( – promoted by navajo) During the 1870s most non-Indian residents of Arizona developed xenophobia, paranoia, fear, and an attitude of genocide with regard to the Native American people they considered to be “Apache.” For the most part, the Anglo residents of the territory were unaware that there were many different autonomous Apache groups. Basically, … Continued
( – promoted by navajo) The struggle of African-Americans to obtain the right to vote has been well documented, but the struggle for American Indian voting rights is less well-known and more complex. The voting rights battles fought by the Eastern Cherokee in North Carolina provide one aspect of this battle. General Background: Toward … Continued
( – promoted by navajo) It is not uncommon for Indian tribes to be named for the food they consume. One group of Shoshone living in the mountains between Idaho and Montana were called Sheepeaters because mountain sheep were the mainstay of their food supply. In 1879, the deaths of five Chinese miners was attributed … Continued
( – promoted by navajo) In 1921, Albert Fall, the former Senator from New Mexico, was appointed Secretary of the Interior by President Warren Harding. Since the Indian Office (now called the Bureau of Indian Affairs) is a part of the Department of Interior, this meant that Fall was now in charge of Indian affairs. … Continued
( – promoted by navajo) The Sonoran Desert stretches across Southern Arizona and Northern Sonora (Mexico). It is a hot, dry place. It is also the homeland for Indian people who call themselves O’odham. The name O’odham means “we, the people.” The Spanish, the first European people to enter the area, called them Pimas … Continued
The Sand Creek Massacre and the Washita Massacre both led to the Wounded Knee Massacre. The Sand Creek Massacre brought the realization that “the soldiers were destroying everything Cheyenne – the land, the buffalo, and the people themselves,” and the Washita Massacre added even more genocidal evidence to those facts. The Sand Creek Massacre caused … Continued
( – promoted by navajo) In 1808, President Thomas Jefferson told an Indian delegation who was visiting Washington: “You will unite yourselves with us and we shall all be Americans. You will mix with us by marriage. Your blood will run in our veins and will spread with us over this great Island.” We don’t … Continued
( – promoted by navajo) In 1842 an entrepreneur named P.T. Barnum opened the American Museum on Broadway in New York to entertain the public with exotic and strange “curios”. Barnum and others considered these “curios” to be educational as well as entertaining. In addition to stuffed animals, the museum also contained Indian artifacts and … Continued
( – promoted by navajo) In 1836 the Indian Liberation Army was created under the leadership of General Dickson (also known as Montezuma II). Dickson, the Métis son of the British fur trader Col. Robert Dickson. His basic plan was to lead an expedition west across the Great Lakes and to the Red River area … Continued
( – promoted by navajo) Guided by the Constitution, the United States viewed Indian tribes as sovereign nations and thus negotiated treaties with them. By the 1880s, however, American greed and lust for land outweighed any concerns for the Constitution and law. American policy changed and sovereign Indian nations were viewed as impediments to the … Continued
