Native Americans

Legislative committee of Pueblo Indians with Indian Commissioner Charles Burke, at the White House to meet President Calvin Coolidge in 1924.

Hubert Work with Indian Commissioner Charles Burke, Chief Red Eagle, and Chief Bacon Rind in January 1924.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the frontier was thought to be closed and Native Americans were considered a problem or perhaps figment of the past.  To many white Americans, manifest destiny had been accomplished.  However, Native Americans were still considered wards of the U.S. government, even through the 1920s.  In his article that appeared in The Saturday Evening Post article in May 1924, Secretary of the Interior Hubert Work wrote “we no longer have a frontier…Indian is no longer a vanishing race, but a returning people, coming into the new life of America to share its responsibilities and honors.”¹ The primary goal of efforts by the U.S. government to handle the “Indian problem” was to encourage total assimilation into white culture.  This strategy was seen in the form of Indian schools, elimination of cultural heritage, and citizenship efforts, among many other things.  Citizenship was perhaps the biggest issue for both the government and Native Americans, with voices arguing both for and against on either side.

ASSIMILATION EFFORTS

The United States government made it clear through several of its policies that Native American culture was not conducive to white American citizenship.  In fact, “from the 1880s until the early 1930s the US federal government adopted…intolerance towards Native American cultures and religions” and argued that “traditional religio-cultural practices - especially dances - distracted Native American crop-tending and stock-rearing, and also constituted "outmoded" reminders” of an anti-white culture."²  Several traditional Native dances were banned, such as the Sun Dance and Scalp Dance, and were even made punishable criminal offenses.  Poverty and suffering was sometimes blamed on Native idleness and dancing; an argument against cultural expression was that it took focus off of “American activities” like farming.³  Native cultures adapted in order to maintain their cultural heritage, and some outright resisted these attempts at forced assimilation. 

Prior to the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, there had been other legislation aimed at making Native Americans citizens via assimilation and cultural repression.  The Dawes Act of 1887 attempted to coerce Indians to become farmers in preparation for a transition to citizenship.  This act included the formation of Indian schools.  Attempts to retain cultural expression often resulted in violence, such as the massacre at Wounded Knee in South Dakota in 1890.⁴  

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, situated within the Department of the Interior, was a controversial department with questionable leaders.  Charles H. Burke was Commissioner of Indian Affairs from 1921-1929, under presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge.  Burke had a hand in several policies against Native American cultural expression.  In 1924, he sought to end the performance of Indian dances at the Santa Fe Indian School closing ceremony, but was cautioned against it by the local superintendent.  Burke “insisted that his objection lay in the “spectacle” nature of the dances, which “did not seem to comport with the training that is given at our Government schools.’”⁵

Havasupai Indian School in Cataract Canyon, Arizona, c. 1901.

Photo spread in The Indian School Journal showing Hubert Work's and Charles Burke's visit to the Chilocco Indian School in April 1923.

Cover of the March 1925 issue of The Indian School Journal.

Chilocco Indian Agricultural School in an undated photo.

INDIAN SCHOOLS 

Indian schools were generally government-run institutions that sought to erase Native identity and force the total assimilation of young Native Americans into white culture.  This “forced schooling markedly changed Native American identity,”⁶ and psychological manipulation of students and disease were rampant.  One of the goals of these off-reservation schools was to have the students eventually bring back their new knowledge to their families, and encourage them to assimilate once they saw its benefits.  In his Post article, Hubert Work wrote “the opportunity to mix with the white children in school and at play is profitable to the advancement of the Indian boy and girl, who carry home to their parents at least some of the good effects of the civilizing contact made in public schools.”⁷  Work was a supporter of these schools, and believed students would learn good citizenship practices even if they did not have formal U.S. citizenship quite yet.  One goal of the schools was to educate and Americanize young Indians who could then return to their reservations and replace the tribal elders; Work was a proponent of this idea.⁸

Many schools had students put on public plays that acted out assimilation.  Students portrayed “good Indians” such as Hiawatha and Pocahontas who accepted and aligned themselves with white people, which showed both the students and the audience “that they would be better off trying to live as whites and that they could be successful in doing so.”⁹  As John Gram wrote in his essay about plays in the Indian boarding schools, “plays (were) particularly attractive to school officials as a means of influencing the student body. Rather than merely lecture students on the benefits and values of American civilization, plays provided an opportunity to put these beliefs into action before the students’ eyes. Better yet, the students themselves were acting out in their various roles the very values and beliefs school officials hoped they would one day embrace.”¹⁰  In his Post article, Hubert Work denounced shows that made fun of “the primitive Indian,”¹¹ however he may have supported these plays that encouraged students to emulate obedient Native Americans.

Several of these schools printed newspapers or journals, which were heavily contributed to by the students.  One of these was The Indian School Journal, distributed by Chilocco Indian Agricultural School in Oklahoma.  Pieces by Hubert Work were often published or reprinted in this journal, and he made several visits to the school over a number of years.  On a page with a general description of the school, it was noted that because the school was government-run, “It is expected that all who borrow our opportunities shall return to the United States both principal and interest in intelligent and patriotic service as the result of an improved quality of citizenship.  In such service alone can the debt be paid.”¹²  As can be surmised from its name, the Chilocco school, which opened in 1884 and operated until 1980, emphasized agricultural studies, but its primary goal was to prepare students to assimilate into white culture, which included teaching good citizenship.  In November 1924, an article in the journal described a mock election in which students and staff could pretend to vote in the upcoming presidential election.  The article said that educational training was of little value if new Indian citizens weren’t taught to vote, and that “the fate of Democracy rests largely upon the ability of the American schools to teach citizenship.”¹³  The school provided non-partisan training, and then 753 students and 20 staff members voted in the mock election; among the students, Calvin Coolidge won with 537 votes and with 13 votes from the staff.  This type of training can be interpreted ambiguously.  It was good that students and staff were able to learn how to exercise their voting rights as citizens, however the granting of U.S. citizenship remained an issue among Native Americans, which will be explored on the next page.

Cover of The American Indian Magazine from Winter 1918, edited by Gertrude Bonnin (Zitkala-S̈a).

Gertrude Simmons Bonnin (Zitkala-Sä)

THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN INDIANS

The Society of American Indians (SAI) was the first pan-Indian national organization, whose “platform expressed high hopes for the political and intellectual future of Native communities nationally” and wanted to define the modern Indian to the modern American.¹⁴  The SAI formed in 1911 and was dissolved by 1923, shortly before Native Americans were officially given U.S. citizenship.  Its members were generally united by the idea of citizenship, however there were intense internal debates over whether American citizenship would end up being another colonial imposition, as scholar Cristina Stanciu wrote.¹⁵  The SAI was controversial during and since its time, with one scholar saying that “the SAI has been criticized for desiring a US citizenship that would render Native sovereignties obsolete, based on the dichotomies conceived at the time: that “achieving” US citizenship meant refusing tribal authority.”¹⁶  

In his 1915 address “Let My People Go,” given to the SAI in Lawrence, Kansas, Carlos Montezuma, an Apache, spoke out against the Indian Bureau.  Montezuma said, “blindly they think they are helping and uplifting, when in reality they are a hindrance…The abolishment of the Indian Bureau will not only benefit the Indians, but the country will derive more money annually from the Indians than the government has appropriated to them. Why? Because by doing away with the Indian Bureau, you stop making paupers and useless beings and start the making of producers and workers.”¹⁷  Montezuma ended with, “In behalf of our people, with the spirit of Moses, I ask this, — THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, — "LET MY PEOPLE GO.”¹⁸  It should be noted that Montezuma was a proponent of U.S. citizenship and a member of the SAI, but he did not want government agencies such as the Indian Bureau to continue to treat Native Americans as government wards on their own land.

Gertrude Bonnin, whose birth name was Zitkala-S̈a, was another Native American activist and member of the SAI who spoke against the Indian Bureau.  She was at one time the general editor of The American Indian Magazine, the quarterly journal of the SAI.  In the chapter entitled “America’s Indian Problem” from her book American Indian Stories, Bonnin quoted from official documents of an investigation into the Indian Bureau in 1915, which included the observation that “‘all the machinery of government has been set to work to repress rather than to provide adequate means for justly dealing with a large population which had no political rights.’”  Bonnin argued that women would play an important role in the fight for Native American citizenship “of their own freedom loving land.”²⁰

"In great detail, the map shows Native American participation, graves, notable battles, and military decorations awarded in France and Belgium," published in 1926 by the United States' Adjutant-General's Office.

Captain Ben Davis Locke (Choctaw) in front, with American Indian Soldiers at Camp Stanley in 1918.

"The Red Man's America" by Gertrude Bonnin (Zitkala-S̈a), a play on the poem "America."

NATIVE AMERICANS IN WWI

Despite most of them not being official U.S. citizens and not enjoying the benefits of enfranchisement, more than 12,000 Indians served in World War I.²¹  However, this participation in the war forced a government response on the issue of citizenship; “in 1919, Congress declared that all Indians who had served in the armed forces and received honorable discharges would be granted American citizenship upon application.”²²  However, this action was poorly promoted and few eligible men applied.²³

In a brief article from The American Indian Magazine in 1917, it was noted that “in the event of war between the United States and Germany 10,000 native Navajo Indians will take to the war path for the government.”²⁴  These Navajo were from Utah and were ready to enlist should the need arise as early as February 1917, which shows the eagerness many Native Americans had to defend their country just like many white Americans.  Around the time the U.S. entered the war, Gertrude Bonnin’s rewriting of the poem “America” had just been published, which made “a new brand of patriotism (permeate) the Native and the mainstream American public spheres, as well as the pages of the SAI journal.”²⁵  This indigenous-centric rewriting propelled a new political appeal for the rights of Native Americans.

In general, Native Americans supported the decision for the U.S. to enter the war.  They served in integrated units, and Arthur Elm of the Oneida played the cease-fire bugle on November 11, 1918 at 21 years old.²⁶  Almost 100 former Chilocco students have been identified as WWI servicemen.²⁷  It is interesting to note that many Native Americans of the 142nd Infantry, 36th Division became “Code Talkers,” whose messages encrypted in their native languages were never broken by Germany.²⁸  Many Native Americans saw their participation in WWI as evidence of their commitment to their country and believed they should be granted citizenship.  Immediately following the war, Joseph K. Dixon, a controversial photographer, author, and Indian advocate, tried to document Indian involvement in the war.  He found “promises made by the U.S. government to Indian people, and promises broken, in a pattern that echoes Indian-white relations throughout the history of this country. Indian veterans did not gain citizenship in any meaningful way as a result of their service. Many soldiers were already citizens, at least technically, when they entered the service, but they still did not enjoy full and equal rights. Veterans who hoped that their military service would grant them greater rights were usually disappointed.”²⁹

The struggle for full citizenship rights, although helped by Native American service in WWI, was not fully resolved.  Assimilation efforts continued and even those who conformed were not always “rewarded” with citizenship.  In 1919, the Arapaho tribal council sought government permission to hold a Sun Dance to celebrate American victory in WWI and honor the Arapaho who had died in service, but permission wasn’t granted because of the dance’s “barbaric nature.”³⁰  Native American culture was seen as incompatible with white American citizenship, even though they were celebrating America in their own cultural way.  The fight for citizenship was permeated with varying viewpoints on whether it was the answer to being accepted by white Americans, but in any case the question of citizenship wouldn’t be answered until 1924.