In studying the Native people of North America, one has to understand the process in which the power has shifted from Native Americans to the United States government. In this process native people have challenged, obeyed, or in some in cases been indifferent to these decisions due to a sense of helplessness. The American Revolution exposes this cycle well in Howard Zinn’s A Young People’s History of the United States. After examining the episode in which the British gave the Indians blankets from a hospital infected with small pox, Zinn demonstrates the resolute nature of New England area tribes such as the Iroquois : “…the British could not destroy the will of the Indians, so in 1763 they made peace.” (Zinn 77) After the loss of their French allies and establishing a peace treaty with the British, the American colonists were confused and hurt that their colonial overseer would limit their ability to grow for the sake of peace with the native people. It is this distress that might explain the slow cultural genocide that would occur for generations to come.
But despite such continued atrocities, there are also moments that, as Charles Wilkinson’s Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations demonstrates, American founding fathers understood the needs of the Native Americans and could command the political machinery to oblige to their needs as well. Understanding the changing world of the New England area as “five centuries of European settlement eliminated many Eastern tribes”, Cornplanter (a legendary Seneca Chief) decided to meet with President George Washington in Philadelphia. (Wilkinson 114) Cornplanter received a letter promising he would continue to own the land of his people and four years later would formal do so in the Seneca-United States treaty which states that the United States would “never claim[Seneca lands] nor disturb the Seneka Nation, nor any of the Six Nations…in the free use and enjoyment thereof.” (Wilkinson 114). Unfortunately, despite the clear language of the treaty, thousands of Seneca graves, including Cornplanter’s, were exhumed and moved because the building of the Kinzua Dam. One of the reasons the dam gained support was because the alternatives would harm a key constituent group of which the Senecas or any of the Six Nations are part of. “Flooding the Conewango Valley would provide more water for Pittsburgh but it would flood out white folks! They vote.” (Wilkinson 115)
In the 20
th
& 21
th
century, we find that there are more and more tribes that are claiming state and national recognition because they are actively seeking to be recognized and treated equally in a legal sense. Students need to feel the predicament that has been created through the legal maze of treaties and agreements with Native American Tribes. This unit discusses the idea that Native Americans are not just one people but an amalgamation of dozen tribes spanning the distance of the North American continent. From this conclusion, students can discuss how these divisions led to events such as the French and Indian War (which involved Native Americans who fought on both sides but not for their benefit). Although these wars may not have been started by them, they quickly realize that their livelihood as farmers, hunters and/or traders was in jeopardy if they faltered in their support of either France or England (and to a lesser extent Spain).
The political agencies that have been the arm used to provide assistance to Native American tribes in the United States are the Department of Interior and Department of Indian Affairs. Depending on the motivations of individual department heads and the political climate of the day, these organizations have determined the type and amount of federal assistance that they have provided to different Native American tribes that are federally recognized. There are tribes that can exist without federal recognition but federal recognition of a tribe is coveted as it can circumvent application of state laws on gaming right and privileges.
The United States government’s role in the support of American Indian affairs has been a spectrum of actions that collectively make up the landscape of those who live on reservations today. Through analysis of policies that were developed by the Department of the Interior and the Department of Indian Affairs that removed them from their land, forced them to lose parts of their tribal lands, reallocation of federal funds, and other bureaucratic measures, the evidence would suggest that modern tribal leaders have been forced to be more active in pressing our federal government with the responsibility of recognizing tribal sovereignty (treating them as a foreign nation) while also recognizing that because they are part of the nation they will have to make some sacrifices to truly return each Indian nation as close as it can to its original status of operation. Students will discover the complications in attempting to do this as there are very few full-blooded tribal members who can claim to be “citizens” of each tribe. Students will understand that time is also a key element that makes tribal rights an issue of the day. Through use of excerpts from
Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations
by Charles Wilkinson, we can begin to frame our conversations and research around facts to be able to describe how Indian nations and activist groups began to gain political clout in the 21
st
Century.
To conclude the unit, students will read excerpts of Sherman Alexie’s
Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
and Mary Kathryn Nagle’s play “Sliver of a Full Moon”. In order to have students gain historical empathy toward the plight of Native Americans in their sovereignty movement, they will use these texts for their ad-campaign on how to best help Native American communities that struggle to exist. Through designing the ad campaign posters and mock proposals to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Department of Interior, students will truly understand the importance of civic engagement in attempt to help a notoriously marginalized group of people.