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History 
Mon Aug 30, 2010 at 20:58:37 PM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
Long before the arrival of the English and French colonists in North America, five autonomous tribes had come together to form an alliance known as the League of Five Nations, or the Iroquois Confederacy. The five member nations were the Onondaga, the Cayuga, the Oneida, the Mohawk, and the Seneca. The purpose of the League was to renounce warfare among the member nations and to present a unified front against other nations. The League was created because of the spiritual vision of one man-Deganawida-and the speaking ability of another-Hiawatha. With the arrival of the French and English colonists in the American Northeast, the League became an important trading partner and power broker.
In 1722 the League of Five Nations became the League of Six Nations when the Tuscarora were admitted to membership. The expansion of the League to include the Tuscarora was brought about by conflicts with the English settlers.
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Sun Aug 29, 2010 at 15:53:04 PM PDT
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About 17 million years ago, the Colorado River began to create the Grand Canyon. In terms of geology, the Grand Canyon is 277 miles long; it is up to 18 miles wide; and in some places it is more than a mile deep. It first enters European history in 1540 when Spanish explorers with Hopi guides travelled to the South Rim. Since parts of the Grand Canyon are sacred to the Hopi, the Hopi guides did not show the Spanish the trails to the bottom. The Spanish were not the first non-Indians to see the wonders of the Grand Canyon: In 485 CE, a group of Buddhist monks under the leadership of Hwui Shan were shown the Grand Canyon by the Hopi. When they returned to China, they recorded their observations in the state records.
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Wed Aug 25, 2010 at 13:59:51 PM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
Often, people have an unrealistic understanding of the past, one which is often perpetuated by the popular media. One of the popular misconceptions about Indian history involves Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce War.
Most people are aware of the Nez Perce War in 1877 in which the non-treaty bands led the United States Army on a chase which started in Oregon, then into Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. The Army finally caught up with the Nez Perce a few miles from the Canadian border in Montana. While the popular media has credited Chief Joseph as the primary Nez Perce leader, he had relatively little to do with leading the Nez Perce flight.
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Wed Aug 18, 2010 at 18:50:38 PM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
 Indian citizenship and participation in American politics involves more than just voting: it also involves having Indians elected to public office. One of the first Indians to be elected to national office was Charles Curtis.
Curtis was born in 1860 near present-day North Topeka, Kansas. His mother was a descendent of Kansa (also called Kaw) chief White Plume. White Plume was the son of an Osage chief and had been adopted into the Kansa. Later, Curtis's tribal affiliation would be listed as Kansa (or Kaw) or as Kansa-Osage.
He was raised in part by his maternal grandmother and attended an Indian mission school on the Kaw Reservation. After the Cheyenne attacked the Kaw at Council Grove in 1868, Curtis was moved to Topeka where he later attended Topeka High School.
In 1881, Curtis was admitted to the bar and soon entered politics as a Republican. In 1885 he was elected county attorney for Shawnee County and his political career began.
In 1892 was elected to Congress and began the first of eight terms in the House of Representatives. Like many others of this era, Curtis felt that Indians had to be assimilated into American culture. Assimilation meant that traditional cultures and languages had to be destroyed.
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Tue Aug 17, 2010 at 19:44:35 PM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
During the 1830s, a major stir occurred among the missionary groups in North America when there reports of the "savage" tribes from the interior who had come to St. Louis seeking Christianity. One of these tribes was the Flathead or Bitterroot Salish, a Salish-speaking tribe whose traditional territory included much of Western Montana. After they acquired the horse during the early 1700s, they began going east of the Rocky Mountains to hunt buffalo.
During the 1800s, this buffalo hunting area east of the Rocky Mountains on the Great Plains was claimed by a number of different tribes and there were often battles between them. The animosity between the Flathead and the Blackfoot was particularly intense and Blackfoot warriors were often successful in their raids on Flathead hunting parties.
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Sun Aug 15, 2010 at 12:41:42 PM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
The rise of the Aztec empire really began in 1150 with the fall of the Toltec empire. The Toltecs had established their state in Tula, which was to the north of what would become Tenochtitlan. Their empire spread through most of central Mexico. After a period of droughts and internal factional conflict, the city collapsed and was burned and looted, possibly by the Chichimeca (the "wild" tribes to the north).
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Sun Aug 15, 2010 at 08:06:31 AM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
Christianity came to the Indian nations of the United States in a variety of ways. Sometimes a single non-Indian missionary was the vehicle, and sometimes it came from a variety of sources including Indian missionaries. In 1825, Governor George Simpson of the Hudson's Bay Company was besieged by Indians in present-day Washington state seeking Christianity. At Fort Okanagon he spoke with a Thompson chief who asked for a missionary. A few days later, a delegation of Flathead, Spokan, and Kootenai asked for a missionary. This delegation was followed by two Nez Perce chiefs who were asking about Christianity.
Inspired by what he saw as an interest in Christianity, Governor Simpson conceived the idea of selecting some Indian boys from the Columbia River tribes and sending them east to be educated. His idea was that these boys could help in "civilizing" the tribes upon their return. Two teenage Indian boys - one from the Spokan in Washington and the other from the Kootenai in Idaho - were sent to the Red River School in Canada. The boys were renamed Kootenai Pelly and Spokan Garry.
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Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 21:17:31 PM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
One of the cultural features of the Northwest Coast First Nations' cultures is the potlatch. The Europeans, and particularly the Christian missionaries, opposed the potlatch and it was banned in both Canada and the United States. However, Indian people continued the potlatch away from the government and the missionaries.
The word "potlatch" is the English version of the Nootkan word "p'alshit'" which means "to give." Material wealth is important among the Indian nations of this area, but by giving things away at the potlatch, families and individuals gain status. The potlatch functioned as a means for passing around among the members the surplus wealth of the society; the only thing that changed was the status of the individuals. Some people feel that the potlatch was the functional equivalent of taxation in modern society. Vast amounts of goods and wealth were distributed through the potlatch.
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Mon Aug 09, 2010 at 20:56:58 PM PDT
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( - promoted by oke)
 There are perhaps three major military conflicts between American Indians and the American military which have entered into popular culture through movies, novels, and popular histories. These would include the battle at the Greasy Grass, also known as the Little Bighorn, where Lt. Col. George Custer was defeated; the 1877 Nez Perce War, which was supposedly led by Chief Joseph; and finally there is Wounded Knee, sometimes called a massacre, sometimes called a battle. The books written about these events are often aimed at romanticizing the Indians, romanticizing the military, and/or presenting a military history of the battle. It is rare for any of these conflicts to be placed in a larger context of either Indian history or American history.
Heather Cox Richardson's Wounded Knee: Party Politics and the Road to an American Massacre is a book which should be read by all progressives, not because it is about American Indians, or the massacre at Wounded Knee, but because it provides insights into the consequences of partisan politics which are similar to today's events.
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Sat Aug 07, 2010 at 13:50:10 PM PDT
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During the twentieth century, the United States viewed large hydroelectric dams as signs of progress, and as symbols of American technological superiority and modernity. In 1932, the Army Corps of Engineers submitted a 2,000 page report which called for the construction of 10 large dams on the Columbia River in Oregon and Washington. The report described the benefits of these dams, including improved navigation routes, electric power, irrigation water, and flood control. Boosters of the project promised that the electricity generated by the dams would change the culture of the area and bring in new, innovative industries. There was no concern for any possible impact on the Indian nations which have lived along the river for thousands of years, nor was there any consideration given to the spiritual meaning and use of the river.
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Sat Aug 07, 2010 at 08:38:57 AM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
World War II changed both the Indians and the reservation. Following the war, veterans returned to their reservations. In many cases they returned as warriors, victorious warriors, and unwilling to accept the secondary status assigned to them by the larger society. They faced discrimination in housing, employment, education, land rights, water rights, and voting.
In many states, it was illegal for Indians to purchase or consume alcohol. Yet many of the veterans had found that while in the military they were able to purchase and consume alcohol with no legal difficulties both on the bases and while on furlough in foreign countries. Many returned home wanting this same freedom as civilians in the United States.
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Wed Aug 04, 2010 at 16:28:02 PM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
Source
The Forgotten People invite you to a press conference at the Veterans Park in Window Rock on Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 11:00 AM (DST) to announce filing a major lawsuit to get answers about the Navajo Rehabilitation Trust Fund monies to benefit the victims and survivors of the "Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute."
The Forgotten People have been cheated and are taking things into their own hands. We want to know what the stewards of our money did with our money and where it is. These are our funds, set aside by Congress for our benefit. The Freeze has been lifted. While we wait and nothing happens, our people are living in sub-standard, and overcrowded housing, without access to safe drinking water on land contaminated by uranium and coal mining.
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Wed Aug 04, 2010 at 11:09:59 AM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
There has been a lot of talk recently by politicians, reporters, pundits, legal scholars, and others about the Fourteenth Amendment and citizenship. There is, as usual, a great lack of awareness of what this amendment has meant to American Indians.
Adopted in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution states that:
"all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside."
The Amendment was intended to give citizenship to the African-American former slaves and not to Indians. Government agencies (the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Department of the Interior), and the courts (state, federal, and, ultimately, the Supreme Court) consistently held that the Fourteenth Amendment did not confer citizenship on Indians. Under the Constitution, and the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Constitution, Indian tribes are classified as "domestic dependent nations," and therefore, Indians were tribal citizenships, not American citizens.
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Sat Jul 31, 2010 at 16:23:49 PM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
In 1799, a new religious movement was born among the Seneca Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy. The new religious movement, considered to be a traditional Iroquois religion today, began with a series of visions received by Handsome Lake. Among this vision was the prophecy that the world would end in 2010.
Handsome Lake was born into the Seneca Wolf clan in 1735. (The Seneca are one of the six nations of the Iroquois Confederacy.) As a young man, Handsome Lake followed the traditional Iroquois role for men and was a warrior. In 1765 he was a part of a group of 100 Seneca warriors, under the leadership of Giengwahtoh (Old Smoke). The war party journeyed to the southeast where they raided the Cherokee and the Choctaw.
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Sat Jul 31, 2010 at 12:32:50 PM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
World War II brought many changes to Indian reservations and to American Indians on the home front. These changes began during the war, and then continued following the war.
It should be noted that an American Indian reservation was attacked during the war. In 1945, a Japanese bomb carried by balloon landed on the Hupa reservation in Northern California.
In New York, the Six Nations Iroquois - Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, Onondaga, Tuscarora, Cayuga - declared war on the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) in 1942.
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Wed Jul 28, 2010 at 11:00:33 AM PDT
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A high percentage of American Indian men served in the military during World War II. During the war, nearly 25,000 American Indians served in the military and received the following awards: Air Medal (71), Silver Star (51), Bronze Star (47), Distinguished Flying Cross (34), and Congressional Medal of Honor (2). More than 480 Indians were killed during the war. While the armed services were segregated by race, Indians were generally integrated into Caucasian units.
A number of Indians achieved high military rank during the war. Brigadier General Clarence Tinker, an Osage from Oklahoma, headed the Hawaiian Air Force. Joseph ("Jocko") Clark, a Cherokee from Oklahoma, was the only Indian naval admiral.
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Wed Jul 28, 2010 at 10:55:37 AM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
In World War I, American Indians had to register for the draft even though they were not eligible to be drafted since they were not citizens. By the beginnings of World War II, however, American Indians had had citizenship conferred on them twice by Congress: once in 1924 and again in 1940. The Nationality Act, passed by Congress in 1940, not only conferred citizenship on American Indians (even though they had be granted citizenship in 1924), but required that Indian men register for the draft. Passage of the Act was opposed by the Indian Defense League of America. Tuscarora leader Clinton Rickard urged those who wished to volunteer for the armed services do so as alien non-residents.
There were a number of concerns, controversies, and conflicts regarding the draft and American Indians.
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Mon Jul 26, 2010 at 10:03:54 AM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
One of the issues that many Native American men and boys have faced concerns long hair. For them long hair is not a stylistic concern, but is a religious issue. For many Native Americans having long hair is a symbol of tribal religious traditions which teach that hair is only to be cut when one is in mourning for the death of a close relative. The American government, public schools, and prisons have all forced Indian men to cut their hair in spite of the teachings of their tribal religions.
The most recent long hair case involves a five-year- old Lipan Apache boy in Texas. In 2008, Adriel Arocha was denied admission to school because the school policy did not allow long hair for boys. After a two-year court battle, an appeals court finally ruled that the school's policy regarding hair length was a violation of his religious freedom rights. According to the court:
Long hair is part of Arocha's religious beliefs. He wears his hair long, as he did as a young child before he was forced to cut it for school-an experience he describes as "unsettling." His grandfather wore his hair short, but his uncle wore his hair long and in one or two braids. As an adult and over time Arocha came to find religious meaning in wearing his hair long as he gained greater understanding of his grandfather and uncle's teachings.
Source: http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/op...
The Texas case is only the latest in a long history in the struggle for the right for Indian men to wear their hair long.
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Sun Jul 25, 2010 at 14:48:02 PM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
In 1966, Richard Hugo was teaching a poetry class at the University of Montana. One of his students was James Welch who had been born on the Blackfeet Reservation and raised on the Fort Belknap Reservation. Hugo realized that Welch knew nothing of poetry, but he encouraged him to write about what he did know: life on the reservation. As a result, Welch began to write about the reservations and the people on the reservations. These writings resulted in Riding the Earthboy 40.
James Welch was a part of the renaissance of American Indian literature. When he began his writing, Indian authors were unknown. He later noted that D'Arcy McNickle's The Surrounded was out of print at this time and that the other major Indian authors that are widely studied today were just beginning their careers.
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