Glossary

Agency The complex of buildings that served as a reservation’s administrative center (and that usually included the agent’s living quarters). Indians often gathered at agencies to receive annuities or rations due to them by treaty.

Agent An employee hired by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to manage affairs on an Indian reservation. In 1908, the position was renamed superintendent.

.Aleut The native people of the 1,400-mile Aleutian island chain off of Alaska’s southwestern coast. In this isolated setting, the Aleut developed a unique culture based on hunting sea otters and other water animals.

.Allotment Federal Indian policy, initiated by the General Allotment Act of 1887 (also known as the Dawes Act), that called for the division of communally owned Indian land into 160-acre plots called allotments. Allotments were to be assigned to individual Indians who would hold them as private property. Opposed by most Indians, the act was supported by a majority of non-Indian politicians and reformers as a way of ending tribalism and encouraging Assimilation. The law also allowed any land left over after all eligible allottees received their plots to be sold to non-Indians. Largely through this provision, the Allotment policy allowed control over 90 million acres of land to pass from Indians to non-Indians before the policy was abandoned in 1934.

American Indian Movement (AIM) An Indian activist organization founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1968. AIM members organized many of the most successful Indian protests of the 1970s, including the Trail of Broken Treaties (1972), the Wounded Knee Occupation (1973), and the Longest Walk (1978).

Annuity An annual payment due to an Indian group according to the terms of a treaty with the U. S. government. Annuities were spent by the tribe as a whole or divided among tribe members in per capita payments.

Black Hills An area of forested mountains in southwestern South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming that is sacred to several Plains Indian tribes, including the Lakota Sioux, who consider it their people’s birthplace. In the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, the United States recognized the Black Hills as Lakota territory but moved to take control over the area when gold was discovered there six years later. The Lakota have continued to battle in the courts for the return of the Black Hills.

Bureau of American Ethnology An organization established by the U. S. government in 1879 to gather information about American Indian peoples and cultures. The bureau’s annual reports exerted an enormous influence over the study of Indian history and anthropology.

Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) The federal agency charged with overseeing the U. S. government’s dealings with Indian groups. Established in 1824 under the War Department, the BIA was transferred to the Department of the Interior in 1849.

Code Talkers Indian soldiers in the U. S. military who used codes based on their native languages to transmit sensitive messages. The most distinguished Code Talkers were Choctaw troops serving in World War I and Navajo (Dineh) soldiers serving in World War II.

Commissioner of Indian affairs The head administrator of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the agency responsible for handling all of the United States’s dealings with Indians. In 1977, the position was renamed assistant secretary of Indian affairs.

Encomienda A land grant in North America given to a Spanish colonist by the Spanish Crown. Encomienda owners routinely enslaved the natives on their lands and forced them to perform hard labor, often working them to death. Instituted in 1512, the encomienda system stayed in effect for more than 200 years.

Federal recognition Formal acknowledgment from the U. S. government that a group is an Indian tribe, thus entitled to the services and benefits reserved for that group. For instance, membership in a federally recognized tribe may entitle a person to special health or education benefits, the right to hunt or fish in a specific area, or a portion of land claim awards or other tribal income.

Five Civilized Tribes The Cherokee, Seminole, Creek, Choctaw, and Chick-saw tribes. These Indian groups, whose original homelands were located in the Southeast, were considered by whites to be more “civilized” than other Indians because of their early adoption of certain non-Indian customs.

Friends of the Indian Non-Indian reformers who, in the 19 th century, encouraged the U. S. government to adopt more benevolent policies toward Indians. Often wealthy easterners, the friends of the Indian generally supported the Allotment policy as a means both to help individual Indians obtain legal title to their land and to encourage assimilation into the non-Indian mainstream.

Fur trade Trade network through which Indian trappers obtained metal tools, guns, cloth, and other manufactured products from European traders in exchange for animal furs. Although Indians initially benefited from the introduction of these new goods, the fur trade soon increased Indian warfare as Indian competitors began to battle one another and as Indians were pressured to help their trading partners fight their European rivals for control over North American lands.

Indian boarding schools Boarding schools operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the late 19 th and early 20th centuries where Indian children, separated from their parents, were indoctrinated in non-Indian customs while learning English and other academic subjects. Founded in 1879 by Richard Henry Pratt, the Carlisle Industrial Indian Boarding School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, served as a model for these institutions.

Indian Claims Commission (ICC) The commission formed by Congress in 1946 to review and resolve all outstanding land claims of Indian groups within the continental United States. Before being disbanded in 1978, the ICC heard about 300 cases and awarded Indian groups approximately $800 million in compensation for lost lands.

Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) Law passed in 1934 that dramatically redefined the direction of federal Indian policy. The IRA formally ended the Allotment policy, which in the late 19th and early 20th centuries had dispossessed American Indians of much of their remaining landholdings. The act also renounced the government’s past goal of assimilating Indians as it set forth policies intended to preserve Indian traditions and tribal life. Passed during the Roosevelt administration, the IRA is also known as the Indian New Deal, and as the Wheeler-Howard Act, after its congressional sponsors.

Indian Territory An area west of the Mississippi River to which numerous eastern Indian groups were forced to relocate during the 19 th century. Although its precise boundaries were often ill defined and were frequently changed, by 1854 Indian Territory had roughly the same borders as present-day Oklahoma. When Oklahoma was admitted into the Union in 1907, Indian Territory was dissolved.

Inuit The native people of the arctic land stretching from central Alaska to the northern coast of Canada and onto the island of Greenland. The Inuit are better known by the name Eskimo, a mispronunciation of an Algonquian Indian word meaning “eaters of raw meat.” Considering this term insulting, they generally prefer the term Inuit, which means “people” in their own language.

Iroquois Confederacy (Iroquois League, Six Nations) A confederacy of five powerful tribes—the Cayuga, Oneida, Seneca, Mohawk, and Onondaga—native to what is now New York State. According to oral tradition, the Iroquois Confederacy was founded in about 1400 by Hiawatha, under the guidance of the Peacemaker, a Huron prophet. In 1722, a sixth tribe, the Tuscarora, was invited to join the Iroquois. The Iroquois Confederacy is also known as the Iroquois League and the Six Nations.

Long Walk The forced relocation of the Navajo (Dineh) tribe in 1864 from their large southwestern homeland to a desolate area in what is now east-central New Mexico, known as Bosque Redondo. Large numbers of Navajo died en route, and many more starved to death or were killed by disease after their arrival. After four years of misery, the Navajo were allowed to return to a small portion of their ancestral lands in 1868.

Meriam Report An 872-page report issued in 1928 by the Meriam Commission, a team of social scientists commissioned by the secretary of the interior to study the living conditions of Indians in the United States. Officially titled The Problem of Indian Administration, the document found that by all mea-sures—including housing, health, diet, and education—Indians suffered a far lower standard of living than any other American group. The Meriam Report placed the blame for Indian poverty on past federal Indian policies, particularly Allotment. Its findings contributed to the reforms outlined in the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.

Metis A people in Canada of Indian and European (mostly French) ancestry. A culturally distinct group, the Metis have historically been discriminated against by both Canadian Indians and non-Indians.

Native Term used in Canada to refer collectively to Indians, the Inuit, and the Aleut.

Native. American Term for Indians that gained popularity during the 1960s and 1970s. Although still commonly used, the term “American Indian” is now generally preferred.

Native. American Church An Indian religion, developed in the late 19 th century, that blends traditional Indian beliefs with elements of Christianity. Also known as peyotism, the religion centers around lengthy ceremonies during which buttons of the peyote cactus are ingested sacramentally. Incorporated in Oklahoma in 1918, the Native American Church has long fought against efforts to ban peyote as an illegal hallucinogenic.

Pan-Indianism The phenomenon of Indians of different tribal groups banding together to work toward common goals. In the 19 th century, pan-Indianism generally took the form of military alliances, such as those led by Tecumseh and Pontiac, dedicated to protecting Indian land from white encroachment. In the 20th century, Indians of varied backgrounds formed lobbying organizations (e. g., the Society of American Indians and the National Congress of American Indians) and activist groups (e. g., the Indians of All Tribes and the American Indian Movement).

Peace Policy A policy developed by President Ulysses S. Grant designed to end violence between Indians and whites in the West. By employing clergymen and lay people active in Protestant churches, the Peace Policy sought to assimilate Indians by teaching them Christian values and encouraging them to live as settled farmers. It failed in its objectives, because most Indians refused to give up hunting as a way of life and because the government provided those few who did with such poor land that they could not survive by farming.

Potlatch A ceremony held by the Kwakiutl, Haida, and other tribes of the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. A host family sponsors a feast during which valuable gifts are distributed to the guests. The more lavish the giftgiving, the higher the hosts are esteemed by others in the village. Deemed as a threat to non-Indian concepts of private property, the ceremony was outlawed by Canada in the late 19 th century and by the United States in the early 20th.

Proclamation Line A boundary along the crest of the Appalachian Mountains established by George III in 1763 to separate lands open to settlement by English colonists from those reserved for Indian use. The Proclamation Line was meant to assure Indians to the west of the English colonies that their lands would remain undisturbed by whites, but the colonists freely ignored the edict, leading to a series of white-Indian conflicts on the frontier.

Red Power Movement The burst of Indian activism during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The slogan Red Power evoked Black Power, a term employed by the militant wing of the African-American civil rights movement. Using similarly aggressive tactics, Red Power groups such as the American Indian Movement used dramatic protests, covered heavily in the media, to draw attention to Indian issues.

Relocation Federal Indian policy of the late 1940s and 1950s intended to encourage Indians on rural reservations to move to urban areas. Relocation officials lured Indians to cities with promises of better jobs and housing, but many relocatees, with little education or job training, were unable to find either. Many young urban Indians, disgruntled with their situation and eager to reestablish their roots to their tribes, later became active in the Red Power Movement.

Removal Federal Indian policy, inaugurated by the Indian Removal Act of 1830, that sought to extinguish Indian claims to lands in the East (particularly the Southeast) by treaty and then compel eastern groups to relocate to lands west of the Mississippi River.

Repatriation The return of Indian remains and Indian-made objects in the collections of museums and individuals to their tribes of origin. Long a goal of Indian activists, repatriation became national policy with the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act in 1990. This act required all federal agencies to repatriate Indian bones and artifacts and added legal protection to Indian burial sites.

Reservation A tract of land set aside by the U. S. government for the exclusive use of a specific Indian group. In Canada, reservations are known as reserves.

Self-determination Federal Indian policy inaugurated in the 1970s that sought to give Indians more control over their political and economic affairs and promoted increased Indian involvement in government-operated programs intended to improve their standard of living. Most fully articulated in the 1975 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, the policy was a departure from the Termination and Relocation programs, which had sought to end tribalism and eliminate Indians’ special status under the law.

Sun Dance A religious ceremony traditionally performed by Indians throughout the Great Plains. Although its rites varied from tribe to tribe, the Sun Dance often featured purification in a sweat lodge, fasting, and dancing before a sacred pole. Often sensationalized by non-Indians, missionaries and reservation agents attempted to suppress the Sun Dance in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Termination Federal Indian policy, implemented by House Concurrent Resolution 108 in 1953, that sought to dissolve the tribal status of Indian groups deemed affluent enough to withstand the loss of their special protections as wards of the U. S. government. For most terminated tribes, the policy proved to be an economic disaster. The federal government formally repealed the Termination policy in 1988.

Trail of Tears The grueling journey from the Cherokee’s southeastern homeland to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) that was made by some

14,000 Cherokee in late 1838 and early 1839. During the forced removal, approximately one-quarter of the Cherokee died from disease and starvation. The tribe referred to the tragedy as Nunna Daul Tsunyi (“the trail where they cried”), which whites translated as the Trail of Tears—a term sometimes used generically to refer to any removal of an Indian group from its ancestral lands.

Wampum Cylindrical white and purple beads made from quahog clam shells that northeastern Indians strung on sinew to create beaded strings and belts. Traditionally, wampum was used primarily in rituals and ceremonies. After contact, it was also used as a medium of exchange in the fur trade in the Northeast.

Wounded Knee An area on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota that was the site of the massacre of approximately 300 Lakota Sioux women, men, and children by the U. S. Army in 1890. As a symbolic act, activists of the American Indian Movement occupied Wounded Knee for 71 days in 1973 and used the protest to attract worldwide attention to contemporary Indian issues.