ‗Yeses‘ and ‗No‘s‘ 264 Moving 281 Saying Goodbye 297 Conclusion 306 VII. Conclusion: This is the beginning of a story 308 BIBLIOGRAPHY 323 vii LIST OF TABLES TABLE III.1 Indian Reorganization Act Election Results 119 III.2 1936 Tribal Council Election Results 127 III.3 Three Affiliated Tribes Population Increase 1906-1946 135 III.4 Three Affiliated Tribes Tribal Populations 1932-1946 135 III.5 Petition Signers by District 142 III.6 1936 Tribal Business Council Election Results for Shell Creek 146 III.7 Cattle Purchasing Program Referendum Results 152 VI.1 Overall Allocation of Compensation (in dollars) 268 VI.2 Tribal Business Council Plan for the $7.5m of Non-Individual Compensation (in dollars) 269 VI.3 Compensation by Status 289 viii LIST OF IMAGES IMAGE II.1 Sitting Rabbit‘s 1907 Missouri River Map (detail of Turtle Fall Creek) 36 II.2 Sitting Rabbit‘s 1907 Missouri River Map (detail of Eagle Nose Village) 55 II.3 Map, Fort Berthold Indian Reservation Borders, 1851-1910 79 II.4 Map, Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, Pre-Garrison Dam 83 II.5 ―Henry Badgun & Little Owl‖ Photograph, unknown year 88 II.6 Sitting Rabbit Photograph, unknown year 90 II.7 Sitting Rabbit, wife, and child Photograph, unknown year 91 II.8 ―Little Owl/Sitting Rabbit, 78 years‖ 1942 Photograph 92 III.1 CCC-ID Bridge 1938 Photograph 93 IV.1 Woman Plowing 1942 Photograph 175 IV.2 Men in Corral 1942 Photograph 178 IV.3 Corral 1942 Photograph 179 IV.4 Elbowoods 4-H Club Display 1942 Photograph 187 IV.5 Shell Creek 4-H Club Display 1942 Photograph 188 IV.6 Nishu 4-H Club Display 1942 Photograph 189 V.1 ―Lo, The Poor Indian‖ George Gillette 1948 Photograph 208 V.2 Martin Cross Photograph, unknown date 223 ix V.3 Carl Whitman Photograph, unknown date 234 VI.1 Houses Being Moved 1952 Photograph 261 VI.2 Map, Fort Berthold as Affected by the Garrison Dam 296 VI.3 Map, Fort Berthold Post-Garrison Dam 304 x CHAPTER I Introduction Water – lakes and rivers – run deep throughout the origins stories of the Mandan and Hidatsa.