Following the death of traditional Maidu leader Holi Lafonso, his ceremonial paraphernalia is sold to Stewart Culin of the Brooklyn Museum. The loss of these objects is a great blow to the Maidu’s rich ceremonial life at Chico, a tribal center for traditional dances.
Anderson v. Matthews gives nonreservation Indians the right to vote.
Funded by the Indian Board of Cooperation, Ethan Anderson, a Pomo Indian, initiates a lawsuit charging that as a nonreservation Indian he has the right to register to vote in Mendocino County, California. Anderson v. Matthews is argued before the Supreme Court of California, which finds that Anderson is legally a citizen and therefore entitled to vote in the state.
January 23
Charles Curtis becomes the first Indian senator.
A Kaw Indian from Oklahoma, Charles Curtis begins his tenure as the first Native American in the U. S. Senate. Curtis, who previously has served eight terms as a Republican in the U. S. House of Representatives, will resign from the Senate after he wins his bid for the vice presidency on Herbert Hoover’s ticket (see entry for NOVEMBER 1928).
April 19
Onondaga athlete Tom Longboat wins the Boston Marathon.
Dubbed the “Onondaga Wonder” by the press, long-distance running champion Tom Longboat from the Grand River Reserve in Ontario places first in Boston Marathon. He finishes the race in two hours and 24 minutes, besting the previous record time by a full five minutes.
August 29
Thirty-five Mohawk ironworkers are killed on the Quebec Bridge.
In the worst bridge-construction accident in history, 96 ironworkers die when the Quebec bridge they are building collapses. Thirty-five of the dead are Mohawk Indians from the Kahnawake Reserve. Famed for their ability to balance on steel beams and negotiate enormous heights with confidence, many Canadian Mohawk for decades have relied on ironwork for their livelihood (see entry for 1886).
November 16
Indian and Oklahoma territories become the state of Oklahoma.
Formed from Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory, Oklahoma enters the Union as the 46th state. The new state takes its name from a Choctaw phrase meaning “home of the red people.” With Oklahoma statehood, Indian Territory and the Indian nations within it cease to exist.
World History
