At eight years old, Tom Little Bear, a member of the small Esselen tribe of California, begins having visions, which tell him that he has been chosen to resurrect the group’s traditional life. With the help of Esselen elders, Little Bear begins a campaign to revitalize his tribe’s old ways.
Akwesasne Notes begins publication.
The Mohawk on the Akwesasne Reservation in New York begin publishing a newspaper, Akwesasne Notes. Reprinting stories dealing with a wide variety of Native American issues and protests, the paper will become an important source of information for Indians involved in the Red Power Movement during the late 1960s and early 1970s. (See also entry for JANUARY 9, 1988.)
February
The National Indian Council splits into two organizations.
Unable to find common ground, the three Native groups represented by the National Indian Council (see entry for DECEMBER 1961) agree to disband it and create two new lobbying organizations in its place: the National Indian Brotherhood for status Indians and the Native Council of Canada for non-status Indians and the Metis. (See also entry for 1982.)
March 6
President Lyndon B. Johnson announces new Indian policy goals.
In a special message to Congress on “the problem of the American Indian,” President Johnson sets out three goals for his administration’s federal Indian policy. First, he cites the need to bring Indians’ standard of living up to the same level as that of other Americans. Second, the president comes out against the Relocation policy (see entry for 1952), insisting that Indians be given “freedom of choice” to live in urban areas or in traditional Indian communities. Third, Johnson wants Indians to experience “full participation in modern America,” noting a lack of economic opportunities and “social justice” as the main obstacles.
“In 1970, when men have landed on the moon, many American Indians still do not have adequate roads to the nearest market.
In 1970, when almost every American baby can look forward to a life expectancy of 70 years, the Indian infant mortality rate is three times higher than the national average after the first month of life.
In 1970, when personal income in America is at an unprecedented level, unemployment among American Indians runs as high as 60%.”
-from a statement presented to Vice President Spiro Agnew by the National Council on Indian Opportunity in 1970
The National Council on Indian Opportunity is formed.
To promote its Self-determination policy, the Johnson administration establishes the National Council on Indian Opportunity. Composed of representatives of several cabinet departments and headed by Vice President Hubert Humphrey, the council is charged with recommending reforms to increase American Indians’ involvement in federal programs meant to benefit them.
American Indian Civil Rights Act applies constitutional protections to tribal governments.
After six years of hearings, Congress passes the American Indian Civil Rights Act, as Title II of the Civil Rights Act. The legislation extends most of the protections granted to American citizens by the Bill of Rights to people—Indian and non-Indian—under the jurisdiction of tribal governments. For example, the act orders that tribal governments cannot deny the freedoms of speech, religion, press, and assembly. Among the rights it does not enforce are the constitutional guarantee of a republican form of government, which could interfere with traditional Indian forms of government, and the right to free legal counsel, which is considered too great an expense for tribal courts.
One of the greatest and most immediate consequences of the Indian Civil Rights Act will be a flurry of lawsuits against Indian tribes by individuals who maintain the tribes are violating their civil rights. Suits will challenge tribes on such issues as election and voting procedures, job discrimination, and tribal enrollment.
The American Indian Movement (AIM) is founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In response to police brutality, a group of young Minneapolis Indians—led by Dennis Banks and Clyde Bellecourt—form the American Indian Movement (AIM). The organization, modeled on the Black Panthers, begins to monitor the city’s non-Indian police force, which AIM contends systematically harasses Minneapolis Indians. Within a year, AIM’s efforts will reduce Indian arrests in Minneapolis by 50 percent. AIM’s early victories will attract members from urban Indian populations from across the country, quickly making it the most influential national Indian activist organization.
Mohawk protesters blockade the Cornwall-Massena International Bridge.
In order to build the Cornwall-Massena International Bridge over the St. Lawrence River, Canada appropriated Akwesasne Mohawk land, where the country intended to build a customs station and tollbooths. The Canadian Akwesasne Mohawk challenged the action, invoking Jay’s Treaty (see entry for NOVEMBER 19, 1794), which gave the Mohawk the right to travel back and forth between the United States and Canada at will. Canada ignored their demands and required them to pay tolls while crossing the bridge.
After years of objecting to the toll, the Mohawk bring attention to their cause by staging a dramatic protest, during which they blockade the bridge. None of the participants are prosecuted, and the following February the Akwesasne Mohawk of Canada are issued passes so that they can cross the bridge at no cost.
World History
