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Universi^ Microtlms Internationa! 300 N INFORMATION TO USERS This reproduction was made from a copy of a document sent to us for microfilming. While the most advanced technology has been used to photograph and reproduce this document, the quality of the reproduction is heavily dependent upon the quality of the material submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help clarify markings or notations which may appear on this reproduction. 1.The sign or “target” for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is “Missing Page(s)”. If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting through an image and duplicating adjacent pages to assure complete continuity. 2. 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These prints are available upon request from the Dissertations Customer Services Department. 5. Some pages in any document may have indistinct print. In all cases the best available copy has been filmed. Universi^ MicrOTlms Internationa! 300 N. Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Mi 48106 8505907 Hampton, Carol McDonald AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGION UNDER ASSAULT: OPPOSITION TO THE PEYOTE FAITH The University of Oklahoma Ph.D. 1984 University Microfilms I nternetionelSOO N. z e e b Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 43106 Copyright 1984 by Hampton, Carol McDonald All Rights Reserved THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGION UNDER ASSAULT; OPPOSITION TO THE PEYOTE FAITH A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By CAROL MCDONALD HAMPTON Norman, Oklahoma 1984 AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGION UNDER ASSAULT: OPPOSITION TO THE PEYOTE FAITH A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY By //yuLwJ K- Copyright by Carol McDonald Hampton 1984 © All Rights Reserved PREFACE With a lengthy background dating from the Spanish conquest in 1521 to the present time, federal and state officials, Christian clergy and laity, and private organi­ zations and individuals have challenged the veracity, validity and viability of American Indian religions. Much of that opposition has centered on apparent and obvious aspects of religious practices and belief, in particular, the usage of peyote as a sacrament in spiritual worship. From the Spanish Edict of 1620 prohibiting the usage of peyote to current state narcotics laws classifying peyote as a narcotic American Indians have withstood harassment, confiscations, imprisonment, and defamations of their spiritual beliefs, and practices. Hostility and antagonism from non-Indians has spread over all Indian religions, pan-Indian religious movements as well as individual tribal practices. Federal Indian agents, temperance leaders, state, county, and district officials, local groups have disrupted and prohibited American Indian religious ceremonies with or without the benefit of law. Opposition has often taken the form of a forced assimila­ tion — a forced acceptance of the dominant society's culture and beliefs. Promoters of assimilation of Indians 111 IV into Euro-American society have lobbied federal and state legislatures to prohibit all evidence of Indian spiritual­ ity . With a two-pronged philosophical base set in sixteenth century European theories regarding the rights of conquered peoples and in a belief that Christianity is the only true religion, Euro-Americans have righteously attacked all evidence of differences from their own customs. Hostility to that which is different or alien continues to the present day. The passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act in 197 8 documented examples of antagonism as well as simple ignorance which has limited American Indian spirit­ ual practices. Legal actions since 1978 suggest that the American Indian Religious Freedom Act can offer no gua­ rantee of cessation of this religious oppression. This study seeks to affirm the legal rights of Indians to constitutional protection of their religious practices as well as to their beliefs. It also attempts to assess the sources of opposition to Native American spirituality and to determine a means by which American law might protect the religions of all American citizens. In the process of researching and writing this study I have incurred many debts. I have received aid, information and moral support from many people. I would p a rtic u la rly like to acknowledge the kind, patient, and helpful advice I V have received from my good friend and professor Arrell Morgan Gibson, who directed this study; my old friend, professor, and colleague, J. Clayton Feaver, who taught me a love of religious philosophy; and Ronald K. Snell, who has read and offered advice on almost every article I have written and paper I have presented. My never-ending gratitude goes to each of them, I would also like to express my appreciation to those who aided my research -- the staffs of the National Archives and of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.; all the patient members of the staff of the Indian Archives and Newspaper divisions of the Oklahoma H istorical Society; Jack Haley, Alice Timmons, John Ezell, and Darryl Morrison of the Western History Collections of the Univer­ sity of Oklahoma; and the many people who found books, manuscripts, offered advice and companionship during my tenure as a Francis C. Allen Fellow at the Center for the History of the American Indian at the Newberry Library in Chicago, particularly Helen Tanner, who with her mother established the fellow ship. Father Peter John Powell, Henry Dobyns, Herb Hoover, Dave M iller, and John Awbrey. One group of people provided me with their own intimate knowledge, parts of which I have chosen, in deference to their wishes, to reserve. Members of the Native American Church in Oklahoma and elsewhere have shared their knowledge with me and I appreciate their VI generosity, particularly my fellow tribal members and Douglas Long, President of the Native American Church of North America. I would like to thank my friends and colleagues who assisted this project in many ways from sending newspaper clippings of arrests for peyote possession from all over the country to placing the manuscript on soft sectored diskettes. Their very practical support has been invalu­ able. I would like to offer my appreciation to the members of my committee for their help and advice, H. Wayne Morgan, Norman Crockett, Paul Glad, J. Clayton Feaver, Ronald K. Snell, and Arrell H. Gibson. Finally, I wish to acknowledge my gratitude to my family. I recognize my debt to them for their forbearance during this lengthy project. Thank you for managing without me. It was for you that I began and persevered. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS v ii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. ANCIENT TRADITIONS 21 III. CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES 37 IV. FROM ACCEPTANCE TO RESISTANCE 53 V. ALIENATION OR ASSIMILATION? 74 VI. RELIGIOUS RENEWAL IN TIMES OF OPPRESSION 89 VII. PEYOTE BELIEFS, RITUALS, AND FUNCTIONS 113 VIII. OPPOSITION TO THE PEYOTE RELIGION 135 IX. THE NATIVE AMERICAN CHURCH 152 X. TRIAL OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT 168 XI. THE AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ACT 198 XII. ASSESSMENT 219 Selected Bibliography 233 Appendices A. THE SPANISH EDICT OF 1620 253 B. INDIAN PEYOTE USE IN 1919 256 C. THE AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ACT 263 D. OFFICERS OF THE NATIVE AMERICAN CHURCH OF NORTH AMERICA, 1984 255 v il LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS List of Figures Figure 1. Waterbird 129 2. Native American Church Groups in the U.S. 160 V l l l AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGION UNDER ASSAULT: OPPOSITION TO THE PEYOTE FAITH CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Religious freedom! People have an abstract idea that religious freedom means that all people have a right to believe as they wish concerning their individual or community answers to ultimate questions — questions such as: What is my individual or group destiny? How can I or we fulfill our ultimate destiny? What is my or our relationship to the Creator and the Supernatural? What is my or our relationship to the totality of creation other than myself or my community? People all over the world have asked these questions in all ages whether they be of the Old Testament trying to fulfill their destiny to Yahweh or Jehovah; Cheyennes praying to Maheo; Christians seeking guidance and forgivness from God, the Father, Christ, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; Lakotas thanking Wakan Tanka, the Great Mystery; Brahman or "the Cause of All Things" as expressed in the Upanishads of India; the great teachers, Buddha and Confucius, directing people in China and India to ultim ate knowledge; or Caddos crying to th e ir Caddi Ayo, the Great Chief Above. In all places and in all times 2 people have recognized a need to believe in a Supreme Being. A need to believe in a Supreme Being and the freedom to believe and practice such a belief seems harmless to society at large and, yet, there have been centuries of discord over the freedom to believe in a Supreme Being or First Cause and the corresponding practice of such be­ liefs.
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