Organized by Secretary of the Interior Herbert Hoover, the Committee of One Hundred is created to propose reforms in Indian policy. The diverse group is composed of 100 Indian and non-Indian experts, scholars, and reformers. Among the Indians present are Cherokee activist and educator Ruth Muskrat Bronson (see entry for SPRING 1922); Dakota Sioux physician and author Charles A. Eastman (see entries for 1902 and for OCTOBER 12, 1911); and Seneca anthropologist Arthur C. Parker.
The committee calls for a wide variety of reforms, including improving Indian education, removing bans on Indian religious ceremonies, and protecting Indian ownership of mineral rights to their lands. Aside from their recommendation that the U. S. government resolve Pueblo land claims (see entry for NOVEMBER 5, 1922), the committee will have little effect on federal Indian policy. The meeting, however, will help set the stage for the progressive Indian policies of the New Deal era of the 1930s.
Cherokee delegate Ruth Muskrat presents President Calvin Coolidge with a book titled The Red Man in the United States during the 1923 meeting of the Committee of One Hundred. (Library of Congress, Neg. no. USZ62-I07775)
The Lakota Sioux sue the United States for the illegal seizure of the Black Hills.
In a suit against the U. S. government filed in the Court of Claims, the Lakota Sioux call for the return of the Black Hills. Approximately 7.7 million acres in the Black Hills region were seized from the Sioux without compensation after the discovery of gold there (see entry for 1877). The land had been officially granted to the Indians as part of the formation of the Great Sioux Reservation by the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie.
The Iroquois seek recognition from the League of Nations.
As speaker for the council of the Iroquois confederacy, Cayuga leader Levi General travels to Geneva, Switzerland, to address the League of Nations. In his speech, General condemns the Canadian government’s attempts to force citizenship on Indians (see entry for 1920). To reinforce Iroquois claims to sovereignty, he asks the league to formally recognize the confederacy, but the organization declines to do so.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs recommends restrictions on Indian ceremonies.
On the advice of a conference of missionaries, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Francis E. Leupp mandates that reservation superintendents should permit Indians to perform dances only once a month and that the dances should last no longer than one day. The “dance evil,” as some reformers brand Indian ceremonies that feature dancing, is seen as one of the greatest obstacles to Assimilation. Leupp also indicates that dances should be attended only by Indians older than 50 and that the Bureau of Indian Affairs will use “careful propaganda” to gain public support for its suppression of Indian dancing.
The American Indian Defense Association is founded.
A small group of wealthy white liberals form the American Indian Defense Association to fight for a variety of Indian causes. The driving force behind the group is sociologist John C. Collier. Disillusioned with Western culture after the disaster of World War I, Collier was first fascinated by the tribal culture of the Pueblo Indians during a visit to Taos, New Mexico, in 1921. After helping the Pueblo defeat the Bursum Bill (see entry for NO VEMBER 5, 1922), which would have granted a large amount of Pueblo land to non-Indians, Collier decides to organize the AIDA to battle other governmental threats to Indian communities and cultures. Serving as the AIDA’s executive secretary, Collier will spend the next 10 years lobbying Congress on issues such as Indian poverty, Native American religious freedom, and the diminishing power of tribal governments.
The Navajo Business Council holds its first meeting.
In 1921 the Midwest Refining Company began negotiating with the Navajo (Dineh) to drill for oil on their reservation near Shiprock. The Navajo, however, had no formal government structure at the time, so it was unclear with whom the company should be negotiating. To remedy the situation, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in 1922 appointed three prominent Navajo—Henry Chee Dodge, Charlie Mitchell, and Dugal Chee Bekiss— to handle Navajo business arrangements.
Seeking to make this arrangement more formal and permanent, the agency encourages the creation of a representative council. Following guidelines established by the BIA, the tribe elects 12 representatives and 12 alternates to serve as spokes-peo-ple for the Navajo as a whole. Henry Chee Dodge is chosen to be chair of the council. In its first annual meeting, the council concentrates on deciding the terms of oil leases. In years to come, it will broaden its focus to include a wide array of issues affecting the Navajo.
World History
