American Culture Studies : Native American History Timeline of Important Dates

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1.Native America

Many thousands of years before Christopher Columbus’ ships landed in the Bahamas, a different group of people discovered America: the nomadic ancestors of modern Native Americans who hiked over a “land bridge” from Asia to what is now Alaska more than 12,000 years ago. In fact, by the time European adventurers arrived in the 15th century A.D., scholars estimate that more than 50 million people were already living in the Americas. Of these, some 10 million lived in the area that would become the United States. As time passed, these migrants and their descendants pushed south and east, adapting as they went. In order to keep track of these diverse groups, anthropologists and geographers have divided them into “culture areas,” or rough groupings of contiguous peoples who shared similar habitats and characteristics. Most scholars break North America—excluding present-day Mexico—into 10 separate culture areas: the Arctic, the Subarctic, the Northeast, the Southeast, the Plains, the Southwest, the Great Basin, California, the Northwest Coast and the Plateau.

1.2.Stereotypes of Native America

1. Native Men were always in charge of the village. It’s wrong. Many female chiefs were often related to the men and had their own duties, sat on councils and were highly respected.
2. Most people think Native people always wore animal skin clothing. Wrong. Many Woodland Native cultures made very sophisticated tightly woven or “twined” plant fiber clothing before Europeans arrived. How do we know?

û   Pottery shards left by Mississippian peoples reveal the use of textiles pressed into the wet pottery.

û   Early explorers left journals of their observations of people making cordage, mats, capes, and clothing –some said it was better quality than European.

û   Archaeological evidence- pieces of woven materials found as far back as 10,000 years ago, some Hopewell samples are so finely woven, the experts are still amazed by the delicate techniques.

û   Missionaries lived among the Natives in the 18th century and heard stories of ancestral use of twined skirts (Zeisburger, David, David Zeisberger’s History of the N. American Indians in 18th Century Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, 1999 Reprint)

3. All the Natives of the Ohio and Wabash used canoes for transportation. Wrong. The Miami apparently were not big canoe users. They referred to other people who did as, “canoe people.” Many of the rivers were full of rapids, falling water, snags of logs, and were not navigable with bark canoes. The only other choice was a dugout or pirogue, which was heavy and not easily transported on portages.
4. All Woodland Indians lived in tipis or wigwams. Wrong. By the mid-18th century, log cabins had begun to replace many traditional types of houses. Most of the 19th century villages in Ohio and Indiana were log cabin villages.
5. There were no villages in Kentucky or West Virginia because it was “hunting grounds.” Wrong. Early French maps clearly point out several distinct villages of Shawnee in both areas. The Shawnee inhabited this region on both sides of the Ohio River until driven out by the Iroquois. They slowly returned and occupied sites once again, but like their neighbors, the Miami, and the Lenape, they no longer had the populations to occupy all of their lands and white settlers were moving in on them from the south into Kentucky.
6. Probably one of the most notorious stereotypes that continue to haunt even modern Native Americans is the myth that all Indians were hostile and warlike. Wrong. Many of these people were sedentary people who had been largely consumed by agricutlural production. However, when their homes and lives are threatened, all people may resort to violence to stop attacks and threats. The settlers in the East and Ohio Valley who constantly complained about attacks from small bands of hostile Indians were the ones who were the squatters. The Natives fought back to protect and defend what had been their homeland for centuries.

CHAPTER II

NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY TIMELINE OF IMPORTANT DATES

2.1.Native American Condition in 18th Century

1701	Facing the aggressive expansion of British colonists, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet and Micmac begin to formalize a council known as the Wabanaki Confederacy. As "brothers" in the Wabanaki family, the allied Indians call upon each other to help fight outside enemies.
1703 - 1713	Third Anglo-Wabanaki War (Queen Anne's War) also has European roots. Following orders from the French Crown, Canada's governor declares war on neighboring English colonists.
1721-1726	Fourth Anglo-Wabanaki War (Dummer's or Lovewell's War) is a local war of Indians reacting to British encroachment. English attack and burn many Indian villages, including Norridgewock and Old Town. Indians retaliate by destroying English settlements on lower Kennebec.
1744-1748	Fifth Anglo-Wabanaki War (King George's War) begins after France declares war on Britain, and the conflict spills over into northeast America. English declare war on Micmacs and Maliseets.
1755-1760	Sixth Anglo-Wabanaki War (French & Indian or Seven Years War) breaks out after France and Britain wage war again and the conflict intensifies hostilities in colonial North America.
1763	French and Indian Wars end with the Treaty of Paris which forces France to give Canada (New France & Acadia) to England. Many Wabanaki homelands are included in the swap but without the Indians' consent.
1777	Eastern Maine Indians reluctantly take up arms during the Revolutionary War. Some Maliseets and Passamaquoddies (Etchemin) joined British troops during the Revolutionary War, but more were likely to support Colonists. At the Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy Reservation there's a monument (placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution) honoring the Indians who fought with the Colonists against the British.
1790	Historians incorrectly assume that since so many Wabanaki have relocated to Jesuit missions in Canada, they would become "extinct" in Maine. Many of the Wabanaki from Maine end up in St. Francois-du-lac, Becancour, and Sillery in Quebec province with Canadian Abanaki. Since traditional Wabanaki are oral languages and not written ones, historical records are hard to come by. Many tribal stories about cultural heroes and wampum belts with glyphs that tell about past events begin to disappear.
1794	Although Passamaquoddy's traditional lands had been in Canada prior to the Revolution War, a treaty with Massachusetts gives the tribe some parcels in Maine. The land was in appreciation for the Indians' support during the war because they were no longer welcome back in Canada. The treaty is never ratified by Congress because both Massachusetts and the federal government viewed Maine natives are "domesticated Indians," and not the federal government's responsibility.
1796	Penobscots sign a treaty with Massachusetts giving up claims to any lands except for Old Town Island and others islands along a 30-mile stretch on the Penobscot River. In return, they receive salt, corn, cloth, and ammunition. Subsequent treaties further deplete their land holdings. Again, the treaties are never ratified by Congress because the federal government did not consider these Indians its responsibility.
1794	Although Passamaquoddy's traditional lands had been in Canada prior to the Revolution War, a treaty with Massachusetts gives the tribe some parcels in Maine. The land was in appreciation for the Indians' support during the war because they were no longer welcome back in Canada. The treaty is never ratified by Congress because both Massachusetts and the federal government viewed Maine natives are "domesticated Indians," and not the federal government's responsibility.
1796	Penobscots sign a treaty with Massachusetts giving up claims to any lands except for Old Town Island and others islands along a 30-mile stretch on the Penobscot River. In return, they receive salt, corn, cloth, and ammunition. Subsequent treaties further deplete their land holdings. Again, the treaties are never ratified by Congress because the federal government did not consider these Indians its responsibility.
1744-1748	Fifth Anglo-Wabanaki War (King George's War) begins after France declares war on Britain, and the conflict spills over into northeast America. English declare war on Micmacs and Maliseets.
1755-1760	Sixth Anglo-Wabanaki War (French & Indian or Seven Years War) breaks out after France and Britain wage war again and the conflict intensifies hostilities in colonial North America.
1763	French and Indian Wars end with the Treaty of Paris which forces France to give Canada (New France & Acadia) to England. Many Wabanaki homelands are included in the swap but without the Indians' consent.
1777	Eastern Maine Indians reluctantly take up arms during the Revolutionary War. Some Maliseets and Passamaquoddies (Etchemin) joined British troops during the Revolutionary War, but more were likely to support Colonists. At the Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy Reservation there's a monument (placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution) honoring the Indians who fought with the Colonists against the British.
1790	Historians incorrectly assume that since so many Wabanaki have relocated to Jesuit missions in Canada, they would become "extinct" in Maine. Many of the Wabanaki from Maine end up in St. Francois-du-lac, Becancour, and Sillery in Quebec province with Canadian Abanaki. Since traditional Wabanaki are oral languages and not written ones, historical records are hard to come by. Many tribal stories about cultural heroes and wampum belts with glyphs that tell about past events begin to disappear.
1794	Although Passamaquoddy's traditional lands had been in Canada prior to the Revolution War, a treaty with Massachusetts gives the tribe some parcels in Maine. The land was in appreciation for the Indians' support during the war because they were no longer welcome back in Canada. The treaty is never ratified by Congress because both Massachusetts and the federal government viewed Maine natives are "domesticated Indians," and not the federal government's responsibility.

2.2.Native American in 19th Century

û  1824 The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was founded (out of the US War Department)

û  1830 Indian Removal Act: the first Indian tribes as a whole had to leave their territories. Many tribes accepted the land western the Mississippi in exchange for their homeland, but some refused to go which caused guerrilla wars

û  1838/9 Trail of tears: the Cherokee tribe was forced to move to Oklahoma under military control and about one fourth of the tribe members died on this walk

û  1869 the transcontinental railroad was finished so that the whole North American continent was finally under European control from now

û  1871 Indian tribes were no longer considered independent: any issues concerning the American Indians and conflicts about land property were now exclusively handled by the US government

û  1873-74 Buffalo War: Some tribes of Plains Indians tred to save the last herds of buffalo in Texas and Oklahoma from the white hunters by force of arms because the decreasing number of buffaloes (1890 only about 550 animals left from 50 million in 1800) threatened the survival of many tribes. The will to resist the Europeans was weakened (also by epidemics of smallpox and measles that wiped out whole tribes) so the American Indians were easily forced to sign contracts in which they agreed to leave their land to the USA. By that time almost all American Indians lived in reservations

û  1874 Gold was found in the Black Hills (part of the “Great Sioux-Reservation” in South Dakota). The government planed a separation from the reservation and an immediate relocation of the inhabitants of this areax .This led to the Indian Wars:

û  1876 Little Big Horn: a battle between Indian armed forces (under Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull) and the 7th US cavalry regiment (under Colonel Custer). It was the last and most striking military success for the American Indians but without positive effects for their situationxi

û  1880 Start of the Boarding School Policy in the USA: Indian children had to live in European schools which was a forced “civilization” of the American Indians

û  1890-92 Ghost-dance Movement: a new religious movement which encouraged the American Indians in resisting against the government and the army. Therefore the US government tightened up the control and observation of Indian leaders

û  1890 Sitting-Bull was murdered which marks the ending of the Indian wars.

û  1890 Wounded Knee: massacre during which about 300 Indians were killed by the US army, among the victims there were mainly women, elders and children

û  1898 Curtis Act: final step by the Congress to deprive the American Indians of self-government and sovereign control over tribes land

2.3.Native American in 20th Century

û  1924 Snyder Act: All American Indians received the US citizenship

û  1941 The USA entered the 2nd Word War and young Indians serve in the US Army

û  1950 Termination Policy: There were no further supports by the US government for the reservations( e.g. education, health care) and efforts were made to dissolve the reservations and to terminate all existing treaties between the government and the American Indians.

û  1956 Relocation Policy aimed to attract the American Indians to leave their reservations (e.g. assimilation programs and offers for jobs and education in the cities). About 35.000 American Indians moved to cities as a direct result.

û  1958 Alaska became a state of the USA so that the Alaskan Natives were now US citizens as well.

û  1968 The AIM (American Indian Movement) was founded to represent American Indian interests and problems; activities like:

û  1969 Occupation of the island Alcatraz (estate of a former federal prison) for one and a half years. *1969 The first Indian Survival Schools were founded by American Indian traditionalists)

û  1972 »Trail of Broken Treaties«: Occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington D.C as a protest to arouse the government's attention to the problems and aims of the American Indians;

û  1973 Wounded Knee “II”: members of the AIM occupied the village Wounded Knee in the Pine Ridge reservation to remind to the massacre and to criticize the US policy towards the American Indians. A forcible breakup of the demonstration by the police and the US Army took place. However, Wounded Knee is still a symbol for the oppression of the American Indians. The results of these activities were international attention and legislative effects:

û  1975 Indian Self-Determination Act: the Congress guaranteed that the tribes would be supported as much as possible (in education and other issues) and far-reaching self-determination inside the reservations which showed a turning-point in Indian policy

û  1977 International Indian Treaty Council (IITC, founded 1974) became a consultant for the UNO as a non-federal organization, so the American Indians received international acknowledgment:

û  1990 Native American Languages Act was an obligation to protect and support Indian languages.

û  1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act: the return of American Indian ritual objects and skeletons from museums which had been stolen from graves and holy burial places, was promised.

2.4.Native American in 21th Century

û  2000 Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission, established by the Indian Land Claims Settlement Act, struggles with sovereignty and other contentious issues, such as fisheries, land-use regulations and gambling casinos.

CHAPTER III

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A  Timeline of Native American Culture. Retrieved on May, 23, 2012

       from http://www.mpbn.net/homestom/timelines/natamtimeline.html

American Indians Today/History of the American Indians from the 19th Century to the 21^st.

       Retrieved on May, 23, 2012 from

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/American_Indians_Today/History_of_the_American_Indians_from_the_19th_Century_to_the_21st

Kakima. (2011). Stereotypes of Native Americans : Native American History. Retrieved on May,

23,2012 from http://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/articles/68447.aspx

Native American Cultures. Retrieved on May, 23, 2012 from

http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-cultures