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Native American Rights
Date: 2021
From: Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection
Publisher: Gale, a Cengage Company
Document Type: Topic overview
Length: 2,484 words
Content Level: (Level 5)
Lexile Measure: 1430L
Full Text:
As reported by the United Nations, there are approximately 370 million Indigenous people throughout the world. In the United States,
approximately 6.6 million people identify as American Indian and Alaska Native, accounting for 2 percent of the total US population in
2015. In 2021 this population included members of 574 federally recognized Native American tribes and Alaska Native villages and
326 federally recognized reservations on 56.2 million acres, excluding Hawaiian Home Lands.
Indigenous peoples are groups of people whose specific rights are based on their ancestral lineage in a particular geographical area.
They tend to have distinct social, economic, and political systems, and unique languages, cultures, and beliefs. Indigenous peoples
share certain common characteristics. Historically, they represent a minority population within a post-colonial nation state and are
marginalized by that nation state. Indigenous sovereignty refers to a status that some Indigenous peoples have maintained, which
allows them self-governance and protected rights under treaties with post-colonial countries. Indigenous nation states, First Nations,
and Tribal nations are terms used to indicate Indigenous sovereign nations. In the United States, these groups are classified as
“domestic dependent nations,” meaning they have a government-to-government relationship with the United States.
European colonization had a significant and lasting impact on the Indigenous populations of America. In one 2016 analysis of the
DNA of 92 pre-Columbian mummies and skeletons ranging from 500 to 8,600 years old, scientists looked for evidence of a genetic
link between these ancient people and the Indigenous people of today. None of the genetic lineages examined in the study could be
found in the DNA of current Indigenous North and South Americans, suggesting that there was a major demographic collapse in
which entire lineages within the Indigenous populations went extinct upon the arrival of Spanish colonizers during the late 1400s.
A shift toward decolonization, or the undoing of colonialism and colonial rule over Indigenous populations, took place after World War
II as many colonial empires, such as those established by Great Britain, were dismantled, and Native peoples sought greater
autonomy. In the twenty-first century, decolonization has also come to refer to the departure from perspectives that see Indigenous
people as inferior, the removal of colonial power, and in some cases, the withdrawal of colonial settlers.
Land and Resource Rights
Native land rights in the United States have a tumultuous history shaped by many significant court cases and legislative acts. In 1830
President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which allowed the president to grant land west of the Mississippi River to
Native American tribes in exchange for land within existing states. This relocation policy led forced removal of thousands of Native
Americans. Over the next two decades, an estimated 100,000 Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles, were
pushed out of their ancestral lands. An estimated 15,000 died on the journey. One of the most infamous of these forced removals
was the to the Trail of Tears (1838–1839), in which an estimated 4,000 Cherokees died while on a forced march from their
homelands.
The landmark case of Johnson v. M’Intosh (1823) had significant effects on Indigenous peoples’ land rights in the United States. At
issue was whether Native populations had the power to sell their land titles to private individuals. The plaintiff, Johnson, claimed title
to his property based on two deeds that the chiefs of the Illinois and Piankeshaw Indian nations had granted to his family. The court
ruled that private citizens’ purchases of land from Native Americans would not be recognized, essentially limiting Native Americans’
ownership of the land and their rights to sell it.
This changed with the General Allotment Act of 1887, also referred to as the Dawes Act. The legislation divided up portions of
American Indian reservation lands into individual parcels and assigned them, along with eventual selling rights, to heads of Indian
households. The federal government claimed the legislation was intended to assimilate American Indians into white cultural norms.
Critics contend that it broke tribal unity and enabled white settlers and speculators to buy land in Indian territory. As a result of the
Dawes Act, American Indians lost ownership of 90 million acres of the 138 million acres of land that had been granted to them before
1887, reducing Indian lands by nearly two-thirds by 1934.
Globally, only 10 percent of land is legally owned by Indigenous people. As stated, in the United States, land is held in trust by the
federal government for tribal nations. This land trust relationship has been mishandled and abused many times. Advocates of
Indigenous nations’ land rights argue that Native people’s sovereignty over their land is a crucial step of decolonization. They also
contend that recognizing Indigenous peoples’ rights to ancestral land and respecting their traditional environmental practices play an
important role in sustainable development and protection of the earth.
Civic Engagement
Many of the legal decisions about Native American land rights were made before all Native Americans were recognized as citizens
and achieved voting rights. Many Native Americans did not become US citizens until Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act of
1924, which was seen by some as forced citizenship as they believed it could impede tribal sovereignty. Prior to this time, Native
Americans were only granted citizenship through circumstances such as marriage to a white person or military service. Even after
1924, Native Americans in many states could not vote because the right to vote was granted at the state level rather than the federal
level. The final state to grant state citizenship, and thus the right to vote, to Native Americans was New Mexico in 1962. Some Native
Americans continue to experience barriers to voting such as difficulty reaching polling places from isolated rural reservations,
requirements to have a fixed mailing address rather than a P.O. box number, or a lack of access to voting services in Native
American languages.
Environmental, Social, and Economic Justice
In 2016 the Native American land rights issue received national attention during the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline
(DAPL). Concerned about the environmental and health risks of the pipeline, a small protest camp formed in April 2016 on the
Standing Rock reservation to voice opposition to the construction of a section of pipeline planned to cross under ancestral land and
the Sioux tribe’s water source, Lake Oahe on the Missouri River. By winter 2016 the protest had gained international attention and
grown into a demonstration of thousands of protesters in support of tribal rights and environmental justice. While the protest was
successful at delaying the construction, it was ultimately unsuccessful in stopping it. Construction of the pipeline was completed by
April 2017.
However, in June 2017 a federal court ordered a review of the environmental impacts of the pipeline, noting that the construction
process had not adequately taken into account environmental justice concerns for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. The judge cited an
executive order issued by President Bill Clinton in 1994—Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations
and Low-Income Populations—which requires that environmental, health, and social impacts on minority populations, including
Native Americans, be taken into account in federal projects. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has also developed a
Policy on Environmental Justice for Working with Federally Recognized Tribes and Indigenous Peoples. Implemented in 2014, it aims
to help tribes implement federal environmental programs and collaborate with federal agencies on environmental justice issues. The
fight against the DAPL was ongoing as of April 2021.
Economic justice issues have also been a major concern for Native Americans, who experience one of the highest rates of poverty
among racial and ethnic groups in the United States. Many Native American tribes saw an opportunity for greater economic
independence through casino operations after the US Supreme Court upheld the rights of tribal governments to conduct and regulate
gaming on tribally sovereign lands in California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians in 1987. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act
(IGRA), a federal law enacted the following year, made legal distinctions between high-stakes commercial gambling operations, such
as casinos with slot machines, and smaller scale gaming operations, such as bingo halls. It also established the National Indian
Gaming Commission (NIGC) to provide regulatory oversight of gaming activities on federally recognized tribal lands. Under IGRA,
tribes have the right to regulate gaming on their lands independent of state regulations unless a specific gaming activity is prohibited
by the state.
As of 2015, 242 Native American tribes operated 494 gaming facilities in twenty-eight states. These facilities generated $30 billion in
gross revenue, representing about 44 percent of the US casino industry’s total revenue. Advocates of the industry assert that gaming
revenue has helped to fund services, reduce unemployment, and improve infrastructure on tribal lands. However, the majority of
Native Americans do not receive direct monetary benefits from their tribe’s involvement in the gaming industry. Many tribal lands are
far removed from urban areas, making casinos not feasible or only marginally profitable. Even profitable casinos may see
employment benefits and revenue go to non-tribal employees and corporations that operate the casinos. In 2016 Native Americans
experienced the highest levels of unemployment of any ethnic or racial group, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Some
critics observe that myths about the wealth generated by Indian gaming has made it more difficult for Native Americans to petition for
highly needed funding and assistance.
Public Health
Indigenous peoples, particularly those living on reservations, face a number of public health issues. Native Americans and Alaska
Natives have high diabetes rates, a health issue often associated with poverty and a lack of access to affordable, healthy foods.
According to 2010 census data, about 22 percent of Native Americans and Alaska Natives lived on reservations or land trusts, often
in rural or remote areas. Geographic isolation and cultural barriers limit access to quality medical care on tribal lands. The leading
causes of death among Native populations are heart disease, cancer, and unintentional injury. They report nearly twice the national
average rate of sexual violence and higher levels of mental and behavioral health issues. Native populations also face
disproportionately high suicide rates, particularly among teens.
The United States began a policy of forced assimilation starting in the 1880s, aiming to “Americanize” Indigenous peoples through
youth education. Captain Richard H. Pratt, a central figure of these policies, employed often brutal methods to strip students of their
tribal culture in order to, as he put it, “kill the Indian … and save the man.” His approach called for Indigenous youths to be taken
away from their tribes and placed in boarding schools where they were required to give up their names, languages, and clothing, and
cut their hair. Nearly 150 such boarding schools were established throughout the United States by the early 1900s; by 1925 there
were 357 that enrolled about 83 percent of all Native American children.
Access to secondary and higher education is a key component to improving quality of life and combating issues such as poverty and
high drug use among Native American populations. The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) oversees about 183 elementary and
secondary schools in twenty-three states, with 130 schools controlled tribally under Indian Self Determination Contracts or the Tribally
Controlled Grant Schools Act. The BIE also oversees two post-secondary education institutes: Haskell Indian Nations University and
Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute. While BIE schools can provide a more comfortable social environment for Indigenous
students, a 2015 report from the National Indian Education Study showed that students in low- and high-density US public schools
performed higher in reading and math than those in BIE schools.
Cultural Appropriation and Misrepresentation
Mass media plays an important role in how social groups are understood and viewed. Some groups, like Native Americans, are either
underrepresented or misrepresented in the media. Criticism notes that Native American and Indigenous groups are often portrayed
as one-dimensional stoic people or as culturally stuck in the past. Common stereotypes of American Indian men portray them as
warriors, medicine men, or single-syllable speakers. Women are often depicted as princesses or sexually promiscuous. Such
stereotypes are detrimental to the general population’s understanding of Indigenous people and perpetuate a misconception that
Indigenous people have died out, according to racial justice advocates. They lead to a myth that “real” Indigenous people have to live
according to traditional historic ways of life rather than adapting and integrating into the modern world to be considered authentic
Native Americans.
As of the late twentieth century, a movement has arisen against the use of Native American mascots for sports teams. A prominent
example is the long-standing objections to the name and mascot of Washington's National Football League (NFL) team. In 2014 the
team lost six of its trademarks for the mascot when the US Patent and Trademark Office determined that the name was disparaging
to Native Americans. However, a 2017 Supreme Court ruling determined that disparaging trademarks are permissible under First
Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech, which allowed the team to legally retain its trademarks. After decades of controversy,
the team finally dropped its offensive name in 2020. A new team name was expected to be announced in 2022.
A number of colleges and universities changed their mascots in 2005 when the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
banned the use of mascots, imagery, or team names considered derogatory to Native Americans at any of its championship games.
Other college teams, such as the Florida State University (FSU) Seminoles, have kept their team names by working closely with
Native American tribes. The Seminole Tribe of Florida has advised FSU administrators on modifying the team’s logo to be more
culturally accurate and consulted on a course related to Seminole history introduced into the university’s curriculum.
Those who support the use of Native American mascots contend that they are symbols of respect for Indigenous people, while critics
argue that they perpetuate negative stereotypes of Native populations. A 2016 study by the University at Buffalo found that such
mascots are nearly entirely perceived as negative and can increase negative stereotyping. These stereotypes not only affect how
Native groups are perceived but have also been found to negatively affect self-esteem among Native youths. In response, some
states have taken measures against the use of Native American mascots in primary and secondary schools, but an estimated 2,000
high schools across the United States continue to use Native American mascots.
Indigenous groups also face other appropriations of their culture and history by non-Native people, which are often offensive to
Indigenous persons and perpetuate cultural misunderstandings and stereotypes. From Halloween costumes to music festivals, Native
clothing and symbolic imagery are used in ways that are mocking, insensitive, and disrespectful. Examples include headdresses as a
fashion accessory or totem poles used outside of their cultural context. In spring 2017 the Oregon Country Fair, a three-day music
and art festival, canceled the scheduled raising of a fake totem pole after receiving criticism for the cultural misappropriation of the
Indigenous structure, which is traditionally only used by Native tribes for culturally specific reasons in the Pacific Northwest region.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2021 Gale, a Cengage Company
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Native American Rights." Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2021. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/PC3010999154/OVIC?u=lincclin_pbcc&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=2044875b. Accessed 12 June 2021.
Gale Document Number: GALE|PC3010999154
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Mid-Term Essay #1 and Final Exam Essay #2 MLA formal Instructions and Grading:
1. This course is based on students mastering the Learning Outcomes required as outlined by the State of Florida (see syllabus).
Demonstrating mastery of the Course Learning Outcomes is required to pass the course.
2. Throughout the term, in each Lesson, if students paid close attention and obtained assistance from the Lab and library tutors, then
students will have learned to write formal academic research essays in MLA format using:
a. A focused Topic with a clear Thesis/main idea, Academic Audience (not 2nd person), and clear Purpose in a developed
introduction.
b. Well-organized thoughts that are Outlined clearly and flow of information is easy to follow with Topic Sentences and
Transitions.
c. Ample, Developed, concrete, specific, detailed examples to support the main idea.
. d. MLA Works Cited page with correct in-text citations to match and sources must be introduced in the text before quoting
e. Edited for Standard English Grammar and Punctuation that does not use 2nd
person.
3. The Exams are formal, full-length college essay in MLA style format.
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4. MLA research Essay using the library database I provide.
a. 3 paragraph (introduction, body, conclusion) minimum
b. 750wrd roughly 3 pages plus a Works Cited page (quoted information and Works Cited page do not count toward word
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5. Students must use at least I Direct Quote (Not more than 3 lines OR it MUST be formatted as a BLOCK quote). This quote
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3. Students must use at least 1 Direct Quote (Not more than 3 lines UK IT MUST be formatted as a BLOCK quote). This quote
MUST come from the 1 Source required to be used in the essay
a. I will provide the Source options from the Library Database here (see links and the Video Instructions). Students will
research the provided Topic and chose which type of source they want to use (articles, journals, images, audio, videos... it
does not matter, but they must be cited correctly).
b. Students may use more than 1 quote but remember (quoted information is not part of the word count). All quotes must be
corrected cited and introduced sources (students using audio/image/video sources will definitely need help getting this
correct). The Bedford shows how to cite every type of source.
c. Students may NOT use sourced information outside of the Library Database I provide (this risks failing the exams).
Students may use more than 1 source from the same Database within the topic I chose (but they must be cited correctly).
6. Each Lesson Test should be perfected according to feedback and grading and working with tutors BEFORE developing the Exam
Essays.
7. Study the student examples (there are also plenty in the announcements from previous courses). I change the topics each
semester, so even though the topics are different in the examples, the Learning Outcomes required for Mastering the course are
the same and the rubric for grading is the same, so the topics don't matter. Just study the technical aspects of the examples.
8. Topic from the Library Database:
a. Mid-Term Exam Essay #1 - "Sustainability"
b. Final Exam Essay #2 – "Native American Rights"
9. Students will be writing their own PERSONAL opinion on the Topic. Students MAY NOT summarize an opinion from the
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the same and the rubric for grading is the same, so the topics don't matter. Just study the technical aspects of the examples.
8. Topic from the Library Database:
a. Mid-Term Exam Essay #1 - "Sustainability"
b. Final Exam Essay #2 - "Native American Rights"
9. Students will be writing their own PERSONAL opinion on the Topic. Students MAY NOT summarize an opinion from the
sources but MUST come up with their own original idea. Students can:
a. Agree with or Disagree with the source.
b. Make a Personal Connection or relate to the Subject matter in the source.
10. Database Instructions:
a. Click on the Library link in Blackboard.
b. Click on A-Z Database
c. Click G and scroll to Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints
d. Scroll all the way down and click on Browse All Issues
e. There will be a list of Issues: Click on Sustainability for the Mid-Term Exam and Native American Rights for the Final
Exam.
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