Native Americans faced many challenges throughout the years. Many attempts were taken to try to help assimilate or support Native Americans. Some people regarded reservations as temporary and that Native Americans would learn the ways of society. Others however wanted to keep the Native American culture going. Strides have been taken in both direction as public opinion has changed between the two views. Earlier on the general public pointed towards assimilation.
American expansion lead to Native Americans being pushed to smaller and smaller plots of land until they were finally pushed onto reservations. The Dawes Severalty Act showed the attempts at assimilation of Native American culture it decreased the size of reservations but made Native Americans citizens. However their citizenship lead to their lands not being protected and resulted in many Native losing their lands. In a growing American culture and high nationalistic attitude led to the thought that the Native Americans would just be completely absorbed by american culture. The Native culture was to be absorbed peacefully. The view began to change in the early 1900’s when Franklin D. Roosevelt became president. The “Indian New Deal” changed the view from assimilation to accepting and keeping the Native American culture alive. The deal help to let Native American culture flourish and ended the suppression of Native ideals. A big part of this deal also favored the use of tribal self-government. These changes help to mark the changes in the general populace. With the rise of civil rights movements more and more people supported diversity and the expressing one's own culture.
The opinion switched again after World War 2, it change to assimilation with pressure on Native Americans to move to cities under “relocation.” The ICC,(Indian Claims Commission) was formed to end relations between the government and the Native government as it set out to finally settle all disputes and end the federal government's obligations to the Native tribal governments. Once again Americans were preoccupied by their fight in Europe and the idea of having anything to do with the Native tribes seemed like a waste of times. Although at the least it set out to finally end all claims, other wise it didn’t intend to support them any longer. However this plan lost it’s support as people lost interest and then once again flipped with another rise in civil rights movements. Native American activist groups wanted to end relocation and move back towards the ideas of the indian new deal. Relocation was ended by Lyndon Johnson, however he didn’t replace it with any solid plan. It change again under Nixon “self-determination” a policy that determined the relations between the United States government and the Native governments.
The late 1900’s was full of civil rights movements. Many of which helped many of the groups. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a step in the right direction for everyone involved. This shows the success of the movements at this time and the changes that came with them. The act bans discrimination and segregation in places of public services and facilities. This helped to mark the success of civil right movements and a change in attitude in the general population. Overall these changes marked a new time period of acceptance and individuality. It became increasingly difficult to discriminate against people based on their race or religion.
In 1974 a supreme court case Morton vs, Mancari ruled in favor of a Native American employment preference within the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The court reasoned that it was based on political status and not race. This showed that the government was willing to help support Native Americans and keep up relations. The overall attitude changed to helping support Native Americans as they were a minority in race and culture. The government’s help showed an increase in relations and the success of Native American civil rights movements.
Many change were made throughout the United States history to varying degrees of success. Some helped to push Native American groups away and others help increase relations and make it easier for them to be accepted. Overall the changes were positive in more recent years as the goal was to help Native American cultures thrive and be supported. However before large civil rights movements and the switch towards acceptance of diversity the plan was assimilation of the Native American culture into American society. Either way it was the general publics opinions at the time of how to deal with the problem.
American expansion lead to Native Americans being pushed to smaller and smaller plots of land until they were finally pushed onto reservations. The Dawes Severalty Act showed the attempts at assimilation of Native American culture it decreased the size of reservations but made Native Americans citizens. However their citizenship lead to their lands not being protected and resulted in many Native losing their lands. In a growing American culture and high nationalistic attitude led to the thought that the Native Americans would just be completely absorbed by american culture. The Native culture was to be absorbed peacefully. The view began to change in the early 1900’s when Franklin D. Roosevelt became president. The “Indian New Deal” changed the view from assimilation to accepting and keeping the Native American culture alive. The deal help to let Native American culture flourish and ended the suppression of Native ideals. A big part of this deal also favored the use of tribal self-government. These changes help to mark the changes in the general populace. With the rise of civil rights movements more and more people supported diversity and the expressing one's own culture.
The opinion switched again after World War 2, it change to assimilation with pressure on Native Americans to move to cities under “relocation.” The ICC,(Indian Claims Commission) was formed to end relations between the government and the Native government as it set out to finally settle all disputes and end the federal government's obligations to the Native tribal governments. Once again Americans were preoccupied by their fight in Europe and the idea of having anything to do with the Native tribes seemed like a waste of times. Although at the least it set out to finally end all claims, other wise it didn’t intend to support them any longer. However this plan lost it’s support as people lost interest and then once again flipped with another rise in civil rights movements. Native American activist groups wanted to end relocation and move back towards the ideas of the indian new deal. Relocation was ended by Lyndon Johnson, however he didn’t replace it with any solid plan. It change again under Nixon “self-determination” a policy that determined the relations between the United States government and the Native governments.
The late 1900’s was full of civil rights movements. Many of which helped many of the groups. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a step in the right direction for everyone involved. This shows the success of the movements at this time and the changes that came with them. The act bans discrimination and segregation in places of public services and facilities. This helped to mark the success of civil right movements and a change in attitude in the general population. Overall these changes marked a new time period of acceptance and individuality. It became increasingly difficult to discriminate against people based on their race or religion.
In 1974 a supreme court case Morton vs, Mancari ruled in favor of a Native American employment preference within the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The court reasoned that it was based on political status and not race. This showed that the government was willing to help support Native Americans and keep up relations. The overall attitude changed to helping support Native Americans as they were a minority in race and culture. The government’s help showed an increase in relations and the success of Native American civil rights movements.
Many change were made throughout the United States history to varying degrees of success. Some helped to push Native American groups away and others help increase relations and make it easier for them to be accepted. Overall the changes were positive in more recent years as the goal was to help Native American cultures thrive and be supported. However before large civil rights movements and the switch towards acceptance of diversity the plan was assimilation of the Native American culture into American society. Either way it was the general publics opinions at the time of how to deal with the problem.