American Indian Rise In Success

Name
Professor
Course
Date
American Indian Rise in Success
The beginning of the twentieth century United States of America had 0.3 percent Native Americans of the total population (Zhou and Portes 100). They were estimated to be 25,000 and most lived on reservations with limited self-government, which was limited in general. This was as a result of the ninetieth century occurrences where most of the Native Americans were oppressed and deprived of their land by the westwards, developed succession treaties targeted them as the whites did not seem to honor them and the military also had a part to play in their suffering when they expanded their control over to the West of America. Observing history of the Native Americans there is no doubt that the unpopular journey involves suffering and oppression in the hands of the white Americans. However, over the years, there has been a turnaround of events and natives American have slowly grown and gained their position in the society. This paper is going to look at the Native Americans social, political, and cultural journey in the United States and lay emphasis on the American Indian.
To understand the modern Native American there is a need to look at their historical journey to where there are today. John Marshall the Supreme Court Chief justice at the time made an attempt to define the status of the Native Americans in 1831 (Williams 811). His declarations were that the Indian tribes were domestic dependent nations and their relations with the United States was equal that of ward to guardian. In his declaration, one notices that he tried to portray the picture that the American Indians were unique and they had a way of separating the nations and part of the United States. Unlike the other minorities. This could be termed as one of the reasons why the relationship between the Native Americans and the federal government has been troubled.
According to the court chief justice interpretation, the United States police was to aid in the assimilation of the Native Americans into the mainstream United States culture. This is so because among the guardian's duties it was to prepare the ward for independence. The guardian was also liable to nurture and guide the ward until adulthood and hence according to the chief justice the federal government had an obligation to nurture and protect the Native Americans until they are assimilated to the mainstream United States culture. This was the beginning of the shaky federal policy towards the Native Americans. The policy since then seems to lurch back and forth, as sometimes it aims at assimilation of the Native Indian, and other times it shows concern of taking care and assisting the Indian development.
Unlike other minorities who seek recognition and retention of their civil rights Indians still have with them land reservations and resources that are deemed valuable and the white Americans had always had an envious eye on the same make the situation more complicated. Much of the resources and land reserves were lost subsequently and hence the reason why in most cases the history of the Native Americans is often presented as a morality saga. The federal government headed the white Americans in cheating the Indians out of their resources and land. The Native Americans at the time could be viewed as the good people who were trying to maintain their culture by embracing the environment and nature instead of rushing to the rampant capitalism of white America but they had no political power to defend their resources from the combination the federal government and the white Americans. The situation was awful that it is only twice that the federal government tried to redeem itself. One of the ordeals was during the Indian New Deal (1933- 1945) and when the Congress belatedly attempted to redress some Native American's grievances.
Looking at the above summary, the Native Americans did suffer in the hands of the white Americans; however, the federal Indian policy was shaped so, much by paternalism and was misguided based on the white greed (Lyons 449). The Indians were not passive victims of the Americans' action. This made their response to the Americans' actions, federal policies and the political, social, and economic changes divisive and varied. The cross-current and tension of the situation can be seen in the history of the Indian New Deal and the policy of termination that replaced it around the (1940s-1950s). The history of the American Indians in the twentieth century is more than a story about evil and good as it raises concern of unsolved mysteries up to date. The status of the Native Americans is still not well defined in the modern United States society.
Dawes Act
Using so much effort the United States government tried to assimilate the Indians into mainstream American society between the year 1887 and 1933 (Carlson 36). The white elite saw the action as a way of civilizing the Indians same way the European missionaries in Africa worked but to the modern observers this was racist as much as it was patronizing. They wanted the Indians to be safely guided from "barbarism" to the fair dawn of civilization (Christianity). This meant that Indians were required to convert into Christianity, use the English language, embrace the western hairstyles and clothing, and live like independent Americans.
Dawes Act of 1887 ruled that reservation Indian land was to be subdivided into subdivisions, which were to be allocated to the Native Americans. The plots were not mean to be sold for the next 25 years however; the reservation land left after divisions could be sold to the outside community. The activities encourage the greedy white Americans to get Indian land. This brought the Indian land acres down from 154 million acres to only 45 million acres in half a century.
The Act touched on giving the Native Americans United States citizenship but only to those who adopted the habits of civilizations. These habits included taking their children to boarding schools. This was crucial to the federal government as the Indian children enrolled in boarding schools they were taken away from the influence of their parents and the community around them. This was considered to be part of the civilization process. One of the best schools for Indians was quoted saying that the main aim is to kill the Indian in a child and save the man.
The Indian New Deal and John Collier.
Citizenship Act of 1924 granted United States citizenship to all Native Americans who were yet citizens. In books, this could be looked at the success of the assimilation policy but in real sense, it was not the case. The American Indians were denied to vote in Western regions like the African American case in the South. As of 1928, most Indians Americans suffe...