Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com MEETING FOR LEADERS IN A BOX Terminology: Native American, American Indian or Native American Heritage Indigenous? 2 Month Timeline: Native American History in the U.S. 3 In November, we celebrate the culture of the diverse com- DiversityInc’s munity of people in North America who identify as Native Facts & Figures 6 American and Alaska Native as part of Native American Heritage Month. This Meeting in a Box is a valuable tool to Leadership Spotlight: Career share with employees as part of your organization’s profes- Advice from sional development and cultural competence educational Native American resources. This month, we will highlight the contributions Business Leaders 10 of the Indigenous community in the U.S. and the working world, as well as its people’s resilience, history and vibrant cultures. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY This document and all of its contents are intended for the sole use of DiversityInc’s benchmarking and subscription-based customers. Any use of this material without specific permission from DiversityInc is strictly prohibited. TERMINOLOGY: NATIVE AMERICAN, AMERICAN INDIAN OR INDIGENOUS? n the 1960s, many Indigenous and non-Indigenous ican and others prefer American Indian. Some use both peoples challenged the use of the word “Indian” to terms interchangeably. The term Indigenous peoples describe Native Americans for several reasons. First, acknowleges that those who are Indigenous come from it was a misnomer. The name came to be because many different cultures and populations. The general IChristopher Columbus believed he had landed in the consensus is that the best way to refer to an Indigenous West Indies when he reached the Caribbean. Therefore, person is by their tribe, if they know that information. many argued it was a term that colonizers gave them. Both Native American and American Indian are gener- Another argument was that Indian was a pejorative be- al terms, but different tribes have distinct cultures and cause it had been used in the media (think: the “cow- customs. Ultimately, there is no one-size-fits-all term for boys and Indians” trope) to simplify, romanticize and these groups. It depends on the individual’s preferences disparage Indigenous peoples. However, as the term and personal cultural identity. Native American became more widely accepted as the politically correct term, many people in the community have objected to it, saying it is a sterilized, generic term that did not acknowledge history. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR EMPLOYEES Many continue to identify as American Indians because • Why is it important to use proper terminologies to Qrefer to people’s identities? it is the only title for an ethnic group that places “Amer- ican” before the name, acknowledging their true origins • How does Native American history play into the on the continent. Others also argue there is power in various terminologies that refer to Indigenous the incorrectness of the term Indian because it does not peoples? erase the history of European colonizers. “We were en- slaved as American Indians, we were colonized as Amer- • What are the implications and effects of labeling? ican Indians, and we will gain our freedom as American How can labels be considered either empowering Indians and then we can call ourselves anything we or degrading? damn please,” Russell Means, a Lakota activist, wrote in his 1998 essay, “I Am An American Indian, Not a Native American!” Indigenous peoples of Alaska are most often referred to as Alaska Natives in legal contexts because of the state’s history of also being part of Russia before the U.S. acquired it. In Canada, Indigenous peoples often identify as First Nations or Aboriginal, and the term “In- dian” is viewed as offensive outside of legal terminolo- gy. For historical, ethnic and legal reasons, the Inuit and Métis people of Alaska and Canada are considered sep- arate from First Nations. However, certain terms are unanimously considered de- rogatory by Indigenous communities, including the term “Eskimo” often used to refer to Inuit people. All of this terminology may seem confusing, but it is a product of entities trying to lump together and classify diverse people who are members of hundreds of tribes Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com that differ culturally. Some prefer the term Native Amer- CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY This document and all of its contents are intended for the sole use of DiversityInc’s benchmarking and subscription-based customers. Any use of this material without specific permission from DiversityInc is strictly prohibited. © 2020 DIVERSITYINC 2 MEETING IN A BOX TIMELINE American U.S. senator. 1924 1824 The Indian Citizenship Act grants citizenship to Native Americans born within U.S. borders. Before this act, The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is founded as part of Native American citizenship was limited. the U.S. Department of the Interior. The BIA was designed to subjugate assimilate American Indians and Alaska Natives to U.S. society but has since changed its 1929 purpose to advocate for policies that promote Indian Charles Curtis becomes the first Native American vice self-determination. president under President Herbert Hoover. James McDonald, Choctaw, becomes the nation’s first 1934 Native American lawyer. He goes on to represent the Choctaw tribe in negotiations with politicians on behalf The Indian New Deal is introduced as an attempt to help of Native American rights. Native Americans rediscover and revitalize their cultural heritage and traditions. Central to this deal is the Indian Reorganization Act, which sought to promote tribal 1830 self-governance. Though many tribes accepted it, many President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal rejected it out of fear of more federal intervention. Act, which evicts Native American tribes east of the Mississippi River and forces them to move to plots of 1941 land in the west. This removal policy later becomes About 25,000 Native Americans serve in World War II known as the Trail of Tears because of the deaths that and 40,000 others work in wartime industries. Some occurred during the forced migration. Native Americans fighting in the war served as "code talkers" who represented over 14 tribes and used their 1851 native languages to convey secret messages. Congress passes the Indian Appropriations Act, which creates the Indian reservation system. It does not allow Native Americans to leave their reservations without permission. 1879 Carlisle Indian Industrial School — run by the govern- ment's BIA — opens in Pennsylvania. It forces Native American children to assimilate into white U.S. culture. It goes on to exist for 39 years. 1887 The Dawes Act gives the president authority to divide up land allotted to Native Americans on reservations. 1889 Susan LaFlesche Picotte, Omaha, becomes the first Native American woman to earn a medical degree in the U.S. She goes on to open her own hospital on the Omaha reservation, the first hospital built on Native American land without government assistance. 1907 1889 Charles Curtis, whose ancestry included Kaw, Osage National Library of Medicine, Public Domain image and Potawatomi lineage, becomes the first Native CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY This document and all of its contents are intended for the sole use of DiversityInc’s benchmarking and subscription-based customers. © 2020 DIVERSITYINC 3 MEETING IN A BOX Any use of this material without specific permission from DiversityInc is strictly prohibited. 1944 1980 The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is In the United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians, the formed. It goes on to be the oldest, largest and most Supreme Court rules Sioux Indians are to be offered a representative American Indian and Alaska Native total of about $106 million for the taking of their land of organization advocating for the interests of tribal the Black Hills in violation of the Treaty of Fort Laramie. governments and communities. The Sioux do not take the money and to this day, it sits in a trust fund collecting interest. 1981 The Lakota Times is first published. To this day, it is the 1945 only official South Dakota Native American newspaper on tribal land, based on the Pine Ridge Reservation of Thanks largely to the advocacy of South Dakota. Alaska Native Elizabeth Peratrovich of the Tlingit Nation, the Anti-Discrimination 1985 Wilma Mankiller becomes the first woman to be Act of 1945 is passed, which prohibits elected chief of the Cherokee Nation. Despite threats, discrimination based on race in Alaska. she advanced education, job training, housing and health care for her people. She also doubled annual Cherokee Nation tribal revenue and tripled tribal enrollment. President Bill Clinton awarded Mankiller 1968 the nation's highest civilian honor, the Medal of President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Indian Civil Freedom, in 1998. Rights Act, which finally grants Native American tribes rights included in the Bill of Rights. 1988 Minneapolis Native Americans host the first Two Spirit N. Scott Momaday, Kiowa writer, publishes “House Gathering, which honored LGBTQ Native Americans Made of Dawn,” his first novel about a young who identified as "two spirits" (a culturally distinct form veteran returning to his Kiowa pueblo after serving of gender fluid identity, of having a masculine and a in the U.S. Army. The novel goes on to win the Pulitzer feminine spirit). Richard LaFortune, a Native American Prize for Fiction in 1969 and is regarded as a catalyst to LGBTQ activist, organizes this meeting. a renaissance in Native literature. He goes on to earn a National Medal of Arts, a Guggenheim Fellowship and 1989 12 honorary degrees. The American Indian College Fund is founded to support Native American people’s access to higher education. 1972 More than 500 Native American activists travel to 1990 Washington, D.C., to meet with the Bureau of Indian The Native American Languages Act makes it a U.S.