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Event Description: The Indian Removal Act was signed by Andrew Jackson, forcing Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River to relocate to lands westward, in present-day Oklahoma.
Significance: This led to the Trail of Tears. It marked the beginning of forced assimilation and displacement.
Key Players: President Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Tribe. -
Event Description: Forced relocation of about 16,000 Cherokee people from Georgia to Oklahoma.
Significance: Over 4,000 Cherokees died during the journey, symbolizing the devastating cost of assimilation policies.
Key Players: Cherokee Tribe, U.S. Army, President Martin Van Buren. -
Event Description: The first government-run boarding school, the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, opened in Pennsylvania.
Significance: Native children were taken from families, forbidden to speak their languages, and forced to adopt Euro-American customs.
Key Players: Captain Richard Henry Pratt, U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. -
Event Description: Federal law that divided tribal lands into individual plots to encourage farming and assimilation.
Significance: Led to massive loss of land. Native Americans lost about 90 million acres. It attempted to destroy communal tribal landholding.
Key Players: Senator Henry Dawes, U.S. Congress. -
Event Description: Congress granted U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans born within the United States.
Significance: Native people still faced discrimination and were often denied the right to vote in several states despite being thought of as progressive.
Key Players: President Calvin Coolidge, Native leaders. -
Event Description: The law aimed to restore some tribal self-government and communal landholding.
Significance: Reversed part of the Dawes Act and encouraged tribes to establish constitutions and local governments.
Key Players: John Collier, President Franklin D. Roosevelt. -
Event Description: The U.S. government sought to end the recognition of tribal sovereignty and assimilate Native Americans fully into mainstream society.
Significance: Over 100 tribes lost federal recognition and many fell deeper into poverty.
Key Players: U.S. Congress, President Dwight D. Eisenhower. -
Event Description: A civil rights group formed to advocate for Native rights, land restoration, and an end to police brutality and cultural oppression.
Significance: Reignited Native activism, leading to protests like the 1973 Wounded Knee Occupation.
Key Players: Dennis Banks, Clyde Bellecourt, and Russell Means. -
Event Description: This law gave tribes greater control over their education, health, and government programs.
Significance: Marked a shift from forced assimilation to self-governance, allowing Native communities to shape their own future.
Key Players: President Richard Nixon, tribal governments. -
Event Description: U.S. Congress passed a law protecting and promoting the use of Native languages in schools and public life.
Significance: This act recognized the cultural damage caused by boarding schools and sought to revive Indigenous identity through language preservation.
Key Players: U.S. Congress, tribal educators, and language activists.