In Cycles of Conquest: The Impact of Spain, Mexico, and the United States on the Indians of the Southwest, 1533—1960, cultural anthropologist Edward Spicer documents the ineffectiveness of foreigners’ efforts to assimilate southwestern Indian peoples throughout recorded history. His emphasis on the persistence of Indian traditional cultures counters theories that present Indians represent a “vanishing race.”
The Indian Claims Commission offers compensation for Shoshone land.
After a 15-year court battle, the Indian Claims Commission (see entry for AUGUST 12, 1946) rules that certain lands of the Western Shoshones were taken from them by gradual encroachment by whites. The United States holds that the Western Shoshone are entitled to monetary compensation but not to the lost land itself. The decision will cause a division in the tribe, as some tribe members decide to accept compensation whereas others, led by sisters Mary and Carrie Dann, continue to fight to regain their land. (See also entries for 1973 and FEBRUARY 20, 1985.)
Healing v. Jones addresses Hopi and Navajo (Dineh) land claims.
A federal court ruling in Healing v. Jones attempts to settle a land dispute between the Hopi and Navajo (Dineh) that dates back to the late 19 th century, when an executive order established the Hopi Indian Reservation (see entry for DECEM BER 16, 1882). Within its borders lived a large number of Navajo who refused to move. As the Najavo’s population expanded, more and more land on the Hopi reservation was occupied by Navajo.
Healing v. Jones determines that most of the disputed land belongs to both the Hopi and the Navajo. Aside from a half-million-acre grazing area to be exclusively owned by the Hopi, the land in question, measuring approximately two million acres, is to be used jointly by both groups. Far from settling the dispute, this compromise decision angers the Hopi and Navajo alike.
The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) begins dumping nuclear waste on Inuit land.
In the late 1950s, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) proposed to demonstrate peacetime uses of atomic energy by using atomic weapons to blast a new harbor near the Inuit village of Point Hope in Alaska. The Point Hope Inuit strongly objected to the project (named Operation Chariot) and wrote letters of protest to President John F. Kennedy.
In light of the opposition, the AEC abandons Operation Chariot and instead embarks on an experiment to determine the toxicity of radioactive material on Arctic plants and animals. Without informing the Inuit, the agency dumps near Point Hope 15,000 pounds of radioactive waste from the U. S. nuclear testing site in Nevada. The waste is not placed in protective containers but is inserted into holes in the ground and covered with gravel. The AEC’s actions will not come to light until the 1980s, when scholars will link the secret waste dump to the extremely high incidence of cancer suffered by the Inuit at Point Hope.
Montoya v. Bolack confirms the enfranchisement of New Mexico Indians.
After narrowly losing a race for lieutenant governor of New Mexico, Joe Montoya insists that the votes of Navajo reservation residents should be discounted because they do not pay state taxes or live on state property. In the resulting court case, Montoya v. Bolack, a New Mexico court finds against Montoya and upholds the right of the Navajo to vote in state elections. The decision draws on an earlier Arizona court ruling, in Harrison v. Laveen (see entry for 1948), that similarly maintained that that state could not deny the vote to Indian residents.
July 1
The Catawba’s tribal status is terminated.
The United States ceases to recognize the Catawba of North Carolina as a tribe after the members of the Catawba Tribal Council vote nearly two to one to accept Termination (see entry for AUGUST 1, 1953). Some who favor Termination resent their previous status as wards of the federal government; others want deeds to their land allotments so they can obtain loans to improve their property. Despite predictions that the Catawba will lose their tribal identity after Termination, tribe members will remain united through sharing the 630-acre state reservation and through their strong connection to the Mormon church (see entry for 1883). (See also entry for NOVEMBER 29, 1993.)
August 15
Indian activists meet with President John F. Kennedy.
Thirty-two of the delegates from the previous summer’s American Indian Chicago Conference (see entry for JUNE 13 TO 20, 1961) travel to Washington, D. C., to meet with President John F. Kennedy, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, and congressional leaders to recommend changes in Indian policy. The delegates present Kennedy with the “Declaration of Indian Purpose,” a document drafted at the Chicago conference that condemns the present policy of terminating the government’s financial responsibilities to tribes.
October 1
The Institute of American Indian Arts is established.
The first government-sponsored Indian art school, the Institute of American Indian Arts opens at the Santa Fe Indian School. Created by the Indian Arts and Crafts Board (see entry for AUGUST 17, 1935) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the IAIA is dedicated to teaching Indian students to appreciate the artistic traditions of Native Americans and to create innovative new work drawing upon them. Its director is Cherokee artist Lloyd Kiva New. The curriculum includes textiles, ceramics, sculpture, painting, metals, creative writing, music, and performance.
World History
