Native American Disadvantages

• At European contact in 1492 indigenous population of North America estimated at 9.8 million • Transmission of European diseases: , measles and typhus created epidemics that spread across both continents where native populations had no immunity • European/American conquests caused widespread warfare and famine • By 1890 aboriginal population fell below 250,000 • Indians had no written language – other than Mayan • Indians depended on Europeans for the transmission of their cultural achievements and history

Native American Opposition

• After the French & Indian War 1754-1763, tribes occupying the Atlantic seaboard colonies became barriers to westward expansion • Americans characterized Indians as treacherous, savage and cruel in books and newspapers to justify their displacement and eradication • Settlers became conditioned by erroneous accounts of Indian atrocities • Discovery of colossal man-made structures and elaborate artifacts in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys were believed to be made by a vanished super-race; the “Moundbuilders” • Moundbuilders folklore created a form of and that denied Indians their ancestral heritage • Denying Indians’ ties to their ancient history also meant denying them territorial claims & made it easier to justify their annihilation U. S. – Indian Policy

• of 1830 signed by President forced tribes to relocate on to reservations west of the • Supreme Court case Nation v. 1831, Native Americans were considered a “conquered people” and classified as non-citizens “domestic dependent nations” with no sovereignty over land or individual rights • In 1838 2,000-6,000 died from starvation, exposure and disease in route to • U. S. policy aimed at subordinating a self-sufficient, self-governing people resulting in their economic dependence on government assistance to survive • Reservations were located on arid land unsuited for farming • By 1870 Indians were starving to death on many reservations

Trail of Tears U.S. Indian Policy Continued

• In 1871 U. S. Senator Henry Dawes estimated it cost nearly $1 million to “exterminate” one Indian • Secretary of Interior Carl Shurz reported government could save money through education; cost $1,200 to school one child for 8 years

• U. S. Government chose to eradicate Indian religion, heritage, and language

• Rationale for this policy reflected white ethnocentrism on the dichotomy: Euro-Americans were civilized/Indians were savages

• Civilizing Indian children had three components: teach “individuality” and wean from “tribal communism,” learn English to operate within dominant culture, teach to save from paganism

• 1870-1900 BIA established 253 schools: 25 off-reservation boarding, 81 reservation boarding, and 147 day schools

• In 1928 Brookings Institute released Meriam Report: 64 boarding schools had ill-nourished students, poor housing/hygiene/overcrowded conditions

• Students contracted contagious diseases causing hundreds of deaths Discrimination

• Native Americans became U. S. citizens in 1924

• U.S. Constitution protects individuals’ rights in exercising specific freedoms disallowing individuals or groups from discriminating

• Individual racism is related to prejudice: harmful acts by individuals toward other individuals or their property based on race, religion, etc.

• Institutional racism is structural; refers to social processes that intentionally protect the advantages of a dominant group while maintaining an unequal position over a subordinate group

• Institutional racism views inequality as part of a society’s structure; individuals and groups discriminate whether they are bigots or not

• Institutional racism allows individuals and groups to operate within a social structure ensuring racial dominance through laws, customs, religious beliefs, etc., operating within a society

• Identify and discuss the types of discrimination from the book Ceremony