Ben Nighthorse Campbell joins the Senate.
After serving in the Colorado legislature and the U. S. House of Representatives, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a Northern Cheyenne from Colorado, is elected to the U. S. Senate. Campbell was a judo champion, jewelry maker, rancher, and tribal councilman before he entered U. S. politics in 1983. He will be reelected in 1998 and retire from the Senate on January 3, 2005.
“I am convinced that America, which has failed so miserably in fighting social evils from drugs to crime, from prostitution to hunger, is ready to learn values of traditional Native American ways____We need to help
Lead this nation. We need not abandon our traditional values— that's what makes our people so unique in this nation—we need to affect public policy to recognize those values.”
—Northern Cheyenne politician Ben Nighthorse Campbell in a 1991 speech to graduates of Haskell Indian Nations University
A sculpture by Bill Reid is displayed in the Canadian embassy.
After five years of work, Bill Reid’s massive bronze sculpture of a canoe full of figures from Haida mythology is installed in the Canadian embassy in
A member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe, Ben Nighthorse Campbell served in the U. S. Senate from 1993 to 2005. (U. S. Senate)
Washington, D. C. A member of the Haida Tribe, Reid is a central figure in the revival of traditional woodcarving arts among the Indians of the Pacific Northwest.
A Superfund cleanup begins on Coeur d’Alene lands.
The U. S. government begins a Superfund cleanup of a three-by-seven-mile area in Kellogg, Idaho, on the Coeur d’Alene reservation. The area is contaminated with lead dumped by silver-mining companies, which began operating in the area in the 1880s. Their activities were largely unregulated until the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972.
The second-largest project in Superfund history, the 10-year cleanup will cost $150 million. The Coeur d’Alene, however, are disappointed by the scope of the project and advocate a much larger cleanup of their reservation. (See also entries for 1996 and FEBRUARY 1998.)
Innu adolescents attempt mass suicide.
Six youths, age 12 to 14, from the small Innu village of Davis Inlet in Labrador, Canada, are discovered in an abandoned shack, where they attempted to commit suicide by sniffing gasoline. The event focuses media attention on the epidemic proportions of suicide and substance abuse among the grossly impoverished Davis Inlet Innu. The social problems of the Innu are widely credited to the government’s relocation of the band in 1967. The Innu were lured to their new home with promises of work and adequate housing, but few ever found jobs or houses with indoor plumbing or running water.
The Pequot open the Foxwoods resort and casino complex.
Inspired by the success of the bingo parlor they opened in 1986, the small Pequot tribe builds Foxwoods—a huge complex that includes a hotel, shopping center, and two casinos—on their reservation in Connecticut. Employing more than
9,000 people, Foxwoods will soon boost tribal revenues by 1 billion dollars a year and become one of the largest employers in the state. The money will be used to provide income and services to the Pequot and to invest in businesses, including gambling operations, run by other tribes. (See also entries for MARCH 1997 and for AUGUST 11, 1998.)
A children’s book featuring the “Chief Seattle speech” comes under attack.
A front-page article in the New York Times questions the authenticity of the text of the best-selling children’s book, Brother Eagle, Sister Sky: A Message from Chief Seattle. The book features a version of a speech credited to Chief Seattle of the Suquamish tribe. The speech, supposedly delivered during the negotiation of the Treaty of Point Elliot (see entry for DECEMBER 1854), extols the virtues of living in harmony with nature and has long been embraced by the environmental movement.
Although eyewitness accounts confirm that Seattle spoke with great eloquence at the treaty negotiations, the words attributed to him did not appear in print until 30 years later, prompting speculation that they were actually written by their non-Indian “translator,” Henry Smith. Well into the 20th century, Smith’s version of the Seattle speech will be adapted freely, often by environmentalists seeking support for their cause.
Native American writers participate in the Returning the Gift festival.
Chaired by Abenaki writer Joseph Bruchac, the Returning the Gift festival brings together 400 Indian fiction writers, poets, and playwrights for a four-day conference at the University of Oklahoma. The festival’s goal is to create a setting where Native American writers—both published and unpublished—can meet one another and share ideas.
During the conference, two organizations are formed: the Native Writers’ Circle and the Wordcraft Circle. The Native Writers’ Circle, a professional association, gives its first annual lifetime achievement award to Pulitzer Prize-winning Kiowa novelist N. Scott Momaday (see entry for MAY 5, 1969). The organization also establishes the First Book Awards, which are to be given annually in the fields of poetry, prose, creative nonfiction, and drama to writers who have not yet published a full-length book. The Wordcraft Circle is founded to place young writers in contact with more established authors and to help them get their work in print.
A Pentagon exhibit honors the Navajo Code Talkers.
At the Pentagon in Washington, D. C., 35 Navajo (Dineh) veterans are honored for their service as Code Talkers during World War II. The Code Talkers transmitted top secret messages using an unbreakable code based on the Navajo language (see entry for APRIL 1942). The Pentagon recognizes their contribution to the war effort with an exhibit featuring photographs of the Code Talkers, a display of their equipment, and an explanation of how the code was used.
Indians oppose the celebration of the Columbus Quincentenary.
The celebration of the five hundredth anniversary of the arrival of Columbus in the Americas (see entry for OCTOBER 12, 1492) provokes opposition by many Indians and Indian groups. A survey of indigenous peoples in North, South, and Central America conducted by the Cornell University American Indian Program finds that about three-quarters of those responding view the quincentenary as a tribute to “500 years of Native People’s resistance to colonization, or an anniversary of a holocaust.” The Assembly of First Nations (see entry for 1982) of Canada denounces the quincentenary, maintaining that “for the First Nations to celebrate the near destruction of our culture and identity would be insane.” In Newsweek magazine, Cheyenne-Muskogee activist Suzan Shown Harjo contributes an editorial titled, “I Won’t Be Celebrating Columbus Day,” in which she calls on Indians and non-Indians alike “to turn our attention to making the next 500 years different fTom the past ones: to enter into a time of grace and healing.”
The Charlottestown Accord is defeated.
The Charlottestown Accord, which acknowledges the right of Canadian Natives to self-government, is brought before the electorate for a vote. The provisions dealing with Natives are widely supported by Native leaders. According to opinion polls, the majority of non-Indian voters approve of them as well. The accord as a whole, however, focuses on allowing the province of Quebec greater autonomy. Due to these provisions, which are not as strongly supported by the populace, the accord is defeated.
Hopi and Navajo (Dineh) announce an agreement over disputed lands.
After more than a century of discord, the Hopi agree to allow about 450 Navajo (Dineh) families living on their reservation to stay in their homes (see entry for 1962). By the proposed agreement, mediated in federal court, these Navajo will be permitted to lease the land from the Hopi for 75 years. In exchange, the Hopi will receive approximately
400,000 acres of land in the San Francisco Peaks area. Also by its terms, the U. S. government promises to settle several outstanding lawsuits with the Hopi for $15 million.
The agreement is opposed by many white landowners in Arizona. They fear that the new Hopi land acquisitions will reduce their property values and limit their access to hunting and fishing sites on nearby public lands.
World History
