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Sociology 322 Native Americans

Introduction:

     Estimates of the number of Native Americans residing in the Americas at the time of European discovery vary widely-- from 8 to 112.5 million people! We don't have accurate figures for Europeans on the continent either. The first modern national census since Roman times was done by Sweden in 1749.
     The second point is that Native Americans are an extremely diverse people, yet we tend to lump them all together as "Indians." Cultural characteristics, economic status, and educational achievement vary greatly from tribe to tribe.
     Finally, despite all the treaties made with numerous tribes over the centuries, it wasn't until very recently that Native Americans began to benefit from these treaties. "Treaties Made, Treaties Broken"-- seems to be the pattern throughout history. Until very recently, Native Americans have had little say in how our government treated them.

I. Some time between 25,000 and 40,000 years ago, Asians crossed a then existent land bridge between Asia and North America located near Alaska.

A. For thousands of years Native Americans spread through out the Western Hemisphere hundreds of cultures evolved including Mayas, Incas, and Aztecs.

B. Its estimated that 300 Indian languages were spoken in the area north of Mexico, alone at the time of first contact. Today at least half are still spoken.

C. North American Native Americans may have been organized into 600 independent nations varying tremendously in culture, social organization, and mode of economic production.

II. Population estimates:

A. At the time of first discovery perhaps as many as 20 million Native Americans lived in North America. (Another 20 million were estimated to live in South and Central America combined). But, as we emphasized in class nobody knows with certainty what the actual number was

1. Estimated figures:

a. 1500 12-15 million

b. 1800 600,000

c. 1850 250,000

d. 1970 792,730

e. 1990 1,959,000*

f. 2000 (approximately 3 million)

*This figure is based upon the 1990 U.S. Census and includes Native Americans living outside reservations.

III. Reasons for the decline in population:

A. No single cause; there's a whole host of reasons

1. Deliberate extermination by settlers

2. Diseases carried by European Immigrants

3. Depletion of food sources

4. No single group can be blamed for the loss of life

a. Spanish; French; English; Dutch even other minorities also contributed to the population decline (e.g. "Buffalo Soldiers")

IV. Colonial Frontier America and the Native Americans. (The text does a good job here. Some major points:

A. Ethnocentrism: Both settlers and Native Americans held ethnocentric views of each other;

1. But the colonists had the weapons and technology to enforce their views.

B. Self-justification: Colonists criticized Native Americans as cruel, treacherous, untrustworthy, dirty, lazy, backward, standing in the way of progress... to justify their exploitation of Native Americans for land and resources.

C. In terms of the unfolding relationship between Native Americans and the new colonists, things can be summarized as "familiarity breeds contempt."

1. Depending on the location, relations could begin as "wariness," "uneasy truce," "violent confrontation and hostility," or "peaceful coexistence." But as time passed, relationships deteriorated into open conflict as each side became more disenchanted with the other when settlers encroached more and more on Indian hunting grounds.

2. In the 1600s, large scale open conflict occurred through the century, culminating in a massive attack against 52 of 90 New England settlements.

V. The Spanish (again, following Parrillo):

A. Early Spanish settlement in the Indies, Mexico, Peru, and the U.S. Southwest-- very cruel: enslavement, plunder, rape, slaughter

B. It is interesting and important to note how the Spanish authorities re-evaluated their position on Native Americans:

1. Early 1500s debate between New World Bishop, Bartholome de las Casas and Renaissance Scholar, Juan Gines de Sepulveda—

VI. De las Casas' intervention to save Native Americans (and the resulting enslavement of Africans).

A. De las Casas intervened to save the native population residing in what is now Mexico-- but in doing so he contributed to the enslavement of Africans in the New World. Why? Did he harbor some of the sentiments described by Gould? Probably not.

B. Why weren't Africans offered as much consideration as the Native Americans that the Spanish encountered? After all, some of Columbus' crew were Blacks--

1. De las Casas was immediately concerned with the plight of Native Americans.

2. There may have been other reasons based in the general missions of each of the colonizing countries; Spain, England, and France. (Farley. p. 95)

a. Spanish colonized Florida, U.S. Southwest, and Latin America. (They did not establish self-supporting systems in the colonies).

b. British-- They wanted to own land. They were agriculturalists and their small island was becoming overpopulated. Their protestant religion, under the influence of Calvinism (Predestination separates the chosen from the unchosen)-- made it easier for them to consider Indians and Blacks "unchosen."

c. French-- They were more interested in trade than in settling land-- Their livelihood depended on the Indians.

C. Once the African Slave trade had started there emerged several "practical" reasons why it grew with Africans replacing Native Americans as slaves: (Farley, p. 85) (Marger, p. 223)

1. There was a tremendous demand for labor.

2. Like the Native Americans, Africans were considered "non-Christian"-- heathens. (But why didn’t the Spanish try to convert them?)

3. Africans knew hot-weather farming techniques and were proficient in that kind of agriculture-- sugar cane and molasses.

4. Native Americans knew the land-- (escape).

5. Colonies were under constant threat of attack from Native Americans to begin with.

6. Blacks were ripped from their society and thrown int an alien culture.

7. Colonists depended on Indians for trade.

VII. Treaties and Warfare: From the colonial period onward, Native Americans were pushed westward from their traditional hunting grounds by each wave of European immigrants. Government policy was not to antagonize Native Americans unnecessarily but if the needs or desires of the majority conflicted with those of Native Americans the majority always won. (American settlers strongly believed in a manifest destiny for their new nation and Native Americans were thought to stand in the way). (See our text, pages 234-235, for a nice summary).

A. Initially, native American tribes were viewed as separate nations to be dealt with through treaties that would be enforced through the War Department.

1. By Royal Proclamation of the King of England, Tribes were given the status of independent nations. The land west of the Appalachian Mountains was considered Native American Country. The Royal Government was to be a party to all land purchases.

2. In 1778, the Continental Congress affirmed the former British policy as American Policy.

3. In 1787: Congress passes the Northwest Territory Ordinance which opened the Midwestern Section of the United States to settlement by whites. The government was made responsible for Native American Property, rights, and liberty.

B. 1824 Bureau of Indian Affairs (under the control of the War Department) was established to coordinate federal relations with Indians.

C. 1830 Indian Removal Act

D. The majority response to minorities called "forced segregation" is applied to Native Americans with the establishment of reservations.

1. 1868 Laramie Treaty (with the Sioux).

E. 1871 Indian Appropriations Bill Rider

F. 1887 The Dawes (or General Allotment) Act of 1887. (Results were disastrous):

G. 1934 Indian Relocation Act:

H. 1953 Termination Act:

I. 1973 Restoration Act (Menominee Restoration Act):

J. 1974-- Indian Finance Act:

K. 1975-- Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act:

L. 1988-- The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act:

M. 1993-- Religious Freedom Restoration Act:

VIII. Native Americans, today "The Poorest of the Poor"; Is this really true?

A. In all U.S. Government Statistics, Native Americans are the "poorest of the poor" according to out text (p. 243). But, one must be careful to describe the base from which these statistics are collected:

1. Unemployment averages 45-55% on reservations and sometimes reaches 80%.

a. But overall, when computing figures for ALL native Americans, unemployment rates are comparable to other minority races-- 7 to 8 percent according to U.S. Census figures.

2. Infant mortality it dropped from 30 per thousand births in 1970 to 15.7 per thousand in 1985. The figure is actually higher among African Americans 18.2 per thousand)

3. Life Expectancy is about 10 years shorter than the national average.

4. The most serious problem among Native Americans is Alcohol Abuse Death from alcoholism among Native Americans is five times the national average.

5. The school dropout rate among Native Americans is 50 % greater than that for African Americans or Hispanics.

a. But, statistics compiled from the U.S. Census by Hare show that Native Americans are close to Black Americans in terms of educational attainment and are above Hispanics. (This is also supported in 1993 census data).

6. Poverty statistics: Parrillo reports that 31.2 percent of Native Americans live in poverty, but the corresponding figure for Blacks is 33 percent and for Hispanics it is 29 percent.

B. Over 600,000 Native Americans live in the city Los Angeles; Boston; Cleveland; Dallas; Denver; Detroit; St. Louis; Minneapolis; New York; Omaha; Phoenix; San Diego; Seattle; and San Francisco all have sizeable Indian populations. Although they do better than those left on reservations, it takes at least 5 years of urban living before they attain improved income earnings.

C. The hardships that Parrillo describes are characteristic of native Americans living on reservations, but apparently, the quality of life differs from one reservation to another.

1. In 1990, 22.3 percent of Native Americans lived on reservations.

2. In 1990, the percapita income for Indians living on all reservations and trust lands averaged $4,478.

3. In 1989, the poverty rate averaged across all reservations and trust lands was approximately 51 percent.

IX. Present Trends:

A. Indian Entrepreneurship and lucrative business deals:

1. As for African Americans, a college-educated Native American middle class has emerged. They may live in middle-to-upper class neighborhoods, but also actively participate in their traditional culture and political activities.

2. Tribal Leaders have purchased, invested in, and controlled large-scale, mainstream business ventures that benefit the entire tribe.

a. Mississippi band of the Choctaws-- Tribal leader, Phillip Martin, made business deals for his 5,000 member tribe in 1979. Today, they own a $60,000,000 portfolio of businesses that are, for the most part, located on the reservation. These are run by various members of the tribe, just as American corporations are run.

b. Another tribe, the Mashantucket Pequots, are noted for their success with gaming-- creating 3,500 jobs and profits of 30 million.

c. According to one source there were at least 51 tribal casinos established between 1990 and 1993, although few were as successful as the Pequots'.

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