Native American Indian Negatives X2 Navajo Antique Corn Husking Riding

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Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (808) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 176278959893 NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN NEGATIVES X2 NAVAJO ANTIQUE CORN HUSKING RIDING . 2 ORIGINAL VINTAGE NATIVE AMERICAN NEGATIVES INDIAN BOY ON DONKEY MEASURING 2 3/4 X 4 3/8 INCHES NAVAJO MAN SHUCKING CORN MEASURING 5 3/4 X 3 1/2 INCHES
The Navajo (/ˈnæv.ə.hoʊ, ˈnɑː-/; British English: Navaho; Navajo: Diné or Naabeehó) are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. At more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members as of 2021,[1][2] the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the U.S. (the Cherokee Nation being the second largest); the Navajo Nation has the largest reservation in the country. The reservation straddles the Four Corners region and covers more than 27,000 square miles (70,000 square km) of land in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. The Navajo language is spoken throughout the region, and most Navajos also speak English. The states with the largest Navajo populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (108,306). More than three-quarters of the enrolled Navajo population resides in these two states.[3] Besides the Navajo Nation proper, a small group of ethnic Navajos are members of the federally recognized Colorado River Indian Tribes. Contents 1 History 1.1 Early history 1.2 Territory of New Mexico 1846–1863 1.3 Long Walk 1.4 Reservation era 1.5 Boarding schools and education 1.6 Livestock Reduction 1930s–1950s 1.7 Navajo Code Talkers in World War II 1.8 U.S. Marine Corps Involvement 1.9 After 1945 2 Culture 2.1 Ethnobotany 2.2 Traditional dwellings 2.3 Spiritual and religious beliefs 2.4 Oral Stories / Works of Literature 2.5 Music 3 Visual arts 3.1 Silverwork 3.2 Weaving 4 In the media 5 Notable people with Navajo ancestry 5.1 Artists 5.2 Performers 5.3 Politicians 5.4 Writers 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links History Early history A 19th-century hogan Navajos spinning and weaving The Navajos are speakers of a Na-Dené Southern Athabaskan language they call Diné bizaad (lit. 'People's language'). The term Navajo comes from Spanish missionaries and historians who referred to the Pueblo Indians through this term, although they referred to themselves as the Diné, meaning 'the people'.[4] The language comprises two geographic, mutually intelligible dialects. The Apache language is closely related to the Navajo Language; the Navajos and Apaches are believed to have migrated from northwestern Canada and eastern Alaska, where the majority of Athabaskan speakers reside.[5] Speakers of various other Athabaskan languages located in Canada may still comprehend the Navajo language despite the geographic and linguistic deviation of the languages.[6] Additionally, some Navajos speak Navajo Sign Language, which is either a dialect or daughter of Plains Sign Talk. Some also speak Plains Sign Talk itself.[7] Archaeological and historical evidence suggests the Athabaskan ancestors of the Navajos and Apaches entered the Southwest around 1400 AD.[8][9] The Navajo oral tradition is transcribed to retain references to this migration.[citation needed] Until contact with the Pueblo and the Spanish peoples, the Navajos were largely hunters and gatherers. The tribe adopted crop-farming techniques from the Pueblo peoples, growing mainly the traditional "Three Sisters" of corn, beans, and squash. After the Spanish colonists influenced the people, the Navajos began keeping and herding livestock—sheep and goats—as a main source of trade and food. Meat became an essential component of the Navajo diet. Sheep also became a form of currency and status symbols among the Navajos based on the overall quantity of herds a family maintained.[10][11] In addition, women began to spin and weave wool into blankets and clothing; they created items of highly valued artistic expression, which were also traded and sold. Oral history indicates a long relationship with Pueblo people[12] and a willingness to incorporate Puebloan ideas and linguistic variance into their culture. There were long-established trading practices between the groups. Spanish records from the mid-16th century recount the Pueblo exchanging maize and woven cotton goods for bison meat, hides, and stone from Athabaskans traveling to the pueblos or living in their vicinity. In the 18th century, the Spanish reported the Navajos' maintaining large herds of livestock and cultivating large crop areas.[citation needed] Western historians believe that the Spanish before 1600 referred to the Navajos as Apaches or Quechos.[13]: 2–4  Fray Geronimo de Zarate-Salmeron, who was in Jemez in 1622, used Apachu de Nabajo in the 1620s to refer to the people in the Chama Valley region, east of the San Juan River and northwest of present-day Santa Fe, New Mexico. Navahu comes from the Tewa language, meaning a large area of cultivated lands.[13]: 7–8  By the 1640s, the Spanish began using the term Navajo to refer to the Diné. During the 1670s, the Spanish wrote that the Diné lived in a region known as Dinétah, about sixty miles (97 km) west of the Rio Chama valley region. In the 1770s, the Spanish sent military expeditions against the Navajos in the Mount Taylor and Chuska Mountain regions of New Mexico.[13]: 43–50  The Spanish, Navajos and Hopis continued to trade with each other and formed a loose alliance to fight Apache and Comanche bands for the next twenty years. During this time there were relatively minor raids by Navajo bands and Spanish citizens against each other. In 1800 Governor Chacon led 500 men in an expedition to the Tunicha Mountains against the Navajo. Twenty Navajo chiefs asked for peace. In 1804 and 1805 the Navajos and Spanish mounted major expeditions against each other's settlements. In May 1805 another peace was established. Similar patterns of peace-making, raiding, and trading among the Navajo, Spanish, Apache, Comanche, and Hopi continued until the arrival of Americans in 1846.[13] Territory of New Mexico 1846–1863 Chief Manuelito The Navajos encountered the United States Army in 1846, when General Stephen W. Kearny invaded Santa Fe with 1,600 men during the Mexican–American War. On November 21, 1846, following an invitation from a small party of American soldiers under the command of Captain John Reid, who journeyed deep into Navajo country and contacted him, Narbona and other Navajos negotiated a treaty of peace with Colonel Alexander Doniphan at Bear Springs, Ojo del Oso (later the site of Fort Wingate). This agreement was not honored by some Navajo, nor by some New Mexicans. The Navajos raided New Mexican livestock, and New Mexicans took women, children, and livestock from the Navajo.[14] In 1849, the military governor of New Mexico, Colonel John MacRae Washington—accompanied by John S. Calhoun, an Indian agent—led a force of 400 soldiers into Navajo country, penetrating Canyon de Chelly. He signed a treaty with two Navajo leaders: Mariano Martinez as Head Chief and Chapitone as Second Chief. The treaty acknowledged the transfer of jurisdiction from the United Mexican States to the United States. The treaty allowed forts and trading posts to be built on Navajo land. The United States, on its part, promised "such donations [and] such other liberal and humane measures, as [it] may deem meet and proper."[15] While en route to this treaty signing, Narbona, a prominent Navajo peace leader, was killed, resulting in hostility between the treaty parties.[16] During the next 10 years, the U.S. established forts on traditional Navajo territory. Military records cite this development as a precautionary measure to protect citizens and the Navajos from each other. However, the Spanish/Mexican-Navajo pattern of raids and expeditions continued. Over 400 New Mexican militia conducted a campaign against the Navajo, against the wishes of the Territorial Governor, in 1860–61. They killed Navajo warriors, captured women and children for slaves, and destroyed crops and dwellings. The Navajos call this period Naahondzood, "the fearing time." In 1861, Brigadier-General James H. Carleton, Commander of the Federal District of New Mexico, initiated a series of military actions against the Navajos and Apaches. Colonel Kit Carson was at the new Fort Wingate with Army troops and volunteer New Mexico militia. Carleton ordered Carson to kill Mescalero Apache men and destroy any Mescalero property he could find. Carleton believed these harsh tactics would bring any Indian Tribe under control. The Mescalero surrendered and were sent to the new reservation called Bosque Redondo. In 1863, Carleton ordered Carson to use the same tactics on the Navajo. Carson and his force swept through Navajo land, killing Navajos and destroying crops and dwellings, fouling wells, and capturing livestock. Facing starvation and death, Navajo groups came in to Fort Defiance for relief. On July 20, 1863, the first of many groups departed to join the Mescalero at Bosque Redondo. Other groups continued to come in though 1864.[17] However, not all the Navajos came in or were found. Some lived near the San Juan River, some beyond the Hopi villages, and others lived with Apache bands.[18] Long Walk Main article: Long Walk of the Navajo Beginning in the spring of 1864, the Army forced around 9,000 Navajo men, women, and children to walk over 300 miles (480 km) to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, for internment at Bosque Redondo. The internment at Bosque Redondo was disastrous for the Navajo, as the government failed to provide an adequate supply of water, wood, provisions, and livestock for the 4,000–5,000 people. Large-scale crop failure and disease were also endemic during this time, as were raids by other tribes and civilians. Some Navajos froze during the winter because they could make only poor shelters from the few materials and resources they were given. This period is known among the Navajos as "The Fearing Time".[19] In addition, a small group of Mescalero Apache, longtime enemies of the Navajos had been relocated to the area. Conflicts resulted. In 1868, the Treaty of Bosque Redondo was negotiated between Navajo leaders and the federal government allowing the surviving Navajos to return to a reservation on a portion of their former homeland. Reservation era Navajo woman and child, circa 1880–1910 The United States military continued to maintain forts on the Navajo reservation in the years following the Long Walk. Between 1873 and 1895, the military employed Navajos as "Indian Scouts" at Fort Wingate to assist their regular units.[20] During this period, Chief Manuelito founded the Navajo Tribal Police. It operated between 1872 and 1875 as an anti-raid task force working to maintain the peaceful terms of the 1868 Navajo treaty. By treaty, the Navajos were allowed to leave the reservation for trade, with permission from the military or local Indian agent. Eventually, the arrangement led to a gradual end in Navajo raids, as the tribe was able to increase the size of their livestock herds and cultivated crops. In addition, the tribe gained an increase in the size of the Navajo reservation from 3.5 million acres (14,000 km2; 5,500 sq mi) to the 16 million acres (65,000 km2; 25,000 sq mi) as it stands today. But economic conflicts with non-Navajos continued for many years as civilians and companies exploited resources assigned to the Navajo. The US government made leases for livestock grazing, took land for railroad development, and permitted mining on Navajo land without consultation with the tribe. In 1883, Lt. Parker, accompanied by 10 enlisted men and two scouts, went up the San Juan River to separate the Navajos and citizens who had encroached on Navajo land.[21] In the same year, Lt. Lockett, with the aid of 42 enlisted soldiers, was joined by Lt. Holomon at Navajo Springs. Evidently, citizens of the surnames Houck and/or Owens had murdered a Navajo chief's son, and 100 armed Navajo warriors were looking for them. In 1887, citizens Palmer, Lockhart, and King fabricated a charge of horse stealing and randomly attacked a dwelling on the reservation. Two Navajo men and all three whites died as a result, but a woman and a child survived. Capt. Kerr (with two Navajo scouts) examined the ground and then met with several hundred Navajos at Houcks Tank. Rancher Bennett, whose horse was allegedly stolen, told Kerr that his horses were stolen by the three whites to catch a horse thief.[22] In the same year, Lt. Scott went to the San Juan River with two scouts and 21 enlisted men. The Navajos believed Lt. Scott was there to drive off the whites who had settled on the reservation and had fenced off the river from the Navajo. Scott found evidence of many non-Navajo ranches. Only three were active, and the owners wanted payment for their improvements before leaving. Scott ejected them.[23] In 1890, a local rancher refused to pay the Navajos a fine of livestock. The Navajos tried to collect it, and whites in southern Colorado and Utah claimed that 9,000 of the Navajos were on a warpath. A small military detachment out of Fort Wingate restored white citizens to order.[citation needed] In 1913, an Indian agent ordered a Navajo and his three wives to come in, and then arrested them for having a plural marriage. A small group of Navajos used force to free the women and retreated to Beautiful Mountain with 30 or 40 sympathizers. They refused to surrender to the agent, and local law enforcement and military refused the agent's request for an armed engagement. General Scott arrived, and with the help of Henry Chee Dodge, a leader among the Navajo, defused the situation.[citation needed] Boarding schools and education Main article: American Indian boarding schools During the time on the reservation, the Navajo tribe was forced to assimilate to white society. Navajo children were sent to boarding schools within the reservation and off the reservation. The first Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) school opened at Fort Defiance in 1870[24] and led the way for eight others to be established.[25] Many older Navajos were against this education and would hide their children to keep them from being taken. Once the children arrived at the boarding school, their lives changed dramatically. European Americans taught the classes under an English-only curriculum and punished any student caught speaking Navajo.[25] The children were under militaristic discipline, run by the Siláo.[clarification needed] In multiple interviews, subjects recalled being captured and disciplined by the Siláo if they tried to run away. Other conditions included inadequate food, overcrowding, required manual labor in kitchens, fields, and boiler rooms; and military-style uniforms and haircuts.[26] Change did not occur in these boarding schools until after the Meriam Report was published in 1929 by the Secretary of Interior, Hubert Work. This report discussed Indian boarding schools as being inadequate in terms of diet, medical services, dormitory overcrowding, undereducated teachers, restrictive discipline, and manual labor by the students to keep the school running.[27] This report was the precursor to education reforms initiated under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, under which two new schools were built on the Navajo reservation. But Rough Rock Day School was run in the same militaristic style as Fort Defiance and did not implement the educational reforms. The Evangelical Missionary School was opened next to Rough Rock Day School. Navajo accounts of this school portray it as having a family-like atmosphere with home-cooked meals, new or gently used clothing, humane treatment, and a Navajo-based curriculum. Educators found the Evangelical Missionary School curriculum to be much more beneficial for the Navajo children.[28] Untitled. Ansel Adams. 1941. Taken near Canyon de Chelly In 1937, Boston heiress Mary Cabot Wheelright and Navajo singer and medicine man Hastiin Klah founded the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe. It is a repository for sound recordings, manuscripts, paintings, and sandpainting tapestries of the Navajos. It also featured exhibits to express the beauty, dignity, and logic of Navajo religion. When Klah met Cabot in 1921, he had witnessed decades of efforts by the US government and missionaries to assimilate the Navajos into mainstream society. The museum was founded to preserve the religion and traditions of the Navajo, which Klah was sure would otherwise soon be lost forever. The result of these boarding schools led to much language loss within the Navajo Nation. After the Second World War, the Meriam Report funded more children to attend these schools with six times as many children attending boarding school than before the War.[29] English as the primary language spoken at these schools as well as the local towns surrounding the Navajo reservations contributed to residents becoming bilingual; however Navajo was the still the primary language spoken at home.[29] Livestock Reduction 1930s–1950s See also: Navajo Livestock Reduction The Navajo Livestock Reduction was imposed upon the Navajo Nation by the federal government starting in the 1933, during the Great Depression.[30] Under various forms it continued into the 1950s. Worried about large herds in the arid climate, at a time when the Dust Bowl was endangering the Great Plains, the government decided that the land of the Navajo Nation could support only a fixed number of sheep, goats, cattle, and horses. The Federal government believed that land erosion was worsening in the area and the only solution was to reduce the number of livestock. In 1933, John Collier was appointed commissioner of the BIA. In many ways, he worked to reform government relations with the Native American tribes, but the reduction program was devastating for the Navajo, for whom their livestock was so important. The government set land capacity in terms of "sheep units". In 1930 the Navajos grazed 1,100,000 mature sheep units.[31] These sheep provided half the cash income for the individual Navajo.[32] Collier's solution was to first launch a voluntary reduction program, which was made mandatory two years later in 1935. The government paid for part of the value of each animal, but it did nothing to compensate for the loss of future yearly income for so many Navajo. In the matrilineal and matrilocal world of the Navajo, women were especially hurt, as many lost their only source of income with the reduction of livestock herds.[33] The Navajos did not understand why their centuries-old practices of raising livestock should change.[31] They were united in opposition but they were unable to stop it.[34] Historian Brian Dippie notes that the Indian Rights Association denounced Collier as a 'dictator' and accused him of a "near reign of terror" on the Navajo reservation. Dippie adds that, "He became an object of 'burning hatred' among the very people whose problems so preoccupied him."[35] The long-term result was strong Navajo opposition to Collier's Indian New Deal.[36] Navajo Code Talkers in World War II General Douglas MacArthur meeting Navajo, Pima, Pawnee and other Native American troops Many Navajo young people moved to cities to work in urban factories in World War II. Many Navajo men volunteered for military service in keeping with their warrior culture, and they served in integrated units. The War Department in 1940 rejected a proposal by the BIA that segregated units be created for the Indians. The Navajos gained firsthand experience with how they could assimilate into the modern world, and many did not return to the overcrowded reservation, which had few jobs.[37] Four hundred Navajo code talkers played a famous role during World War II by relaying radio messages using their own language. The Japanese were unable to understand or decode it.[38] In the 1940s, large quantities of uranium were discovered in Navajo land. From then into the early 21st century, the U.S. allowed mining without sufficient environmental protection for workers, waterways, and land. The Navajos have claimed high rates of death and illness from lung disease and cancer resulting from environmental contamination. Since the 1970s, legislation has helped to regulate the industry and reduce the toll, but the government has not yet offered holistic and comprehensive compensation.[39] U.S. Marine Corps Involvement The Navajo Code Talkers played a significant role in USMC history. Using their own language they utilized a military code; for example, the Navajo word "turtle" represented a tank. In 1942, Marine staff officers composed several combat simulations and the Navajo translated it and transmitted it in their dialect to another Navajo on the other line. This Navajo then translated it back in English faster than any other cryptographic facilities, which demonstrated their efficacy. As a result, General Vogel recommended their recruitment into the USMC code talker program. Each Navajo went through basic bootcamp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego before being assigned to Field Signal Battalion training at Camp Pendleton. Once the code talkers completed training in the States, they were sent to the Pacific for assignment to the Marine combat divisions. With that said, there was never a crack in the Navajo language, it was never deciphered. It is known that many more Navajos volunteered to become code talkers than could be accepted; however, an undetermined number of other Navajos served as Marines in the war, but not as code talkers. These achievements of the Navajo Code Talkers have resulted in an honorable chapter in USMC history. Their patriotism and honor inevitably earned them the respect of all Americans.[40] After 1945 See also: Indian termination policy, Black Mesa Peabody Coal controversy, and American Indian Movement [icon] This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2016) Culture Dibé (sheep) remain an important aspect of Navajo culture. The name "Navajo" comes from the late 18th century via the Spanish (Apaches de) Navajó "(Apaches of) Navajó", which was derived from the Tewa navahū "farm fields adjoining a valley". The Navajos call themselves Diné.[41] Like other Apacheans, the Navajos were semi-nomadic from the 16th through the 20th centuries. Their extended kinship groups had seasonal dwelling areas to accommodate livestock, agriculture, and gathering practices. As part of their traditional economy, Navajo groups may have formed trading or raiding parties, traveling relatively long distances. There is a system of clans which defines relationships between individuals and families. The clan system is exogamous: people can only marry (and date) partners outside their own clans, which for this purpose include the clans of their four grandparents. Some Navajos favor their children to marry into their father's clan. While clans are associated with a geographical area, the area is not for the exclusive use of any one clan. Members of a clan may live hundreds of miles apart but still have a clan bond.[18]: xix–xxi  Historically, the structure of the Navajo society is largely a matrilineal system, in which the family of the women owned livestock, dwellings, planting areas and livestock grazing areas. Once married, a Navajo man would follow a matrilocal residence and live with his bride in her dwelling and near her mother's family. Daughters (or, if necessary, other female relatives) were traditionally the ones who received the generational property inheritance. In cases of marital separation, women would maintain the property and children. Children are "born to" and belong to the mother's clan, and are "born for" the father's clan. The mother's eldest brother has a strong role in her children's lives. As adults, men represent their mother's clan in tribal politics.[41] Neither sex can live without the other in the Navajo culture. Men and women are seen as contemporary equals as both a male and female are needed to reproduce. Although women may carry a bigger burden, fertility is so highly valued that males are expected to provide economic resources (known as bride wealth). Corn is a symbol of fertility in Navajo culture as they eat white corn in the wedding ceremonies. It is considered to be immoral and/or stealing if one does not provide for the other in that premarital or marital relationship.[42] Ethnobotany See Navajo ethnobotany. Traditional dwellings Hogan at Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park A hogan, the traditional Navajo home, is built as a shelter for either a man or for a woman. Male hogans are square or conical with a distinct rectangular entrance, while a female hogan is an eight-sided house.[citation needed] Hogans are made of logs and covered in mud, with the door always facing east to welcome the sun each morning. Navajos also have several types of hogans for lodging and ceremonial use. Ceremonies, such as healing ceremonies or the kinaaldá, take place inside a hogan.[43] According to Kehoe, this style of housing is distinctive to the Navajos. She writes, "even today, a solidly constructed, log-walled Hogan is preferred by many Navajo families." Most Navajo members today live in apartments and houses in urban areas.[44] Those who practice the Navajo religion regard the hogan as sacred. The religious song "The Blessingway" (hózhǫ́ǫ́jí) describes the first hogan as being built by Coyote with help from Beavers to be a house for First Man, First Woman, and Talking God. The Beaver People gave Coyote logs and instructions on how to build the first hogan. Navajos made their hogans in the traditional fashion until the 1900s, when they started to make them in hexagonal and octagonal shapes. Hogans continue to be used as dwellings, especially by older Navajos, although they tend to be made with modern construction materials and techniques. Some are maintained specifically for ceremonial purposes.[citation needed] Spiritual and religious beliefs See also: Diné Bahaneʼ (Navajo creation beliefs) Navajo Yebichai (Yei Bi Chei) dancers. Edward S. Curtis. USA, 1900. The Wellcome Collection, London Hastobíga, a Hataałii photographed in 1904 by Edward S. Curtis Navajo spiritual practice is about restoring balance and harmony to a person's life to produce health and is based on the ideas of Hózhóójí. The Diné believed in two classes of people: Earth People and Holy People. The Navajo people believe they passed through three worlds before arriving in this world, the Fourth World or the Glittering World. As Earth People, the Diné must do everything within their power to maintain the balance between Mother Earth and man.[45] The Diné also had the expectation of keeping a positive relationship between them and the Diyin Diné. In the Diné Bahane' (Navajo beliefs about creation), the First, or Dark World is where the four Diyin Diné lived and where First Woman and First Man came into existence. Because the world was so dark, life could not thrive there and they had to move on. The Second, or Blue World, was inhabited by a few of the mammals Earth People know today as well as the Swallow Chief, or Táshchózhii. The First World beings had offended him and were asked to leave. From there, they headed south and arrived in the Third World, or Yellow World. The four sacred mountains were found here, but due to a great flood, First Woman, First Man, and the Holy People were forced to find another world to live in. This time, when they arrived, they stayed in the Fourth World. In the Glittering World, true death came into existence, as well as the creations of the seasons, the moon, stars, and the sun.[46] The Holy People, or Diyin Diné, had instructed the Earth People to view the four sacred mountains as the boundaries of the homeland (Dinétah) they should never leave: Blanca Peak (Sisnaajiní — Dawn or White Shell Mountain) in Colorado; Mount Taylor (Tsoodził — Blue Bead or Turquoise Mountain) in New Mexico; the San Francisco Peaks (Dookʼoʼoosłííd — Abalone Shell Mountain) in Arizona; and Hesperus Mountain (Dibé Nitsaa — Big Mountain Sheep) in Colorado.[47] Times of day, as well as colors, are used to represent the four sacred mountains. Throughout religions, the importance of a specific number is emphasized and in the Navajo religion, the number four appears to be sacred to their practices. For example, there were four original clans of Diné, four colors and times of day, four Diyin Diné, and for the most part, four songs sung for a ritual.[47] Navajos have many different ceremonies. For the most part, their ceremonies are to prevent or cure diseases.[48] Corn pollen is used as a blessing and as an offering during prayer.[45] One half of major Navajo song ceremonial complex is the Blessing Way (Hózhǫ́ǫ́jí) and other half is the Enemy Way (Anaʼí Ndááʼ). The Blessing Way ceremonies are based on establishing "peace, harmony, and good things exclusively" within the Dine. The Enemy Way, or Evil Way ceremonies are concerned with counteracting influences that come from outside the Dine.[48] Spiritual healing ceremonies are rooted in Navajo traditional stories. One of them, the Night Chant ceremony, is conducted over several days and involves up to 24 dancers. The ceremony requires the dancers to wear buckskin masks, as do many of the other Navajo ceremonies, and they all represent specific gods.[48] The purpose of the Night Chant is to purify the patients and heal them through prayers to the spirit-beings. Each day of the ceremony entails the performance of certain rites and the creation of detailed sand paintings. One of the songs describes the home of the thunderbirds: In Tsegihi [White House], In the house made of the dawn, In the house made of the evening light[49] The ceremonial leader proceeds by asking the Holy People to be present at the beginning of the ceremony, then identifying the patient with the power of the spirit-being, and describing the patient's transformation to renewed health with lines such as, "Happily I recover."[50] Ceremonies are used to correct curses that cause some illnesses or misfortunes. People may complain of witches who do harm to the minds, bodies, and families of innocent people,[51] though these matters are rarely discussed in detail with those outside of the community.[52] Oral Stories / Works of Literature See: Diné Bahane' (Creation Story) and Black God and Coyote (notable traditional characters) The Navajo Tribe relied on oral tradition to maintain beliefs and stories. Examples would include the traditional creation story Diné Bahane'.[45] There are also some Navajo Indian legends that are staples in literature, including The First Man and First Woman [53] as well as The Sun, Moon and Stars.[54] The First Man and Woman is a myth about the creation of the world, and The Sun, Moon and Stars is a legend about the origin of heavenly bodies. Music Main article: Navajo music Visual arts Silverwork Squash blossom necklace 19th-century Navajo jewelry with the popular concho and dragonfly designs Silversmithing is an important art form among Navajos. Atsidi Sani (c. 1830–c. 1918) is considered to be the first Navajo silversmith. He learned silversmithing from a Mexican man called Nakai Tsosi ("Thin Mexican") around 1878 and began teaching other Navajos how to work with silver.[55] By 1880, Navajo silversmiths were creating handmade jewelry including bracelets, tobacco flasks, necklaces and bracers. Later, they added silver earrings, buckles, bolos, hair ornaments, pins and squash blossom necklaces for tribal use, and to sell to tourists as a way to supplement their income.[56] The Navajos' hallmark jewelry piece called the "squash blossom" necklace first appeared in the 1880s. The term "squash blossom" was apparently attached to the name of the Navajo necklace at an early date, although its bud-shaped beads are thought to derive from Spanish-Mexican pomegranate designs.[57] The Navajo silversmiths also borrowed the "naja" (najahe in Navajo)[58] symbol to shape the silver pendant that hangs from the "squash blossom" necklace. Turquoise has been part of jewelry for centuries, but Navajo artists did not use inlay techniques to insert turquoise into silver designs until the late 19th century. Weaving Main article: Navajo weaving Navajo weaver with sheep Navajo Germantown Eye Dazzler Rug, Science History Institute Probably Bayeta-style Blanket with Terrace and Stepped Design, 1870–1880, 50.67.54, Brooklyn Museum Navajos came to the southwest with their own weaving traditions; however, they learned to weave cotton on upright looms from Pueblo peoples. The first Spaniards to visit the region wrote about seeing Navajo blankets. By the 18th century, the Navajos had begun to import Bayeta red yarn to supplement local black, grey, and white wool, as well as wool dyed with indigo. Using an upright loom, the Navajos made extremely fine utilitarian blankets that were collected by Ute and Plains Indians. These Chief's Blankets, so called because only chiefs or very wealthy individuals could afford them, were characterized by horizontal stripes and minimal patterning in red. First Phase Chief's Blankets have only horizontal stripes, Second Phase feature red rectangular designs, and Third Phase features red diamonds and partial diamond patterns. The completion of the railroads dramatically changed Navajo weaving. Cheap blankets were imported, so Navajo weavers shifted their focus to weaving rugs for an increasingly non-Native audience. Rail service also brought in Germantown wool from Philadelphia, commercially dyed wool which greatly expanded the weavers' color palettes. Some early European-American settlers moved in and set up trading posts, often buying Navajo rugs by the pound and selling them back east by the bale. The traders encouraged the locals to weave blankets and rugs into distinct styles. These included "Two Gray Hills" (predominantly black and white, with traditional patterns); Teec Nos Pos (colorful, with very extensive patterns); "Ganado" (founded by Don Lorenzo Hubbell[59]), red-dominated patterns with black and white; "Crystal" (founded by J. B. Moore); oriental and Persian styles (almost always with natural dyes); "Wide Ruins", "Chinlee", banded geometric patterns; "Klagetoh", diamond-type patterns; "Red Mesa" and bold diamond patterns.[60] Many of these patterns exhibit a fourfold symmetry, which is thought to embody traditional ideas about harmony or hózhǫ́. In the media In 2000 the documentary The Return of Navajo Boy was shown at the Sundance Film Festival. It was written in response to an earlier film, The Navajo Boy which was somewhat exploitative of those Navajos involved. The Return of Navajo Boy allowed the Navajos to be more involved in the depictions of themselves.[61] In the final episode of the third season of the FX reality TV show 30 Days, the show's producer Morgan Spurlock spends thirty days living with a Navajo family on their reservation in New Mexico. The July 2008 show called "Life on an Indian Reservation", depicts the dire conditions that many Native Americans experience living on reservations in the United States.[citation needed] Tony Hillerman wrote a series of detective novels whose detective characters were members of the Navajo Tribal Police. The novels are noted for incorporating details about Navajo culture, and in some cases expand the focus to include nearby Hopi and Zuni characters and cultures, as well.[citation needed] Four of the novels have been adapted for film/TV. His daughter has continued the novel series after his death. In 1997, Welsh author Eirug Wyn published the Welsh-language novel "I Ble'r Aeth Haul y Bore?" ("Where did the Morning Sun go?" in English) which tells the story of Carson's misdoings against the Navajo people from the point of view of a fictional young Navajo woman called "Haul y Bore" ("Morning Sun" in English).[62] Notable people with Navajo ancestry See also: Category:Navajo people Jacoby Ellsbury, pictured in a Boston Red Sox uniform, is a Navajo (from his mother's side) baseball player for the New York Yankees. James and Ernie, a Navajo comedy duo and actors Fred Begay, nuclear physicist and a Korean War veteran Notah Begay III (Navajo-Isleta-San Felipe Pueblo), American professional golfer Klee Benally, musician and documentary filmmaker[63] Jacoby Ellsbury, New York Yankees outfielder (enrolled Colorado River Indian Tribes) Rickie Fowler, American professional golfer Joe Kieyoomia, captured by the Imperial Japanese Army after the fall of the Philippines in 1942 Nicco Montaño, former women's UFC flyweight champion Chester Nez, the last original Navajo code talker who served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II. Lance Tsosie, TikToker whose videos discuss North American Native culture and history. Cory Witherill, first full-blooded Native American in NASCAR Aaron Yazzie, mechanical engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Artists See also: Category:Navajo artists Beatien Yazz (born 1928), painter Apie Begay (fl. 1902), first Navajo artist to use European drawing materials Harrison Begay (1914–2012), Studio painter Joyce Begay-Foss, weaver, educator, and museum curator Mary Holiday Black (born c. 1934), basket maker Raven Chacon (born 1977), conceptual artist Lorenzo Clayton (born 1940), artist Carl Nelson Gorman (also known as Kin-Ya-Onny-Beyeh; 1907–1998), painter, printmaker, illustrator, and Navajo code talker with the U.S. Marine Corp during World War II. R. C. Gorman (1932–2005), painter and printmaker Hastiin Klah, weaver and co-founder of the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian David Johns (born 1948), painter Yazzie Johnson, contemporary silversmith Betty Manygoats, Tàchii'nii, contemporary ceramicist Christine Nofchissey McHorse (1948-2021), ceramicist Gerald Nailor, Sr. (1917–1952), studio painter Barbara Teller Ornelas (born 1954), master Navajo weaver, cultural ambassador of the U.S. State Department Atsidi Sani (c. 1828–1918), first known Navajo silversmith Clara Nezbah Sherman, weaver Ryan Singer, painter, illustrator, screen printer Tommy Singer, silversmith and jeweler Quincy Tahoma (1920–1956), studio painter Klah Tso (mid-19th century — early 20th century), pioneering easel painter Emmi Whitehorse, contemporary painter Melanie Yazzie, contemporary print maker and educator Performers Jeremiah Bitsui, actor Blackfire, punk/alternative rock band Raven Chacon, composer Radmilla Cody, traditional singer James and Ernie, comedy duo R. Carlos Nakai, musician Jock Soto, ballet dancer Politicians Christina Haswood, member of the Kansas House of Representatives since 2021 Henry Chee Dodge, last Head Chief of the Navajo and first Chairman of the Navajo Tribe, (1922–1928, 1942–1946). Peterson Zah, first President of the Navajo Nation and last Chairman of the Navajo Tribe.[64] Albert Hale, former President of the Navajo Nation. He served in the Arizona Senate from 2004 to 2011 and in the Arizona House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017. Jonathan Nez, Current President of the Navajo Nation. He served three terms as Navajo Council Delegate representing the chapters of Shonto, Oljato, Tsah Bi Kin and Navajo Mountain. Served two terms as Navajo County Board of Supervisors for District 1. Annie Dodge Wauneka, former Navajo Tribal Councilwoman and advocate. Thomas Dodge, former Chairman of the Navajo Tribe and first Diné attorney. Peter MacDonald, Navajo Code Talker and former Chairman of the Navajo Tribe. Mark Maryboy (Aneth/Red Mesa/Mexican Water), former Navajo Nation Council Delegate, working in Utah Navajo Investments. Lilakai Julian Neil, the first woman elected to Navajo Tribal Council. Joe Shirley, Jr., former President of the Navajo Nation Ben Shelly, former President of the Navajo Nation. Chris Deschene, veteran, attorney, engineer, and a community leader. One of few Native Americans to be accepted into the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the U.S. Marine Corps. He made an unsuccessful attempt to run for Navajo Nation President. Writers Sherwin Bitsui, author and poet Luci Tapahonso, poet and lecturer Elizabeth Woody, author, educator, and environmentalist The Navajo Nation (Navajo: Naabeehó Bináhásdzo) is a Native American territory covering about 17,544,500 acres (71,000 km2; 27,413 sq mi), occupying portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico and a smaller portion covering southeastern Utah, in the United States. This is the largest land area retained by a Native American tribe in the United States. In 2010, the total population of Navajo tribal members was 332,129 with 173,667 living within the boundaries of the reservation and 158,462 tribal members outside of the reservation. Metropolitan areas accounted for 26 percent of the population, border towns accounted for ten percent, and the remaining 17 percent were living elsewhere in the U.S.[3][4] The seat of government is located in Window Rock, Arizona. By area, the Navajo Nation is larger than ten U.S. states – West Virginia, Maryland, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island – and the territory of Puerto Rico. It is less than one percent shy of being equal to the combined area of the last five states (New Hampshire through Rhode Island).[5] The United States took over this territory in 1848 after acquiring it in the Mexican-American War. The reservation was within New Mexico Territory and straddled what became the Arizona-New Mexico border in 1912, when the states were admitted to the union. Unlike many reservations, it has expanded several times since its establishment in 1868 to include most of northeastern Arizona, a sizable portion of northwestern New Mexico, and most of the area south of the San Juan River in southeastern Utah. It is one of a few indigenous nations whose reservation lands overlap its traditional homelands. Contents 1 Terminology 2 History 2.1 Reservation and expansion 2.2 Clan governance 2.2.1 Rejection of Indian Reorganization Act 3 Navajo Nation and federal government jurisdictions 4 Government 4.1 Constitution 4.2 Judiciary branch 4.3 Executive branch 4.4 Legislative branch 4.4.1 Chapters 4.5 Administrative divisions 4.5.1 Agencies and chapters 4.5.2 Departments and divisions 4.5.2.1 Law enforcement 4.5.2.2 Other agencies 4.5.3 Regional Commissions 4.6 Politics 4.6.1 Notable Navajo politicians 4.6.2 2014 Navajo Presidential Election 4.6.3 Infrastructure 4.6.4 International cooperation 5 Geography 5.1 Climate 5.2 Daylight saving time 6 Demographics 7 Education 7.1 Secondary education 7.2 Diné College – Tsaile campus 7.2.1 Center for Diné Studies 7.3 Navajo Technical University (NTU) 8 Environmental and health concerns 8.1 Uranium mining 8.1.1 Navajo neurohepatopathology 8.2 Diabetes 8.3 Severe combined immunodeficiency 9 Economy 9.1 Natural resources 9.1.1 Coal 9.1.2 Uranium 9.1.3 Oil and natural gas 9.1.4 Renewables 9.2 Parks and attractions 9.3 Navajo arts and craft enterprise 9.4 Diné Development Corp. 10 Media 10.1 Navajo Times 10.2 KTNN 10.3 Other newspapers 11 See also 12 References 13 External links Terminology In English, the official name for the area was "Navajo Indian Reservation", as outlined in Article II of the 1868 Treaty of Bosque Redondo. On April 15, 1969, the tribe changed its official name to the "Navajo Nation", which is displayed on its seal.[6] In 1994, the Tribal Council rejected a proposal to change the official designation from "Navajo" to "Diné", a traditional name for the people. Some people said that Diné represented the people in their time of suffering before the Long Walk, and that Navajo is the appropriate designation for the future.[7] In the Navajo language, Diné means "the People", a term many indigenous nations identify with in their respective languages. Among the Navajo populace, both terms are employed. In 2017, the Navajo Nation Council again rejected legislation to change the name to "Diné Nation," citing potential "confusion and frustration among Navajo citizens and non-­Navajos."[8][9] In Navajo, the geographic entity with its legally defined borders is known as "Naabeehó Bináhásdzo". This contrasts with "Diné Bikéyah" and "Naabeehó Bikéyah" for the general idea of "Navajoland".[10] Neither of these terms should be confused with "Dinétah," the term used for the traditional homeland of the Navajo. This is located in the area among the four sacred Navajo mountains of Dookʼoʼoosłííd (San Francisco Peaks), Dibé Ntsaa (Hesperus Mountain), Sisnaajiní (Blanca Peak), and Tsoodził (Mount Taylor). History The Navajo people's tradition of governance is rooted in their clans and oral history.[11] The clan system of the Diné is integral to their society. The system has rules of behavior that extend to the manner of refined culture that the Navajo people call "walking in beauty".[12] The philosophy and clan system were established long before the Spanish colonial occupation of Dinétah, through to the July 25, 1868, when Congress ratified the Navajo Treaty with President Andrew Johnson, signed by Barboncito, Armijo, and other chiefs and headmen present at Bosque Redondo, New Mexico. The Navajo people have continued to transform their conceptual understandings of government since signing the Treaty of 1868. Social, cultural, and political academics continue to debate the nature of modern Navajo governance and how it has evolved to include the systems and economies of the "western world".[13] Reservation and expansion Aerial view looking south across Arizona's Painted Desert with part of the Navajo Reservation in the foreground For the history prior to 1868, see Navajo people. In the mid-19th century, primarily in the 1860s, most of the Navajo were forced to abandon their homes due to a series of military campaigns by the U.S. Army conducted with a scorched-earth policy and sanctioned by the U.S. government. The Army burned their homes and agricultural fields, and stole or killed livestock, to weaken and starve the Navajo into submission. In 1864, the main body of Navajo, numbering 8,000 adults and children, were marched 300 miles on the Long Walk to imprisonment in Bosque Redondo.[14] The Treaty of 1868 established the "Navajo Indian Reservation" and the Navajo people left Bosque Redondo for this territory. The borders were defined as the 37th parallel in the north; the southern border as a line running through Fort Defiance; the eastern border as a line running through Fort Lyon; and in the west as longitude 109°30′.[15]: 68  As drafted in 1868, the boundaries were defined as: the following district of country, to wit: bounded on the north by the 37th degree of north latitude, south by an east and west line passing through the site of old Fort Defiance, in Canon Bonito, east by the parallel of longitude which, if prolonged south, would pass through old Fort Lyon, or the Ojo-de-oso, Bear Spring, and west by a parallel of longitude about 109º 30' west of Greenwich, provided it embraces the outlet of the Canon-de-Chilly [Canyon de Chelly], which canyon is to be all included in this reservation, shall be, and the same hereby, set apart for the use and occupation of the Navajo tribe of Indians, and for such other friendly tribes or individual Indians as from time to time they may be willing, with the consent of the United States, to admit among them; and the United States agrees that no persons except those herein so authorized to do, and except such officers, soldiers agents, and employees of the Government, or of the Indians, as may be authorized to enter upon Indian reservations in discharge of duties imposed by law, or the orders of the President, shall ever be permitted to pass over, settle upon, or reside in, the territory described in this article.[16] Border changes and expansions of the Navajo Reservation from 1868 to 1934 Though the treaty had provided for one hundred miles by one hundred miles in the New Mexico Territory, the size of the territory was 3,328,302 acres (13,470 km2; 5,200 sq mi)[15]—slightly more than half. This initial piece of land is represented in the design of the Navajo Nation's flag by a dark-brown rectangle.[17] As no physical boundaries or signposts were set in place, many Navajo ignored these formal boundaries and returned to where they had been living prior to US occupation.[15] A significant number of Navajo had never lived in the Hwéeldi (near Fort Sumner). They remained or moved near the Little Colorado and Colorado rivers, on Naatsisʼáán (Navajo Mountain), and some lived with Apache bands.[14] The first expansion of the territory occurred on October 28, 1878, when President Rutherford Hayes signed an executive order pushing the reservation boundary 20 miles to the west.[15] Further additions followed throughout the late 19th and early 20th century (see map). Most of these additions were achieved through executive orders, some of which were confirmed by acts of Congress; for example, President Theodore Roosevelt's executive order to add the region around Aneth, Utah in 1905 was confirmed by Congress in 1933.[18] 1904 photograph of a young Navajo man The eastern border was shaped primarily as a result of allotments of land to individual Navajo households under the Dawes Act of 1887. This experiment was designed to assimilate Native Americans to mainstream white American culture. The federal government proposed to divide communal lands into plots assignable to heads of household – tribal members – for their subsistence farming, in the pattern of small family farms common among white Americans. This was intended to extinguish tribal land claims for such territory. The land allocated to these Navajo heads of household was initially not considered part of the reservation. Further, the federal government determined that land "left over" after all members had received allotments was to be considered "surplus" and available for sale to non-Native Americans. The allotment program continued until 1934. Today, this patchwork of reservation and non-reservation land is called the "checkerboard area. It resulted in the loss of much Navajo land."[19] In the southeastern area of the reservation, the Navajo Nation has purchased some ranches, which it refers to as its Nahata Dził, or New Lands. These lands are leased to Navajo individuals, livestock companies, and grazing associations. In 1996, Elouise Cobell (Blackfeet) filed a class action lawsuit against the federal government on behalf of an estimated 250,000–500,000 plaintiffs, Native Americans whose trust accounts did not reflect an accurate accounting of money owed them under leases or fees on trust lands. The settlement of Cobell v. Salazar in 2009 included a provision for a nearly $2 billion fund for the government to buy fractionated interests and restore land to tribal reservations. Individuals could sell their fractionated land interests on a voluntary basis, at market rates, through this program if their tribe participated. Through March 2017, under the Tribal Nations Buy-Back Program, individual Navajo members received $104 million for purchase of their interests in land; 155,503 acres were returned to the Navajo Nation for its territory by the Department of Interior under this program.[20] The program is intended to help tribes restore the land bases of their reservations. Almost 11,000 Navajo citizens were paid for their interests under this program.[citation needed] The tribe intends to use the consolidated lands to "streamline infrastructure projects," such as running power lines. Clan governance In the traditional Navajo culture, local leadership was organized around clans, which are matrilineal kinship groups. Children are considered born into the mother's family and gain their social status from her and her clan. Her eldest brother traditionally has a strong influence on rearing the children. The clan leadership have served as a de facto government on the local level of the Navajo Nation. Rejection of Indian Reorganization Act In 1933 during the Great Depression, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) attempted to mitigate environmental damage due to over-grazing on reservations. This created an environment of misunderstanding, as its representatives did not consult sufficiently with the Navajo. BIA Superintendent John Collier's attempt to reduce livestock herd size affected responses to his other efforts to improve conditions for Native Americans. The herds had been central to Navajo culture, and were a source of prestige.[21] Also during this period, under the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934, the federal government was encouraging tribes to revive their governments according to constitutional models shaped after that of the United States. Because of the outrage and discontent about the herd issues, the Navajo voters did not trust the language of the proposed initial constitution outlined in the legislation. This contributed to their rejection of the first version of a proposed tribal constitution. In the various attempts since, members found the process to be too cumbersome and a potential threat to tribal self-determination. The constitution was supposed to be reviewed and approved by BIA. The earliest efforts were rejected primarily because segments of the tribe did not find enough freedom in the proposed forms of government. In 1935 they feared that the proposed government would hinder development and recovery of their livestock industries; in 1953 they worried about restrictions on development of mineral resources. They continued a government based on traditional models, with headmen chosen by clan groups. Navajo Nation and federal government jurisdictions Tségháhoodzání, the "Window Rock" The United States asserts plenary power and thus requires the territory of the Navajo Nation to submit all proposed laws to the United States Secretary of the Interior for Secretarial Review, through the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The US Supreme Court in United States v. Kagama (1889) affirmed that Congress has plenary power over all Indian tribes within United States borders, saying that "The power of the general government over these remnants of a race once powerful ... is necessary to their protection as well as to the safety of those among whom they dwell".[22] It noted that the tribes did not owe allegiance to the states within which their reservations were located; they are considered wards of the federal government.[23] Most conflicts and controversies between the federal government of the United States and the Nation are settled by negotiations outlined in political agreements. The Navajo Nation Code comprises the rules and laws of the Navajo Nation as codified in the latest edition. Lands within the exterior boundaries of the Navajo Nation are composed of Public, Tribal Trust, Tribal Fee, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Private, State, and BIA Indian Allotment Lands. On the Arizona and Utah portions of the Navajo Nation, there are a few private and BIA Indian Allotments in comparison to New Mexico's portion, which consists of a checkerboard pattern of all the aforementioned lands. The Eastern Agency, as it is referred to, consists of primarily Tribal Fee, BIA Indian Allotments, and BLM Lands. Although there are more Tribal Fee Lands in New Mexico, the Navajo Nation government intends to convert most or all Tribal Fee Lands to Tribal Trust. Government Vice President Myron Lizer, Congressman Tom O'Halleran and President Jonathan Nez in 2020 The Title II Amendment of 1989 established the Navajo Nation government as a three-part system (changes to the judicial branch had already begun in 1958). Two branches are independent of the council (where all government decision making was centralized before the change). The president and vice-president are elected every four years. The Executive nominates judges of the District Courts, and the Supreme Court.[24] The nation consists of several divisions, departments, offices, and programs as established by law.[25] Constitution In 2006, a committee for a "Navajo constitution" began advocating for a Navajo constitutional convention. The committee's goal was to have representation from every chapter on the Navajo Nation represented at a constitutional convention. The committee proposed the convention be held in the traditional naachid/modern chapter house format, where every member of the nation wishing to participate may do so through their home chapters. The committee was formed by former Navajo leaders: Kelsey Begaye, Peterson Zah, Peter MacDonald, Ivan Gamble, a writer/social activist, and other local political activists.[26] Judiciary branch See also: Supreme Court of the Navajo Nation Prior to Long Walk of the Navajo, judicial powers were exercised by peace chiefs (Hózhǫ́ǫ́jí Naatʼááh) in a mediation-style process.[27] While the people were held at Bosque Redondo, the U.S. Army handled severe crimes. Lesser crimes and disputes remained in the purview of the villages' chiefs. After the Navajo return from Bosque Redondo in 1868, listed criminal offenses were handled by the US Indian Agent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs with support of the U.S. Army, while lesser disputes remained under Navajo control. In 1892, BIA Agent David L. Shipley established the Navajo Court of Indian Offenses and appointed judges.[28] Previously, judicial authority was exercised by the Indian Agent.[28] In 1950, the Navajo Tribal Council decided that judges should be elected. By the time of the judicial reorganization of 1958, the council had determined that, due to problems with delayed decisions and partisan politics, appointment was a better method of selecting judges.[29] The president makes appointments, subject to confirmation by the Navajo Nation Council; however, the president is limited to the list of names vetted by the Judiciary Committee of the council.[30] The current judicial system for the Navajo Nation was created by the Navajo Tribal Council on 16 October 1958. It established a separate branch of government, the "Judicial Branch of the Navajo Nation Government", which became effective 1 April 1959.[31] The Navajo Court of Indian Offenses was eliminated; the sitting judges became judges in the new system. The resolution established "Trial Courts of the Navajo Tribe" and the "Navajo Tribal Court of Appeals", which was the highest tribal court and its only appellate court. In 1978, the Navajo Tribal Council established a "Supreme Judicial Council", a political body rather than a court. On a discretionary basis, it could hear appeals from the Navajo Tribal Court of Appeals.[32] Subsequently, the Supreme Judicial Council was criticized for bringing politics directly into the judicial system and undermining "impartiality, fairness and equal protection".[33] In December 1985, the Navajo Tribal Council passed the Judicial Reform Act of 1985, which eliminated the Supreme Judicial Council. It redefined the "Navajo Tribal Court of Appeals" as the "Navajo Nation Supreme Court", and redefined "Trial Courts of the Navajo Tribe" as "District Courts of the Navajo Nation".[34] Navajo courts are governed by Title 7, "Courts and Procedures", of the Navajo Tribal Code.[34] From 1988 to 2006, there were seven judicial districts and two satellite courts. As of 2010, there are ten judicial districts, centered respectively in Alamo (Alamo/Tó'hajiilee), Aneth, Chinle, Crownpoint, Dilkon, Kayenta, Ramah, Shiprock, Tuba City and Window Rock.[35] All of the districts also have family courts, which have jurisdiction over domestic relations, civil relief in domestic violence, child custody and protection, name changes, quiet title, and probate. As of 2010, there were 17 trial judges presiding in the Navajo district and family courts.[36] Executive branch Main article: President of the Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation Presidency, in its current form, was created on December 15, 1989, after directives from the federal government guided the Tribal Council to establish the current judicial, legislative, and executive model. This was a departure from the system of "Council and Chairmanship" from the previous government body. Conceptual additions were made to the language of Navajo Nation Code Title II, and the acts expanded the new government on April 1, 1990. Qualifications for the position of president include fluency in the Navajo language. (This has seldom been enforced. In 2015, the council changed the law to repeal this requirement.) Term limits allow only two consecutive terms.[37] Legislative branch Navajo Nation Council Chamber, a National Historic Landmark Main article: Navajo Nation Council The Navajo Nation Council, formerly the Navajo Tribal Council, is the legislative branch of the Navajo Nation. As of 2010, the Navajo Nation Council consists of 24 delegates, representing the 110 chapters, elected every four years by registered Navajo voters. Prior to the November 2010 election, the Navajo Nation Council consisted of 88 representatives. The Navajo voted for the change in an effort to have a more efficient government and to curb tribal government corruption associated with council members who established secure seats.[38] Chapters See also: Chapter (Navajo Nation) and List of Navajo Nation Chapters In 1927, agents of the U.S. federal government initiated a new form of local government entities called Chapters, modeled after jurisdictional governments in the US such as counties or townships. Each chapter elected officers and followed parliamentary procedures. By 1933, more than 100 chapters operated across the Navajo Nation. The chapters served as liaisons between the Navajo and the federal governments, respectively. They also acted as voting precincts for the election of tribal council delegates. They served as forums for local tribal leaders. But, the chapters had no authority within the structure of the Navajo Nation government.[39] In 1998, the Navajo Tribal Council passed the "Local Governance Act" (LGA), which expanded the political roles of the existing 110 chapters. It authorized them to make decisions on behalf of the chapter members and to take over certain roles previously delegated to the council and executive branches. This included entering into intergovernmental agreements with federal, state and tribal entities, subject to approval by the Intergovernmental Relations Committee of the council. As of 2006, 44 chapters were LGA certified.[40] Administrative divisions Agencies and chapters The Navajo Nation is divided into five agencies. The seat of government is located at the Navajo Governmental Campus in Window Rock/Tségháhoodzání. These agencies are composed of several chapters each, and reflect the five Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) agencies created in the early formation of the Navajo Nation. The five agencies within the Navajo Nation are Chinle Agency in Chinle, Arizona; Eastern Navajo Agency in Crownpoint, New Mexico; Western Navajo Agency in Tuba City, Arizona; Fort Defiance Agency in Fort Defiance, Arizona; and Shiprock Agency in Shiprock, New Mexico. The BIA agencies provide various technical services under direction of the BIA's Navajo Area Office at Gallup, New Mexico. Agencies are divided into chapters as the smallest political unit, similar to municipalities or small U.S. counties. The Navajo capital city of Window Rock is located in the chapter of St. Michaels, Arizona. The Navajo Nation also operates executive offices in Washington, DC to facilitate government-to-government relations and for lobbying services and congressional relations. Departments and divisions Law enforcement Main article: Navajo Nation Police Navajo law enforcement consists of approximately 300 tribal police officers; only three are non-Native. Certain classes of crimes, such as capital cases, are prosecuted and adjudicated in Federal courts. However, the Navajo Nation operates its own divisions of law enforcement via the Navajo Division of Public Safety, commonly referred to as the Navajo Nation Police (formerly Navajo Tribal Police). Law enforcement functions are also delegated to the Navajo Nation Department of Fish and Wildlife: Wildlife Law Enforcement and Animal Control Sections; Navajo Nation Forestry Law Enforcement Officers; and the Navajo Nation EPA Criminal Enforcement Section; and Navajo Nation Resource Enforcement (Navajo Rangers). Other local, state and federal law enforcement agencies routinely work on the Navajo Nation, including the BIA Police, National Park Service U.S. Park Rangers, U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement and Investigations, Bureau of Land Management Law Enforcement, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), US Marshals, and Federal Bureau of Investigation; and other Native American units: the Ute Mountain Agency, and Hopi Agency; and Arizona Highway Patrol, Utah Highway Patrol, New Mexico Department of Public Safety (State Police and Highway Patrol), Apache County Sheriff's Office, Navajo County Sheriff's Office, McKinley County Sheriff's Office. Other agencies Transportation Health Education Regional Commissions Regional government functions are carried out by the "District Grazing Committees" and "Off-Reservation Land Boards", "Major Irrigation Projects Farm Boards", and "Agency Councils".[41] Politics Notable Navajo politicians Henry Chee Dodge, first chairman of Navajo Tribal Council (1922–1928, 1942–1946) Tom B. Becenti, tribal judge and chapter official from Eastern Navajo Agency. WWII veteran. He is known to have helped develop the Navajo Tribal Court System while preserving traditional Navajo Fundamental Law.[42] Peter MacDonald, Navajo Tribal chairman convicted for cause (1971–1983, 1987–1989) Jacob (JC) Morgan, first chairman elected by the tribe, serving 1938–1942 Lilakai Julian Neil, first woman elected to Navajo Tribal Council, serving 1946–1951 John Pinto, New Mexico state senator (1977-2019), code talker and military veteran, teacher and National Education Association organizer.[43] Amos Frank Singer, early Council delegate from Kaibito and designer of Navajo Seal. Joe Shirley Jr., oversaw the reduction in seats on the Navajo Council. Annie Dodge Wauneka, Navajo Tribal councilwoman and philanthropist (1951–1978) Peterson Zah, chairman and first president of the Navajo Nation (1983–1987, 1991–1995) Navajo Woman at a waterfall circa 1920 2014 Navajo Presidential Election Unbalanced scales.svg This section may lend undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, or controversies. Please help improve it by rewriting it in a balanced fashion that contextualizes different points of view. (December 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) On August 25, 2014, the Navajo Nation held primary elections for the Office of President.[44] Joe Shirley Jr. and Chris Deschene had the two highest vote counts. In the weeks following, two other primary candidates sued in tribal court, invoking a never-used 1990s law that required candidates to be fluent in the Navajo Language. They asked for an assessment of the leading candidates' language skills[45] On October 23, 2014,[46] the Office of Hearings and Appeals of the tribe held the first hearing on the complaint filed against Deschene. The meeting was presided by chief hearing officer Richie Nez.[47] The court body ruled in favor of Dale Tsosie[48] and Hank Whitethorne, the former primary candidates, and issued a default ruling against Deschene, who had refused to participate in assessment. Later that day, the Navajo Supreme Court, in a special session on the matter, enforced the ruling from the lower Court body and ordered that the Navajo government remove Deschene from the presidential ballot because of his lack of Navajo language skills.[49] The High Court ruled that the presidential election scheduled for November 4 (12 days later), would be postponed, and ordered that it be held by the end of January 2015. Chief Justice Herb Yazzie[50] and Associate Justice Eleanor Shirley ruled for the 2–1 majority; Justice Irene Black wrote in her dissent that the technicality must be sent back to the lower court for correction there. The decision did not outline who would act as executive at the end of the current president's term (January 2015). In the early hours of October 24, 2014 the Navajo Council passed legislative Bill 0298-14[51] amending the Navajo Nation Code. The legislation repealed the language requirement of the qualifications sections for president. This enabled Chris Deschene's participation in the election.[52] The following Monday, the Navajo Board of Election Supervisors (NBES) met but took no action to implement the court directives. Counsel for NBES motioned the High Court for further instruction. The next day, the Navajo Nation Election Board commissioner, Wallace Charley (joined later by Kimmeth Yazzie, Navajo Election Administration) announced that Deschene's name would remain on the ballot.[53] Though he had vowed to continue, Deschene resigned from the race on October 30.[54] On October 29, Navajo President Ben Shelly vetoed the bill repealing the language requirement.[55] The Navajo General Election was held. Joe Shirley Jr. had the majority of votes by the unofficial tally. The Navajo Council scheduled a primary and general election for June and August 2015.[56] On Monday, January 5, 2015, President Shelly vetoed the language fluency bill.[57] On January 7, five assistant attorneys-general filed petition with the Navajo Nation Supreme Court for clarification on the question of the presidential vacancy issue. Through a controversial agreement and resolution, the Court and the Council appointed Ben Shelly to act as interim President.[58] In the special election, businessman Russell Begaye was elected as president and Jonathan Nez as vice-president. In May 2015, they were sworn in. Begaye supports encouraging native language use among the Navajo, who have the most members of nearly any tribe who speak their native language. Approximately half of the Nation's 340,000 members speak Navajo. Begaye came to office supporting the Grand Canyon Escalade, a proposed project to increase tourism at the canyon, as well as initiatives to develop a rail port to export crops and coal from the reservation and to pursue clean coal technology.[59] Infrastructure The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority provides utility services for houses. By 2019 it was conducting a campaign to electrify remaining houses without electricity. As of 2019 about 15,000 houses, with 60,000 residents, did not have electricity; at that time the authority electrified, on an annual a basis, 400-450 houses.[60] International cooperation In December 2012, Ben Shelly led a delegation of Navajo overseas to Israel, where they toured the country as representatives for the Navajo people. In April 2013, Shelly's aide, Deswood Tome, led a delegation of Israeli agricultural specialists on a tour of resources on the Navajo Nation. The visit by Israelis was criticized by some indigenous people who believe that Palestinians in Israel have a status similar to their own.[61] Geography See also: Ramah Navajo Indian Reservation, Alamo Navajo Indian Reservation, and Tohajiilee Indian Reservation This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Map showing populated places on the Navajo Nation and surrounding area Navajo. Seven riders on horseback and dog trek against background of canyon cliffs. Edward S. Curtis (1904) The land area of the Navajo Nation is over 27,000 square miles (70,000 km2),[62][63] making it the largest Indian reservation in the United States; it is approximately 8,000 km2 larger than the state of West Virginia.[64] Adjacent to or near the Navajo Nation are the Southern Ute of Colorado, and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe of Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico, both along the northern borders; the Jicarilla Apache Tribe to the east; the Zuni Pueblo and White Mountain Apache to the south; and the Hualapai Bands in the west. The Navajo Nation's territory fully surrounds the Hopi Indian Reservation.[63] In the 1980s, a conflict over shared lands peaked when the Department of the Interior attempted to relocate Navajo residents living in what is still referred to as the Navajo–Hopi Joint Use Area. The litigious and social conflict between the two tribes and neighboring communities ended with "The Bennett Freeze" Agreement, completed in July 2009 by President Barack Obama. The agreement lessened the contentious land disagreement by providing a 75-year lease to Navajo who had land claims dating to before the US occupation of the territory.[citation needed] Situated on the Navajo Nation are Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Monument Valley, Rainbow Bridge National Monument, the Shiprock monadnock, and the eastern portion of the Grand Canyon. Navajo Territory in New Mexico is popularly referred as the "Checkerboard" area because it is interrupted by Navajo and non-Native fee ownership of numerous plots of land. In this area, Navajo lands are intermingled with fee lands, owned by both Navajo and non-Navajo, and federal and state lands under various jurisdictions.[65][63] Three large non-contiguous sections located in New Mexico are also under Navajo jurisdiction: these are the Ramah Navajo Indian Reservation, the Alamo Navajo Indian Reservation, and the Tohajiilee Indian Reservation near Albuquerque.[63] Climate Much of the Navajo Nation is situated on the Colorado Plateau.[66] The large variation in altitude (3,080 feet (940 m) to 10,346 feet (3,153 m)) throughout the Navajo Nation produces considerable variations in climate, from an arid, desert climate, comprising 55% of the area, through an intermediate steppe region, to the cold, sub-humid climate of the mountainous 8% of the area.[67][68][63] Average daily temperatures range from 43 °F (6 °C) to 60 °F (16 °C), with a low of 4 °F (−16 °C) in mountainous regions and a high of 110 °F (43 °C) in the desert. Average rainfall is 16–27 inches (410–690 mm) at higher elevations, and 7–11 inches (180–280 mm) in the desert.[68] Daylight saving time To maintain consistent time throughout its territory, the Navajo Nation observes daylight saving time (DST) on its Arizona land as well as on its Utah and New Mexico lands. But the rest of Arizona, including the Hopi Reservation, an enclave within the Arizona portion of the Nation, have opted out of DST.[69] Demographics See also: List of communities on the Navajo Nation Racially, 166,826 residents on the 2010 census identified as Navajo or other Native American, 3,249 as White, 401 Asian or Pacific Islanders, 208 African American, and the remainder identify as some other group or more than one ancestry.[2] The 2010 census recorded 109,963 individuals who report speaking a language at home that is neither Asian nor Indo-European.[2] DiscoverNavajo.com reports that 96% of the Navajo Nation is American Indian, and 66% of Navajo tribe members live on Navajo Nation.[70] The average family size was 4.1, and the average household was home to 3.5 persons. The average household income in 2010 was $27,389.[2] Nearly half of the enrolled members of the Navajo tribe live outside the nationʼs territory, and the total enrolled population is 300,048, as of July 2011.[71] As of 2016, 173,667 Diné lived on tribal lands.[72] Education A Navajo man on horseback in Monument Valley Navajo girl Canyon de Chelly, (1941) Ansel Adams Historically, the Navajo Nation resisted compulsory western education, including boarding schools, as imposed by the government in the aftermath of the Long Walk.[73] Navajo families and society have provided traditional and home education with considerable scope and depth since before the US annexation. Continued education, and retention of Navajo students in school are significant priorities.[74] Major problems faced by the Nations relates to helping students build competitive GPAs and to prevent a very high drop-out rate[75] among high school students. Over 150 public, private, and Bureau of Indian Affairs schools serve Nation students from kindergarten through high school. Most schools are funded from the Navajo Nation under the Johnson O’Malley program. The Nation runs community Head Start Programs, the only educational program fully operated by the Navajo Nation government. Post-secondary education and vocational training are available on and off the territory. The Navajo Nation operates Tséhootsooí Diné Bi'ólta', a Navajo-language immersion school for grades K–8 in Fort Defiance, Arizona. Located on the Arizona-New Mexico border in the southeastern quarter of the Navajo Nation, the school strives to revitalize Navajo among children of the Window Rock Unified School District. Tséhootsooí Diné Bi'ólta' has thirteen Navajo language teachers who instruct only in the Navajo language. Five English language teachers instruct in the English language. Kindergarten and first grade are taught completely in the Navajo language, while English is incorporated into the program during third grade, when it is used for about 10% of instruction.[76] Secondary education The Nation has access to six systems of secondary academic institutions that serve Navajo students, including: Arizona public schools New Mexico public schools Utah public schools Bureau of Indian Affairs public schools Association of Navajo-Controlled schools Navajo Preparatory School, Inc. Diné College – Tsaile campus Main article: Diné College The Ned A Hataałi Center at Diné College's Tsaile campus The Navajo Nation operates Diné College, a two-year tribal community college, with its main campus at Tsaile in Apache County, Arizona. The college also operates seven sub-campuses throughout the nation. The Navajo Nation Council founded the college in 1968 as the first tribal college in the United States.[77] Since then, tribal colleges have been established on numerous reservations and now total 32.[77] Diné College has 1,830 students enrolled, of which 210 are students seeking transfer to four-year institutions in order to earn bachelor's degrees. Center for Diné Studies The college includes the Center for Diné Studies. Its goal is to apply Navajo Sa'ah Naagháí Bik'eh Hózhóón principles to advance quality student learning through Nitsáhákees (thinking), Nahat'á (planning), Iiná (living), and Siihasin (assurance) in study of the Diné language, history, and culture. Students are prepared for further studies and employment in a multi-cultural and technological world. Navajo Technical University (NTU) Located in Crownpoint, New Mexico, Navajo Technical University is a tribal university offering various vocational, technical, and academic degrees and certificates. NTU was opened in 1979 as the Navajo Skill Center, intended to provide opportunity to unemployed people of the Navajo Nation. The center has since been renamed multiple time in response to growth and its changing programs. In 1985 it was renamed Crownpoint Institute of Technology and in 2006 as Navajo Technical College. In 2013 it was named as a "university" in recognition of its program expansion, under resolution codified by the Navajo Nation Council.[78][79] Environmental and health concerns Uranium mining See also: Uranium mining and the Navajo people Extensive uranium mining took place in areas of the Navajo Nation from the 1940s, and not until the early 1960s were stringent worker and evironmental safety laws passed and enforced.[80] Studies[80] have proven uranium mining created severe environmental consequences for miners and nearby residents. Several types of cancer occur at much higher rates than the national average in these locations.[81][82] Especially high are the rates of reproductive-organ cancers in teenage Navajo girls, averaging seventeen times higher than the average of girls in the United States.[83] In 1990, Congress passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. Residents of the Red Water Pond Road area have requested relocation to a new, off-grid village to be located on Standing Black Tree Mesa. Cleanup is underway on the Northeast Church Rock Mine Superfund site. They proposed this as an alternative to the EPA-proposed relocation of residents to Gallup.[84] Navajo neurohepatopathology The Navajo are uniquely affected by a rare and life-threatening autosomal recessive multi-system disorder called Navajo Neurohepatopathology (NNH). This genetic condition is estimated to occur in 1 of every 1,600 live births.[85] The most severe symptoms include neuropathy and liver dysfunction (hepatopathy), both of which may be moderate and progressive or severe and fatal, as it often is in cases that develop in infants (before 6 months of age) or children (1–5 years). Other symptoms include corneal anesthesia and scarring, acral mutilation, cerebral leukoencephalopathy, failure to thrive, and recurrent metabolic acidosis, with intercurrent infections.[85] Navajo woman and child, c. 1880–1910 Diabetes Diabetes mellitus is a major health problem among the Navajo, Hopi and Pima tribes, whose members are diagnosed at a rate about four times higher than the age-standardized U.S. estimate. Medical researchers believe increased consumption of carbohydrates, coupled with genetic factors, play significant roles in the emergence of this chronic disease among Native Americans.[86] Severe combined immunodeficiency One in every 2,500 children in the Navajo population inherits severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). This genetic disorder results in births of children with virtually no immune system. In the general population, the genetic disorder is much more rare, affecting one in 100,000 children. The disorder is sometimes known as "bubble boy disease". This condition is a significant cause of illness and death among Navajo children. Research reveals a similar genetic pattern among the related Apache. In a December 2007 Associated Press article, Mortan Cowan, M.D., director of the Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Program at the University of California, San Francisco, noted that, although researchers have identified about a dozen genes that cause SCID, the Navajo/Apache population has the most severe form of the disorder. This is due to the mutations in the gene DCLRE1C, which leads to a defective copy of the protein Artemis. Without the gene, children's bodies are unable to repair DNA or develop disease-fighting cells.[87] Economy Number of sheep (Dibé) present on the Navajo Nation The Navajo economy and culture has long been based on the raising of sheep and goats. Navajo families process the wool and sell it for cash, or spin it into yarn and weave blankets and rugs for sale. The Navajo are also noted for their skill in creating turquoise and silver jewelry. Navajo artists have other traditional arts, such as sand painting, sculpture, and pottery. Sheep remain an important aspect of Navajo culture and economy. The Navajo Nation has created a mixture of industry and business that has provided the Navajo with alternative opportunities to traditional occupations. The Nation's median cash household income is around $20,000 per year. However, using federal standards, unemployment levels fluctuates between 40 and 45%. About 40% of families live below the federal poverty rate.[100] Economic development within the Navajo Nation has fluctuated over its history but has largely remained limited. One obstacle to investment has been the incompatibility of its two land management systems. Tribal lands are held in common and leased to individuals for specific purposes, such as home construction or for livestock grazing. Financial institutions outside of tribal lands require assets, including land, to be used as collateral when potential borrowers seek capital. Since individuals do not own the land outright, financial institutions have little recourse if borrowers default on their loans. Additionally, the wide-ranging bureaucracy involving elements of the U.S. Department of Interior, its Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the tribal government has created a complex network that is cumbersome and time-consuming for investors and businesses to navigate. Self-employed Navajo workers and Navajo entrepreneurs are often involved in the grey economy. For instance, artisans staff roadside shops and cater to American and international tourists, travelers passing through Navajo Nation, and to the Navajo people themselves. Other Navajo workers find employment in the nearby cities and towns of Page, Arizona; Flagstaff, Arizona; Farmington, New Mexico; Gallup, New Mexico; Cortez, Colorado; and other towns along the I-40 corridor. Commute times vary for these workers. Because of the remoteness of some Navajo communities, they can last up to several hours. Economic push-pull factors have led a sizeable portion of the workforce to temporarily or permanently relocate to these border towns or to large metropolitan areas further away, such as Phoenix, Arizona; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; and Salt Lake City, Utah. With nearly half of all Navajo tribal members living off the reservation, it is more difficult for the tribe to build social capital there and to draw from those people's talents. Navajo college students and graduates studying at universities in cities and towns outside the reservation may elect to stay there rather than relocate to the Navajo Nation because of the relative abundance of employment opportunities, connections with other classmates, and higher quality of life. This phenomenon contributes to Human capital flight or "the brain drain", where highly skilled or highly educated individuals are attracted or pushed to a location with different or more economic opportunities. They are not incorporated into the community and local economy of origin. Natural resources Mining – especially of coal and uranium – provided significant income to both the Navajo Nation and individual Navajos in the second half of the 20th century.[101] Many of these mines have closed. But in the early 21st century, mining still provides significant revenues to the tribe in terms of leases (51% of all tribal income in 2003).[102] Navajos are among the 1,000 people employed in mining.[103] Coal The volume of coal mined on the Navajo Nation land has declined in the early 21st century. The Chevron Corporation's P&M McKinley Mine was the first large-scale, surface coal mine in New Mexico when it opened in 1961. It closed in January 2010.[104] Peabody Energy's Black Mesa coal mine, a controversial strip mine, was shut down in December 2005 because of its adverse environmental impacts. It lost an appeal in January 2010 to reopen.[105] The Black Mesa mine fed the 1.5 GW Mohave Power Station at Laughlin, Nevada, via a slurry pipeline that used water from the Black Mesa aquifer. The nearby Kayenta Mine used the Black Mesa & Lake Powell Railroad to move coal to the former Navajo Generating Station (2.2 GW) at Page, Arizona. The Kayenta mine provided the majority of leased revenues for the tribe. The Kayenta mine also provided wages to those Navajo who were among its 400 employees.[106] The Navajo Mine opened in 1963 near Fruitland, New Mexico, and employs about 350 people. It supplies sub-bituminous coal to the 2 GW Four Corners Power Plant via the isolated 13-mile Navajo Mine Railroad.[107] Parts of the Navajo Nation, through the Navajo Transitional Energy Company, acquired the mine and three mines in Montana and Wyoming.[108][109] Uranium The uranium market, which was active during and after the Second World War, slowed near the end of that period. The Nation has suffered considerable environmental contamination and health effects as a result of poor regulation of uranium mining in that period. As of 2005, the Navajo Nation has prohibited uranium mining altogether within its borders. Oil and natural gas There are developed and potential oil and gas fields on the Navajo Nation. The oldest and largest group of fields is in the Paradox Basin in the Four Corners area. Most of these fields are located in the Aneth Extension in Utah, but there are a few wells in Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. The first well was drilled in the Aneth Extension in 1956. In 2006 the Paradox Basin fields were injected with water and carbon dioxide to increase declining production.[110] There are also wells in the Checkerboard area in New Mexico that are on leased land owned by individual Navajo. The selling of leases and oil royalties have changed over the years. The Aneth Extension was created from Public Domain lands as part a 1933 exchange with the federal government for lands flooded by Lake Powell. Congress appointed Utah as trustee on behalf of Navajos living in San Juan County, Utah for any potential revenues that came from natural resources in the area. Utah initially created a 3-person committee to make leases, receive royalties and improve the living conditions for Utah Navajo. As the revenues and resulting expenditures increased, Utah created the 12-member Navajo Commission to do the operational work. The Navajo Nation and Bureau of Indian Affairs are also involved.[111] Several Navajo organizations deal with oil and gas. The Utah Diné Corporation is a nonprofit organization established to take over from the Navajo Commission. The Navajo Nation Oil and Gas Company owns and operates oil and natural gas interests, primarily in New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah.[112] Federally incorporated, it is wholly owned by the Navajo Nation.[113] Renewables In early 2008, the Navajo Nation and Houston-based International Piping Products entered into an agreement to monitor wind resources, with the potential to build a 500-megawatt wind farm some 50 miles (80 km) north of Flagstaff, Arizona. Known as the Navajo Wind Project, it is proposed as the second commercial wind farm in Arizona after Iberdrola's Dry Lake Wind Power Project between Holbrook and Overgaard-Heber. The project is to be built on Aubrey Cliffs in Coconino County, Arizona.[114] In December 2010, the President and Navajo Council approved a proposal by the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA), an enterprise of the Navajo Nation, and Edison Mission Energy to develop an 85-megawatt wind project at Big Boquillas Ranch, which is owned by the Navajo Nation and is located 80 miles west of Flagstaff. The NTUA plans to develop this to a 200-megawatt capacity at peak. This has been planned as the first majority-owned native project; NTUS was to own 51%. An estimated 300–350 people will construct the facility; it will have 10 permanent jobs.[114] In August 2011, the Salt River Project, an Arizona utility, was announced as the first utility customer. Permitting and negotiations involve tribal, federal, state and local stakeholders.[115] The project is intended not only as a shift to renewable energy but to increase access for tribal members; an estimated 16,000 homes are without access to electricity.[116] The wind project has foundered because of a "long feud between Cameron [Chapter] and Window Rock [central government] over which company to back".[117] Both companies pulled out. Negotiations with Clipper Windpower looked promising, but that company was put up for sale after the recession.[117] Parks and attractions Tourism is important to the Nation. Parks and attractions within traditional Navajo lands include: Monument Valley (on the Utah and Arizona border, near the town of Kayenta, Arizona) Shiprock Pinnacle (large volcanic remnants, elevation 7,178, located in New Mexico near Shiprock) Navajo Mountain (mountain along Utah and Arizona border, elevation 10,318) Navajo Nation Tribal Memorial Park Chaco Canyon Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Canyon De Chelly Window Rock Tribal Park Navajo Nation Museum Navajo Nation Zoological and Botanical Park Antelope Canyon Lake Powell Navajo Bridge Little Colorado River Gorge Kinlichee Ruins Four Corners Monument Hubbell Trading Post Grand Falls Rainbow Bridge National Monument Narbona Pass Narbona Pass Chuska Mountains Navajo arts and craft enterprise An important small business group on the Navajo Nation is handmade arts and crafts industry, which markets both high- and medium-end quality goods made by Navajo artisans, jewelers and silversmiths. A 2004 study by the Navajo Division of Economic Development found that at least 60% of all families have at least one family member producing arts and crafts for the market.[citation needed]. A survey conducted by the Arizona Hospitality Research & Resource Center reported that the Navajo nation made $20,428,039 from the art and crafts trade in 2011.[118] Diné Development Corp. The Diné Development Corporation was formed in 2004 to promote Navajo business and seek viable business development to make use of casino revenues.[119] Media Navajo Times The Navajo Nation is served by various print media operations. The Navajo Times used to be published as the Navajo Times Today. Created by the Navajo Nation Council in 1959, it has been privatized. It continues to be the newspaper of record for the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Times is the largest Native American-owned newspaper company in the United States.[120] KTNN Established as a Navajo Nation Enterprise in 1985, KTNN is a commercial radio station that provides information and entertainment, and is located on AM 660. Other newspapers Other newsprint groups also serve the Nation. The media outlets include the Navajo/Hopi Observer,[121] serving Navajo, Hopi and towns of Winslow and Flagstaff, and the Navaj Native Americans, also known as American Indians, First Americans, Indigenous Americans and other terms, are the Indigenous peoples of the United States; sometimes including Hawaii and territories of the United States, and other times limited to the mainland. There are 574 federally recognized tribes living within the US, about half of which are associated with Indian reservations. "Native Americans" (as defined by the United States Census) are Indigenous tribes that are originally from the contiguous United States, along with Alaska Natives. Indigenous peoples of the United States who are not American Indian or Alaska Native include Native Hawaiians, Samoans, and Chamorros. The US Census groups these peoples as "Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander". The ancestors of living Native Americans arrived in what is now the United States at least 15,000 years ago, possibly much earlier, from Asia via Beringia.[3] A vast variety of peoples, societies and cultures subsequently developed. European colonization of the Americas, which began in 1492, resulted in a precipitous decline in Native American population because of new diseases, wars, ethnic cleansing, and enslavement.[4][5][6][7] After its formation, the United States, as part of its policy of settler colonialism, continued to wage war and perpetrated massacres against many Native American peoples, removed them from their ancestral lands, and subjected them to one-sided treaties and to discriminatory government policies, later focused on forced assimilation, into the 20th century.[8][9][10] Since the 1960s, Native American self-determination movements have resulted in changes to the lives of Native Americans, though there are still many contemporary issues faced by Native Americans. Today, there are over five million Native Americans in the United States, 78% of whom live outside reservations: California, Arizona and Oklahoma have the largest populations of Native Americans in the United States. Most Native Americans live in small towns or rural areas. When the United States was created, established Native American tribes were generally considered semi-independent nations, as they generally lived in communities separate from white settlers. The federal government signed treaties at a government-to-government level until the Indian Appropriations Act of 1871 ended recognition of independent native nations, and started treating them as "domestic dependent nations" subject to federal law. This law did preserve the rights and privileges agreed to under the treaties, including a large degree of tribal sovereignty. For this reason, many Native American reservations are still independent of state law and the actions of tribal citizens on these reservations are subject only to tribal courts and federal law. The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 granted U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans born in the United States who had not yet obtained it. This emptied the "Indians not taxed" category established by the United States Constitution, allowed natives to vote in state and federal elections, and extended the Fourteenth Amendment protections granted to people "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States. However, some states continued to deny Native Americans voting rights for several decades. Bill of Rights protections do not apply to tribal governments, except for those mandated by the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968. Contents 1 Background 2 History 2.1 Settlement of the Americas 2.2 Pre-Columbian era 2.3 European exploration and colonization 2.4 17th century 2.5 18th century 2.6 19th century 2.7 20th century 2.8 21st century 3 Demographics 3.1 Historical population by tribe 3.2 Population since 1890 3.3 Population distribution 3.4 Population by tribal grouping 4 Tribal sovereignty 5 Civil rights movement 6 Contemporary issues 6.1 Societal discrimination and racism 6.2 Native American mascots in sports 6.3 Historical depictions in art 6.4 Terminology differences 6.5 Gambling industry 6.6 Financial services 6.7 Crime on reservations 6.8 Barriers to economic development 6.9 Discourse in Native American economic development 6.10 Land ownership challenges 6.11 Land ownership and bureaucratic challenges in historical context 6.12 Geographic poverty 6.13 Trauma 7 Society, language, and culture 7.1 Ethno-linguistic classification 7.2 Indigenous foodways 7.3 Religion 7.4 Gender roles 7.5 Modern education 7.6 Sports 7.7 Music 7.8 Art 8 Interracial relations 8.1 Assimilation 8.2 European enslavement 8.3 Native American and African relations 9 Racial identity 9.1 Admixture and genetics 9.2 Tribal membership 9.3 Increased self-identification 9.4 Genetics 10 See also 11 Notes 12 References 13 Further reading 14 External links Background Beginning toward the end of the 15th century, the migration of Europeans to the Americas led to centuries of population, cultural, and agricultural transfer and adjustment between Old and New World societies, a process known as the Columbian exchange. As most Native American groups had previously preserved their histories by means of oral traditions and artwork, the first written accounts of the contact were provided by Europeans.[11] The Cultural areas of pre-Columbian North America, according to Alfred Kroeber Ethnographers commonly classify the Indigenous peoples of North America into ten geographical regions with shared cultural traits, called cultural areas.[12] Some scholars combine the Plateau and Great Basin regions into the Intermontane West, some separate Prairie peoples from Great Plains peoples, while some separate Great Lakes tribes from the Northeastern Woodlands. The ten cultural areas are: Arctic, including Aleut, Inuit, and Yupik peoples Subarctic Northeastern Woodlands Southeastern Woodlands Great Plains Great Basin Northwest Plateau Northwest Coast California Southwest (Oasisamerica) At the time of the first contact, the Indigenous cultures were quite different from those of the proto-industrial and mostly Christian immigrants. Some Northeastern and Southwestern cultures, in particular, were matrilineal and operated on a more collective basis than that with which Europeans were familiar. The majority of Indigenous American tribes treated their hunting grounds and agricultural lands as being for the use of their entire tribe. At that time, Europeans had cultures that had developed concepts of individual property rights with respect to land that were extremely different. The differences in cultures between the established Native Americans and immigrant Europeans, and the shifting alliances among different nations during periods of warfare caused extensive political tension, ethnic violence, and social disruption. Even before the European settlement of what is now the United States, Native Americans suffered high fatality rates from contact with European diseases that were new to them, and therefore to which they had not yet acquired immunity; the diseases were endemic to the Spanish and other Europeans, and were spread by direct contact-probably primarily contact with domesticated pigs that had been brought over by European expeditions and had then escaped.[13] Smallpox epidemics are thought to have caused the greatest loss of life for Indigenous populations. As William M. Denevan, a noted author and Professor Emeritus of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in "The Pristine Myth: The Landscape of the Americas in 1492": "The decline of native American populations was rapid and severe, probably the greatest demographic disaster ever. Old World diseases were the primary killer. In many regions, particularly the tropical lowlands, populations fell by 90 percent or more in the first century after the contact."[14][15] Estimates of the size of the pre-Columbian population of the area that today is the United States vary considerably. They range from William M. Denevan's estimate of 3.8 million- in his 1992 work, The Native Population of the Americas in 1492-to Henry F. Dobyns's 18 million in his 1983 work,Their Number Become Thinned.[13][14][16][17] Because Henry F. Dobyns’ is by far the highest single-point estimate among professional academic researchers, it has been criticized as "politically motivated".[13] Dobyns' most vehement critic is perhaps David Henige, a bibliographer of African literature at the University of Wisconsin, whose Numbers From Nowhere (1998)[18] has been jocularly described as "a landmark in the literature of demographic fulmination".[13] Henige writes of Dobyns’s work, "Suspect in 1966, it is no less suspect nowadays … If anything, it is worse."[13] After the thirteen British colonies revolted against Great Britain and established the United States, President George Washington and Secretary of War Henry Knox conceived the idea of "civilizing" Native Americans in preparation for their assimilation as U.S. citizens.[19][20][21][22][23] Assimilation (whether it was voluntary, as it was with the Choctaw,[24][25] or forced), was consistently maintained as a matter of policy by a number of consecutive American administrations. During the 19th century, the ideology known as manifest destiny became integral to the American nationalist movement. Westward expansion of European-American populations after the American Revolution resulted in increasing pressure on Native Americans and their lands, warfare, and rising tensions. In 1830, the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, authorizing the government to relocate Native Americans from their homelands within established states to lands west of the Mississippi River, in order to accommodate continued European-American expansion. This resulted in what amounted to the ethnic cleansing of many tribes and brutal forced marches that came to be known as the Trail of Tears. Contemporary Native Americans have a unique relationship with the United States because they may be members of nations, tribes, or bands that have sovereignty and treaty rights upon which federal Indian law and a federal Indian trust relationship are based.[26] Cultural activism since the late 1960s has increased the participation of Indigenous peoples in American politics. It has also led to expanded efforts to teach and preserve Indigenous languages for younger generations, and to establish a more robust cultural infrastructure: Native Americans have founded independent newspapers and online media outlets, including First Nations Experience, the first Native American television channel;[27] established Native American studies programs, tribal schools universities, museums and language programs. Literature is at the growing forefront of American Indian studies in many genres, with the notable exception of fiction—some traditional American Indians experience fictional narratives as insulting when they conflict with traditional oral tribal narratives.[28] The terms used to refer to Native Americans have at times been controversial. The ways Native Americans refer to themselves vary by region and generation, with many older Native Americans self-identifying as "Indians" or "American Indians", while younger Native Americans often identify as "Indigenous" or "Aboriginal". The term "Native American" has not traditionally included Native Hawaiians or certain Alaskan Natives, such as Aleut, Yup'ik, or Inuit peoples. By comparison, the Indigenous peoples of Canada are generally known as First Nations.[29] History Main article: History of Native Americans in the United States Settlement of the Americas Main articles: Paleo-Indians and Settlement of the Americas This map shows the approximate location of the ice-free corridor and specific Paleoindian sites (Clovis theory). It is not definitively known how or when the Native Americans first settled the Americas and the present-day United States. The prevailing theory proposes that people migrated from Eurasia across Beringia, a land bridge that connected Siberia to present-day Alaska during the Last Glacial Period, and then spread southward throughout the Americas over subsequent generations. Genetic evidence suggests at least three waves of migrants arrived from East Asia, with the first occurring at least 15,000 years ago.[30] These migrations may have begun as early as 30,000 years ago[31] and continued to about 10,000 years ago, when the land bridge became submerged by the rising sea level at the onset of the current interglacial period.[32] Pre-Columbian era Main article: Pre-Columbian era The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during the early modern period. While technically referring to the era before Christopher Columbus' 1492 arrival on the continent, in practice the term usually includes the history of Indigenous cultures until they were conquered or significantly influenced by Europeans, even if this happened decades, or even centuries, after Columbus' initial landing. Native American cultures are not normally included in characterizations of advanced Stone Age cultures as "Neolithic", which is a category that more often includes only the cultures in Eurasia, Africa, and other regions. The archaeological periods used are the classifications of archaeological periods and cultures established in Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips' 1958 book Method and Theory in American Archaeology. They divided the archaeological record in the Americas into five phases.[33] Lithic stage Main article: Lithic stage Numerous Paleoindian cultures occupied North America, with some arrayed around the Great Plains and Great Lakes of the modern United States and Canada, as well as adjacent areas to the West and Southwest. According to the oral histories of many of the Indigenous peoples, they have been living on this continent since their genesis, described by a wide range of traditional creation stories. Other tribes have stories that recount migrations across long tracts of land and a great river believed to be the Mississippi River.[34] Genetic and linguistic data connect the Indigenous people of this continent with ancient northeast Asians. Archeological and linguistic data has enabled scholars to discover some of the migrations within the Americas. Archeological evidence at the Gault site near Austin, Texas, demonstrates that pre-Clovis peoples settled in Texas some 16,000–20,000 years ago. Evidence of pre-Clovis cultures have also been found in the Paisley Caves in south-central Oregon and butchered mastodon bones in a sinkhole near Tallahassee, Florida. More convincingly but also controversially, another pre-Clovis has been discovered at Monte Verde, Chile.[35] The Clovis culture, a megafauna hunting culture, is primarily identified by the use of fluted spear points. Artifacts from this culture were first excavated in 1932 near Clovis, New Mexico. The Clovis culture ranged over much of North America and appeared in South America. The culture is identified by the distinctive Clovis point, a flaked flint spear-point with a notched flute, by which it was inserted into a shaft. The dating of Clovis materials has been by association with animal bones and by the use of carbon dating methods. Recent reexaminations of Clovis materials using improved carbon-dating methods produced results of 11,050 and 10,800 radiocarbon years B.P. (roughly 9100 to 8850 BCE).[36] A Folsom point for a spear The Folsom Tradition was characterized by the use of Folsom points as projectile tips and activities known from kill sites, where slaughter and butchering of bison took place. Folsom tools were left behind between 9000 BCE and 8000 BCE.[37] Na-Dené-speaking peoples entered North America starting around 8000 BCE, reaching the Pacific Northwest by 5000 BCE,[38] and from there migrating along the Pacific Coast and into the interior. Linguists, anthropologists, and archaeologists believe their ancestors comprised a separate migration into North America, later than the first Paleo-Indians. They migrated into Alaska and northern Canada, south along the Pacific Coast, into the interior of Canada, and south to the Great Plains and the American Southwest. Na-Dené-speaking peoples were the earliest ancestors of the Athabascan-speaking peoples, including the present-day and historical Navajo and Apache. They constructed large multi-family dwellings in their villages, which were used seasonally. People did not live there year-round, but for the summer to hunt and fish, and to gather food supplies for the winter.[39] Archaic period Main article: Archaic period in the Americas Since the 1990s, archeologists have explored and dated eleven Middle Archaic sites in present-day Louisiana and Florida at which early cultures built complexes with multiple earthwork mounds; they were societies of hunter-gatherers rather than the settled agriculturalists believed necessary according to the theory of Neolithic Revolution to sustain such large villages over long periods. The prime example is Watson Brake in northern Louisiana, whose 11-mound complex is dated to 3500 BCE, making it the oldest, dated site in North America for such complex construction.[citation needed] It is nearly 2,000 years older than the Poverty Point site. Construction of the mounds went on for 500 years until the site was abandoned about 2800 BCE, probably due to changing environmental conditions.[40] The Oshara Tradition people lived from around 5,440 BCE to 460 CE. They were part of the Southwestern Archaic Tradition centered in north-central New Mexico, the San Juan Basin, the Rio Grande Valley, southern Colorado, and southeastern Utah.[41][42][43] Poverty Point culture is a Late Archaic archaeological culture that inhabited the area of the lower Mississippi Valley and surrounding Gulf Coast. The culture thrived from 2200 BCE to 700 BCE, during the Late Archaic period.[44] Evidence of this culture has been found at more than 100 sites, from the major complex at Poverty Point, Louisiana (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) across a 100-mile (160 km) range to the Jaketown Site near Belzoni, Mississippi. Post-archaic period Artists conception of Ohio Hopewell culture Shriver Circle with the Mound City Group to the left Cahokia, the largest Mississippian culture site The Formative, Classic and post-Classic stages are sometimes incorporated together as the Post-archaic period, which runs from 1000 BCE onward.[45] Sites & cultures include: Adena, Old Copper, Oasisamerica, Woodland, Fort Ancient, Hopewell tradition and Mississippian cultures. The Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures refers to the time period from roughly 1000 BCE to 1000 CE in the eastern part of North America. The Eastern Woodlands cultural region covers what is now eastern Canada south of the Subarctic region, the Eastern United States, along to the Gulf of Mexico.[46] The Hopewell tradition describes the common aspects of the culture that flourished along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern United States from 100 BCE to 500 CE, in the Middle Woodland period. The Hopewell tradition was not a single culture or society, but a widely dispersed set of related populations. They were connected by a common network of trade routes.[47][48] This period is considered a developmental stage without any massive changes in a short period, but instead having a continuous development in stone and bone tools, leather working, textile manufacture, tool production, cultivation, and shelter construction.[47] The Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast were of many nations and tribal affiliations, each with distinctive cultural and political identities, but they shared certain beliefs, traditions, and practices, such as the centrality of salmon as a resource and spiritual symbol. Their gift-giving feast, potlatch, is a highly complex event where people gather in order to commemorate special events. These events include the raising of a Totem pole or the appointment or election of a new chief. The most famous artistic feature of the culture is the Totem pole, with carvings of animals and other characters to commemorate cultural beliefs, legends, and notable events. The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American civilization archaeologists date from approximately 800 CE to 1600 CE, varying regionally.[49] It was composed of a series of urban settlements and satellite villages (suburbs) linked together by a loose trading network,[50] the largest city being Cahokia, believed to be a major religious center. The civilization flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States.[51][52] Numerous pre-Columbian societies were sedentary, such as the Pueblo peoples, Mandan, Hidatsa and others, and some established large settlements, even cities, such as Cahokia, in what is now Illinois. The Iroquois League of Nations or "People of the Long House" was a politically advanced, democratic society, which is thought by some historians to have influenced the United States Constitution,[53][54] with the Senate passing a resolution to this effect in 1988.[55] Other historians have contested this interpretation and believe the impact was minimal, or did not exist, pointing to numerous differences between the two systems and the ample precedents for the constitution in European political thought.[56][57][58] European exploration and colonization Main articles: Age of Discovery and European colonization of the Americas Discovery of the Mississippi by William Henry Powell (1823–1879) is a Romantic depiction of Spanish explorer de Soto's seeing the Mississippi River for the first time. It hangs in the United States Capitol rotunda. After 1492, European exploration and colonization of the Americas revolutionized how the Old and New Worlds perceived themselves. Many of the first major contacts were in Florida and the Gulf coast by Spanish explorers.[59] Some scholars have designated this point in history as the beginning of the "Age of Capital" or the Capitalocene: an epoch that encompasses the profit-driven era that has led to climate change, global land change.[60] Impact on native populations Main article: Population history of indigenous peoples of the Americas From the 16th through the 19th centuries, the population of Native Americans sharply declined.[61] Most mainstream scholars believe that, among the various contributing factors,[62] epidemic disease was the overwhelming cause of the population decline of the Native Americans because of their lack of immunity to new diseases brought from Europe.[63][64][65][66] It is difficult to estimate the number of pre-Columbian Native Americans who were living in what is today the United States of America.[67] Estimates range from a low of 2.1 million to a high of 18 million (Dobyns 1983).[16][68][69] By 1800, the Native population of the present-day United States had declined to approximately 600,000, and only 250,000 Native Americans remained in the 1890s.[70] Chicken pox and measles, endemic but rarely fatal among Europeans (long after being introduced from Asia), often proved deadly to Native Americans.[71][72][73][74] In the 100 years following the arrival of the Spanish to the Americas, large disease epidemics depopulated large parts of the eastern United States in the 16th century.[75] There are a number of documented cases where diseases were deliberately spread among Native Americans as a form of biological warfare. The most well-known example occurred in 1763, when Sir Jeffery Amherst, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces of the British Army, wrote praising the use of smallpox-infected blankets to "extirpate" the Indian race. Blankets infected with smallpox were given to Native Americans besieging Fort Pitt. The effectiveness of the attempt is unclear.[76][77][78] In 1634, Andrew White of the Society of Jesus established a mission in what is now the state of Maryland, and the purpose of the mission, stated through an interpreter to the chief of an Indian tribe there, was "to extend civilization and instruction to his ignorant race, and show them the way to heaven".[79] White's diaries report that by 1640, a community had been founded which they named St. Mary's, and the Indians were sending their children there "to be educated among the English".[80] This included the daughter of the Piscataway Indian chief Tayac, which exemplifies not only a school for Indians, but either a school for girls, or an early co-ed school. The same records report that in 1677, "a school for humanities was opened by our Society in the centre of [Maryland], directed by two of the Fathers; and the native youth, applying themselves assiduously to study, made good progress. Maryland and the recently established school sent two boys to St. Omer who yielded in abilities to few Europeans, when competing for the honor of being first in their class. So that not gold, nor silver, nor the other products of the earth alone, but men also are gathered from thence to bring those regions, which foreigners have unjustly called ferocious, to a higher state of virtue and cultivation."[81] Through the mid-17th century the Beaver Wars were fought over the fur trade between the Iroquois and the Hurons, the northern Algonquians, and their French allies. During the war the Iroquois destroyed several large tribal confederacies, including the Huron, Neutral, Erie, Susquehannock, and Shawnee, and became dominant in the region and enlarged their territory. In 1727, the Sisters of the Order of Saint Ursula founded Ursuline Academy in New Orleans, which is currently the oldest continuously operating school for girls and the oldest Catholic school in the United States. From the time of its foundation, it offered the first classes for Native American girls, and would later offer classes for female African-American slaves and free women of color. 1882 studio portrait of the (then) last surviving Six Nations warriors who fought with the British in the War of 1812 Between 1754 and 1763, many Native American tribes were involved in the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War. Those involved in the fur trade tended to ally with French forces against British colonial militias. The British had made fewer allies, but it was joined by some tribes that wanted to prove assimilation and loyalty in support of treaties to preserve their territories. They were often disappointed when such treaties were later overturned. The tribes had their own purposes, using their alliances with the European powers to battle traditional Native enemies. Some Iroquois who were loyal to the British, and helped them fight in the American Revolution, fled north into Canada. After European explorers reached the West Coast in the 1770s, smallpox rapidly killed at least 30% of Northwest Coast Native Americans. For the next eighty to one hundred years, smallpox and other diseases devastated native populations in the region.[82] Puget Sound area populations, once estimated as high as 37,000 people, were reduced to only 9,000 survivors by the time settlers arrived en masse in the mid-19th century.[83] Smallpox epidemics in 1780–1782 and 1837–1838 brought devastation and drastic depopulation among the Plains Indians.[84][85] By 1832, the federal government established a smallpox vaccination program for Native Americans (The Indian Vaccination Act of 1832). It was the first federal program created to address a health problem of Native Americans.[86][87] Animal introductions With the meeting of two worlds, animals, insects, and plants were carried from one to the other, both deliberately and by chance, in what is called the Columbian Exchange.[88] In the 16th century, Spaniards and other Europeans brought horses to Mexico. Some of the horses escaped and began to breed and increase their numbers in the wild. As Native Americans adopted use of the animals, they began to change their cultures in substantial ways, especially by extending their nomadic ranges for hunting. The reintroduction of the horse to North America had a profound impact on Native American culture of the Great Plains. Early Native American tribal territories 17th century King Philip's War Main article: King Philip's War King Philip's War, also called Metacom's War or Metacom's Rebellion, was the last major armed[89] conflict between Native American inhabitants of present-day southern New England and English colonists and their Native American allies from 1675 to 1676. It continued in northern New England (primarily on the Maine frontier) even after King Philip was killed, until a treaty was signed at Casco Bay in April 1678.[90] 18th century Natural society Further information: Great Law of Peace The Treaty of Penn with the Indians by Benjamin West, painted in 1771 Some European philosophers considered Native American societies to be truly "natural" and representative of a golden age known to them only in folk history.[91] American Revolution Yamacraw Creek Native Americans meet with the Trustee of the colony of Georgia in England, July 1734. The painting shows a Native American boy (in a blue coat) and woman (in a red dress) in European clothing. During the American Revolution, the newly proclaimed United States competed with the British for the allegiance of Native American nations east of the Mississippi River. Most Native Americans who joined the struggle sided with the British, based both on their trading relationships and hopes that colonial defeat would result in a halt to further colonial expansion onto Native American land. The first native community to sign a treaty with the new United States Government was the Lenape. In 1779 the Sullivan Expedition was carried out during the American Revolutionary War against the British and the four allied nations of the Iroquois. George Washington gave orders that made it clear he wanted the Iroquois threat completely eliminated: The Expedition you are appointed to command is to be directed against the hostile tribes of the Six Nations of Indians, with their associates and adherents. The immediate objects are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements, and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible. It will be essential to ruin their crops now in the ground and prevent their planting more.[92] The British made peace with the Americans in the Treaty of Paris (1783), through which they ceded vast Native American territories to the United States without informing or consulting with the Native Americans. United States The United States was eager to expand, develop farming and settlements in new areas, and satisfy the land hunger of settlers from New England and new immigrants. The national government initially sought to purchase Native American land by treaties. The states and settlers were frequently at odds with this policy.[93] United States policy toward Native Americans continued to evolve after the American Revolution. George Washington and Henry Knox believed that Native Americans were equals but that their society was inferior. Washington formulated a policy to encourage the "civilizing" process.[20] Washington had a six-point plan for civilization which included: impartial justice toward Native Americans regulated buying of Native American lands promotion of commerce promotion of experiments to civilize or improve Native American society presidential authority to give presents punishing those who violated Native American rights.[22] Benjamin Hawkins, seen here on his plantation, teaches Creek Native Americans how to use European technology, painted in 1805 In the late 18th century, reformers, starting with Washington and Knox,[94] supported educating native both children and adults, in efforts to "civilize" or otherwise assimilate Native Americans into the larger society (as opposed to relegating them to reservations). The Civilization Fund Act of 1819 promoted this civilization policy by providing funding to societies (mostly religious) who worked towards Native American improvement.[95] 19th century The population of California Indians was reduced by 90% during the 19th century—from more than 250,000 to 200,000 in the early 19th century to approximately 15,000 at the end of the century, mostly due to disease.[96][97][98] Epidemics swept through California Indian Country, such as the 1833 malaria epidemic.[99] The population went into decline as a result of the Spanish authorities forcing Native Californians to live in the missions where they contracted diseases from which they had little immunity. Cook estimates that 15,250 or 45% of the population decrease in the Missions was caused by disease.[citation needed] Two epidemics of measles, one in 1806 and the other in 1828, caused many deaths. The mortality rates were so high that the missions were constantly dependent upon new conversions. During the California Gold Rush, many natives were killed by incoming settlers as well as by militia units financed and organized by the California government.[100] Some scholars contend that the state financing of these militias, as well as the US government's role in other massacres in California, such as the Bloody Island and Yontoket Massacres, in which up to 400 or more natives were killed in each massacre, constitutes a campaign of genocide against the native people of California.[101][102] Westward expansion Tecumseh was the Shawnee leader of Tecumseh's War who attempted to organize an alliance of Native American tribes throughout North America.[103] As American expansion continued, Native Americans resisted settlers' encroachment in several regions of the new nation (and in unorganized territories), from the Northwest to the Southeast, and then in the West, as settlers encountered the Native American tribes of the Great Plains. East of the Mississippi River, an intertribal army led by Tecumseh, a Shawnee chief, fought a number of engagements in the Northwest during the period 1811–12, known as Tecumseh's War. During the War of 1812, Tecumseh's forces allied themselves with the British. After Tecumseh's death, the British ceased to aid the Native Americans south and west of Upper Canada and American expansion proceeded with little resistance. Conflicts in the Southeast include the Creek War and Seminole Wars, both before and after the Indian Removals of most members of the Five Civilized Tribes. In the 1830s, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, a policy of relocating Indians from their homelands to Indian Territory and reservations in surrounding areas to open their lands for non-native settlements.[104] This resulted in the Trail of Tears. Mass grave for the dead Lakota following the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre, which took place during the Indian Wars in the 19th century In July 1845, the New York newspaper editor John L. O'Sullivan coined the phrase, "Manifest Destiny", as the "design of Providence" supporting the territorial expansion of the United States.[105] Manifest Destiny had serious consequences for Native Americans, since continental expansion for the U.S. took place at the cost of their occupied land.[106] A justification for the policy of conquest and subjugation of the Indigenous people emanated from the stereotyped perceptions of all Native Americans as "merciless Indian savages" (as described in the United States Declaration of Independence).[107] Sam Wolfson in The Guardian writes, "The declaration's passage has often been cited as an encapsulation of the dehumanizing attitude toward Indigenous Americans that the US was founded on."[108] The Indian Appropriations Act of 1851 set the precedent for modern-day Native American reservations through allocating funds to move western tribes onto reservations since there were no more lands available for relocation. Native American nations on the plains in the west continued armed conflicts with the U.S. throughout the 19th century, through what were called generally Indian Wars.[109] Notable conflicts in this period include the Dakota War, Great Sioux War, Snake War, Colorado War, and Texas-Indian Wars. Expressing the frontier anti-Indian sentiment, Theodore Roosevelt believed the Indians were destined to vanish under the pressure of white civilization, stating in an 1886 lecture: I don't go so far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe nine out of ten are, and I shouldn't like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth.[110] The Ghost Dance ritual, which the Lakota believed would reunite the living with spirits of the dead, cause the white invaders to vanish, and bring peace, prosperity, and unity to Indian peoples throughout the region One of the last and most notable events during the Indian wars was the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890.[111] In the years leading up to it the U.S. government had continued to seize Lakota lands. A Ghost Dance ritual on the Northern Lakota reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, led to the U.S. Army's attempt to subdue the Lakota. The dance was part of a religious movement founded by the Northern Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka that told of the return of the Messiah to relieve the suffering of Native Americans and promised that if they would live righteous lives and perform the Ghost Dance properly, the European American colonists would vanish, the bison would return, and the living and the dead would be reunited in an Edenic world.[111] On December 29 at Wounded Knee, gunfire erupted, and U.S. soldiers killed up to 300 Indians, mostly old men, women, and children.[111] Civil War Main article: Native Americans in the American Civil War Ely Parker (of the Seneca people) was a Union Civil War general who wrote the terms of surrender between the United States and the Confederate States of America.[112] Native Americans served in both the Union and Confederate military during the American Civil War. At the outbreak of the war, for example, the minority party of the Cherokees gave its allegiance to the Confederacy, while originally the majority party went for the North.[113] Native Americans fought knowing they might jeopardize their independence, unique cultures, and ancestral lands if they ended up on the losing side of the Civil War.[113][114] 28,693 Native Americans served in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War, participating in battles such as Pea Ridge, Second Manassas, Antietam, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and in Federal assaults on Petersburg.[114][115] A few Native American tribes, such as the Creek and the Choctaw, were slaveholders and found a political and economic commonality with the Confederacy.[116] The Choctaw owned over 2,000 slaves.[117] Removals and reservations Main article: Cultural assimilation of Native Americans Further information: Indian colony and Indian reservations Further information: Native American reservation politics In the 19th century, the incessant westward expansion of the United States incrementally compelled large numbers of Native Americans to resettle further west, often by force, almost always reluctantly. Native Americans believed this forced relocation illegal, given the Treaty of Hopewell of 1785. Under President Andrew Jackson, United States Congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which authorized the President to conduct treaties to exchange Native American land east of the Mississippi River for lands west of the river. As many as 100,000 Native Americans relocated to the West as a result of this Indian removal policy. In theory, relocation was supposed to be voluntary and many Native Americans did remain in the East. In practice, great pressure was put on Native American leaders to sign removal treaties. The most egregious violation, the Trail of Tears, was the removal of the Cherokee by President Jackson to Indian Territory.[118] The 1864 deportation of the Navajos by the U.S. government occurred when 9,000 Navajos were forced to an internment camp in Bosque Redondo,[119] where, under armed guards, up to 3,500 Navajo and Mescalero Apache men, women, and children died from starvation and disease over the next 4 years.[119] Native Americans and U.S. citizenship In 1817, the Cherokee became the first Native Americans recognized as U.S. citizens. Under Article 8 of the 1817 Cherokee treaty, "Upwards of 300 Cherokees (Heads of Families) in the honest simplicity of their souls, made an election to become American citizens".[25][120] Factors establishing citizenship included: Treaty provision (as with the Cherokee) Registration and land allotment under the Dawes Act of February 8, 1887 Issuance of patent in fee simple Adopting habits of civilized life Minor children Citizenship by birth Becoming soldiers and sailors in the U.S. Armed Forces Marriage to a U.S. citizen Special act of Congress. After the American Civil War, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 states, "that all persons born in the United States, and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States".[121] Indian Appropriations Act of 1871 In 1871, Congress added a rider to the Indian Appropriations Act, signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant, ending United States recognition of additional Native American tribes or independent nations, and prohibiting additional treaties.[122] Historical education Main article: Indian boarding schools After the Indian wars in the late 19th century, the government established Native American boarding schools, initially run primarily by or affiliated with Christian missionaries.[123] At this time, American society thought that Native American children needed to be acculturated to the general society. The boarding school experience was a total immersion in modern American society, but it could prove traumatic to children, who were forbidden to speak their native languages. They were taught Christianity and not allowed to practice their native religions, and in numerous other ways forced to abandon their Native American identities.[124][125][126] Before the 1930s, schools on the reservations provided no schooling beyond the sixth grade. To obtain more, boarding school was usually necessary.[127] Small reservations with a few hundred people usually sent their children to nearby public schools. The "Indian New Deal" of the 1930s closed many of the boarding schools, and downplayed the assimilationist goals. The Indian Division of the Civilian Conservation Corps operated large-scale construction projects on the reservations, building thousands of new schools and community buildings. Under the leadership of John Collier the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) brought in progressive educators to reshape Indian education. The BIA by 1938 taught 30,000 students in 377 boarding and day schools, or 40% of all Indian children in school. The Navajo largely opposed schooling of any sort, but the other tribes accepted the system. There were now high schools on larger reservations, educating not only teenagers but also an adult audience. There were no Indian facilities for higher education.[128][129] They deemphasized textbooks, emphasized self-esteem, and started teaching Indian history. They promoted traditional arts and crafts of the sort that could be conducted on the reservations, such as making jewelry. The New Deal reformers met significant resistance from parents and teachers, and had mixed results. World War II brought younger Indians in contact with the broader society through military service and work in the munitions industries. The role of schooling was changed to focus on vocational education for jobs in urban America.[130] Since the rise of self-determination for Native Americans, they have generally emphasized education of their children at schools near where they live. In addition, many federally recognized tribes have taken over operations of such schools and added programs of language retention and revival to strengthen their cultures. Beginning in the 1970s, tribes have also founded colleges at their reservations, controlled, and operated by Native Americans, to educate their young for jobs as well as to pass on their cultures. 20th century Republican Charles Curtis, of Kaw, Osage, Potawatomi, French and British ancestry from Kansas, was 31st vice president of the United States, 1929–1933, serving with Republican Herbert Hoover. On August 29, 1911, Ishi, generally considered to have been the last Native American to live most of his life without contact with European-American culture, was discovered near Oroville, California.[131][132][133] In 1919, the United States under President Woodrow Wilson granted citizenship to all Native Americans who had served in World War I. Nearly 10,000 men had enlisted and served, a high number in relation to their population.[134] Despite this, in many areas Native Americans faced local resistance when they tried to vote and were discriminated against with barriers to voter registration. On June 2, 1924, U.S. President Republican Calvin Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act, which made all Native Americans born in the United States and its territories American citizens. Prior to passage of the act, nearly two-thirds of Native Americans were already U.S. citizens, through marriage, military service or accepting land allotments.[135][136] The Act extended citizenship to "all non-citizen Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States".[134] Republican Charles Curtis, a Congressman and longtime US Senator from Kansas, was of Kaw, Osage, Potawatomi, and European ancestry. After serving as a United States Representative and being repeatedly re-elected as United States Senator from Kansas, Curtis served as Senate Minority Whip for 10 years and as Senate Majority Leader for five years. He was very influential in the Senate. In 1928 he ran as the vice-presidential candidate with Herbert Hoover for president, and served from 1929 to 1933. He was the first person with significant Native American ancestry and the first person with acknowledged non-European ancestry to be elected to either of the highest offices in the land. American Indians today in the United States have all the rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution, can vote in elections, and run for political office. Controversies remain over how much the federal government has jurisdiction over tribal affairs, sovereignty, and cultural practices.[137] Mid-century, the Indian termination policy and the Indian Relocation Act of 1956 marked a new direction for assimilating Native Americans into urban life.[138] The census counted 332,000 Indians in 1930 and 334,000 in 1940, including those on and off reservations in the 48 states. Total spending on Indians averaged $38 million a year in the late 1920s, dropping to a low of $23 million in 1933, and returning to $38 million in 1940.[139] World War II Further information: Native Americans and World War II General Douglas MacArthur meeting Navajo, Pima, Pawnee and other Native American troops Some 44,000 Native Americans served in the United States military during World War II: at the time, one-third of all able-bodied Indian men from eighteen to fifty years of age.[140] Described as the first large-scale exodus of Indigenous peoples from the reservations since the removals of the 19th century, the men's service with the U.S. military in the international conflict was a turning point in Native American history. The overwhelming majority of Native Americans welcomed the opportunity to serve; they had a voluntary enlistment rate that was 40% higher than those drafted.[141] Their fellow soldiers often held them in high esteem, in part since the legend of the tough Native American warrior had become a part of the fabric of American historical legend. White servicemen sometimes showed a lighthearted respect toward Native American comrades by calling them "chief". The resulting increase in contact with the world outside of the reservation system brought profound changes to Native American culture. "The war", said the U.S. Indian Commissioner in 1945, "caused the greatest disruption of Native life since the beginning of the reservation era", affecting the habits, views, and economic well-being of tribal members.[142] The most significant of these changes was the opportunity—as a result of wartime labor shortages—to find well-paying work in cities, and many people relocated to urban areas, particularly on the West Coast with the buildup of the defense industry. There were also losses as a result of the war. For instance, a total of 1,200 Pueblo men served in World War II; only about half came home alive. In addition, many more Navajo served as code talkers for the military in the Pacific. The code they made, although cryptologically very simple, was never cracked by the Japanese. Self-determination Main articles: Native American self-determination and Native American civil rights Military service and urban residency contributed to the rise of American Indian activism, particularly after the 1960s and the occupation of Alcatraz Island (1969–1971) by a student Indian group from San Francisco. In the same period, the American Indian Movement (AIM) was founded in Minneapolis, and chapters were established throughout the country, where American Indians combined spiritual and political activism. Political protests gained national media attention and the sympathy of the American public. Through the mid-1970s, conflicts between governments and Native Americans occasionally erupted into violence. A notable late 20th-century event was the Wounded Knee incident on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Upset with tribal government and the failures of the federal government to enforce treaty rights, about 300 Oglala Lakota and AIM activists took control of Wounded Knee on February 27, 1973.[143] Indian activists from around the country joined them at Pine Ridge, and the occupation became a symbol of rising American Indian identity and power. Federal law enforcement officials and the national guard cordoned off the town, and the two sides had a standoff for 71 days. During much gunfire, one United States Marshal was wounded and paralyzed. In late April, a Cherokee and local Lakota man were killed by gunfire; the Lakota elders ended the occupation to ensure no more lives were lost.[143] In June 1975, two FBI agents seeking to make an armed robbery arrest at Pine Ridge Reservation were wounded in a firefight, and killed at close range. The AIM activist Leonard Peltier was sentenced in 1976 to two consecutive terms of life in prison for the FBI deaths.[144] In 1968, the government enacted the Indian Civil Rights Act. This gave tribal members most of the protections against abuses by tribal governments that the Bill of Rights accords to all U.S. citizens with respect to the federal government.[145] In 1975, the U.S. government passed the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, marking the culmination of fifteen years of policy changes. It resulted from American Indian activism, the Civil Rights Movement, and community development aspects of President Lyndon Johnson's social programs of the 1960s. The Act recognized the right and need of Native Americans for self-determination. It marked the U.S. government's turn away from the 1950s policy of termination of the relationship between tribes and the government. The U.S. government encouraged Native Americans' efforts at self-government and determining their futures. Tribes have developed organizations to administer their own social, welfare and housing programs, for instance. Tribal self-determination has created tension with respect to the federal government's historic trust obligation to care for Indians; however, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has never lived up to that responsibility.[146] Tribal colleges Main article: Tribal colleges and universities A Navajo man on horseback in Monument Valley, Arizona, United States Navajo Community College, now called Diné College, the first tribal college, was founded in Tsaile, Arizona, in 1968 and accredited in 1979. Tensions immediately arose between two philosophies: one that the tribal colleges should have the same criteria, curriculum and procedures for educational quality as mainstream colleges, the other that the faculty and curriculum should be closely adapted to the particular historical culture of the tribe. There was a great deal of turnover, exacerbated by very tight budgets.[147] In 1994, the U.S. Congress passed legislation recognizing the tribal colleges as land-grant colleges, which provided opportunities for large-scale funding. Thirty-two tribal colleges in the United States belong to the American Indian Higher Education Consortium. By the early 21st century, tribal nations had also established numerous language revival programs in their schools. In addition, Native American activism has led major universities across the country to establish Native American studies programs and departments, increasing awareness of the strengths of Indian cultures, providing opportunities for academics, and deepening research on history and cultures in the United States. Native Americans have entered academia; journalism and media; politics at local, state and federal levels; and public service, for instance, influencing medical research and policy to identify issues related to American Indians. 21st century Byron Mallott, an Alaskan Native, was the lieutenant governor of Alaska. In 2009, an "apology to Native Peoples of the United States" was included in the Defense Appropriations Act. It stated that the U.S. "apologizes on behalf of the people of the United States to all Native Peoples for the many instances of violence, maltreatment, and neglect inflicted on Native Peoples by citizens of the United States".[148] In 2013, jurisdiction over persons who were not tribal members under the Violence Against Women Act was extended to Indian Country. This closed a gap which prevented arrest or prosecution by tribal police or courts of abusive partners of tribal members who were not native or from another tribe.[149][150] Migration to urban areas continued to grow with 70% of Native Americans living in urban areas in 2012, up from 45% in 1970 and 8% in 1940. Urban areas with significant Native American populations include Phoenix, Tulsa, Minneapolis, Denver, Albuquerque, Tucson, Chicago, Oklahoma City, Houston, New York City, Los Angeles, and Rapid City. Many live in poverty. Racism, unemployment, drugs and gangs were common problems that Indian social service organizations such as the Little Earth housing complex in Minneapolis attempt to address.[151] Grassroots efforts to support urban Indigenous populations have also taken place, as in the case of Bringing the Circle Together in Los Angeles. Demographics Further information: Modern social statistics of Native Americans See also: Population history of indigenous peoples of the Americas The 2010 Census showed that the U.S. population on April 1, 2010, was 308.7 million.[152] Out of the total U.S. population, 2.9 million people, or 0.9 percent, reported American Indian or Alaska Native alone. In addition, 2.3 million people or another 0.7 percent, reported American Indian or Alaska Native in combination with one or more other races. Together, these two groups totaled 5.2 million people. Thus, 1.7 percent of all people in the United States identified as American Indian or Alaska Native, either alone or in combination with one or more other races.[152] The definition of American Indian or Alaska Native used in the 2010 census: According to Office of Management and Budget, "American Indian or Alaska Native" refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment.[152] The 2010 census permitted respondents to self-identify as being of one or more races. Self-identification dates from the census of 1960; prior to that the race of the respondent was determined by the opinion of the census taker. The option to select more than one race was introduced in 2000.[153] If American Indian or Alaska Native was selected, the form requested the individual provide the name of the "enrolled or principal tribe". Historical population by tribe Population size for Native American tribes is difficult to state definitively, but at least one writer has made estimates, often based on an assumed proportion of the number of warriors to total population for the tribe.[154] Highest available estimates: probable population peaks[154]  Rank Tribe or nation Highest population estimate Year Source of estimate 1 Sioux 150,000 [Note 1][155][156] 1762 Lt. James Gorrell 2 Choctaw 125,000 [Note 2][157] 1718 Le Page du Pratz 3 Illinois 100,000 [Note 3][158] 1658 Jean de Quen 4 Shoshone 80,000 1822 Jeddediah Morse 5 Iroquois 70,000 [Note 4][159] 1690 A. L. Lahontan 6 Blackfeet 60,000 [Note 5][160] 1841 George Catlin 7 Apache 60,000 1700 José de Urrutia 8 Creek 50,000 1794 R. Brooke Roberts 9 Hopi Pueblo 50,000 [Note 6][161] 1584 Antonio de Espejo 10 Hurons 40,000 [Note 7][162] 1632 Gabriel Sagard 11 Comanche 40,000 1832 George Catlin 12 Tano/Maguas Pueblo 40,000 1584 Antonio de Espejo 13 Miami 40,000 [Note 8][163] 1657 Gabriel Druillettes 14 Chippewa 35,000 1650 James Mooney 15 Navajo 30,000 1626 Alonso de Benavides 16 Cherokee 30,000 [Note 9][164] 1730-1735 J. Adair 17 Tuscarora 30,000 [Note 10][165] 1600 D. Cusick 18 Narragansett 30,000 1642 S. G. Drake 19 Mohicans 30,000 1600 J. A. Maurault 20 Massachusett 30,000 ca. 1600 J. A. Maurault 21 Jemez Pueblo 30,000 [Note 11][166] 1584 Antonio de Espejo 22 Pawnee 25,000 [Note 12][167] 1719 J. B. Dunbar 23 Neutrals 20,000 [Note 13][168] 1616 Samuel de Champlain 24 Zuni Pueblo 20,000 1584 Antonio de Espejo 25 Tewa/Ubates Pueblo 20,000 1584 Antonio de Espejo 26 Pequots 20,000 [Note 14][169] 1600s Daniel Gookin 27 Skidi 20,000 1700s G. B. Grinnell 28 Keres Pueblo 15,000 [Note 15][170] 1584 Antonio de Espejo 29 Cree 15,000 1670 James Mooney 30 Abnaki 15,000 ca. 1600 J. A. Maurault 31 Delaware 15,000 ca. 1600 Th. Donaldson 32 Pennacook 15,000 1674 Daniel Gookin 33 Wampanoag 15,000 1600s Daniel Gookin 34 Missouri 15,000 [Note 16][171] 1764 H. Bouquet and J. Buchanan 35 Wappinger 13,500 ca. 1600 E. J. Boesch 36 Powhatan 10,500 ca. 1612 William Strachey and John Smith 37 Caddo 8,500 1690 James Mooney Population since 1890 The census counted 248,000 Native Americans in 1890, 332,000 in 1930 and 334,000 in 1940, including those on and off reservations in the 48 states. Total spending on Native Americans averaged $38 million a year in the late 1920s, dropping to a low of $23 million in 1933, and returning to $38 million in 1940.[139] American Indian, Inuit, and Aleut as percentage of population by U.S. state (1890–2010)[172] State/territory 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000[173] 2010[174] United States 0.4% 0.3% 0.3% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3% 0.2% 0.3% 0.4% 0.6% 0.8% 0.9% 0.9% Alabama 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.2% 0.4% 0.5% 0.6% Alaska 16.0% 15.6% 15.6% 14.8% Arizona 34.0% 21.5% 14.3% 9.9% 10.0% 11.0% 8.8% 6.4% 5.4% 5.6% 5.6% 5.0% 4.6% Arkansas 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.4% 0.5% 0.7% 0.8% California 1.4% 1.0% 0.7% 0.5% 0.3% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2% 0.5% 0.9% 0.8% 1.0% 1.0% Colorado 0.3% 0.3% 0.2% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.4% 0.6% 0.8% 1.0% 1.1% Connecticut 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3% Delaware 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3% 0.5% District of Columbia 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3% Florida 0.0% 0.1% 0.0% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3% 0.4% Georgia 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3% Hawaii 0.1% 0.1% 0.3% 0.5% 0.3% 0.3% Idaho 4.8% 2.6% 1.1% 0.7% 0.8% 0.7% 0.6% 0.8% 0.9% 1.1% 1.4% 1.4% 1.4% Illinois 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.2% 0.3% Indiana 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3% Iowa 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3% 0.4% Kansas 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.4% 0.7% 0.9% 0.9% 1.0% Kentucky 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% Louisiana 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.3% 0.4% 0.6% 0.7% Maine 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% 0.4% 0.5% 0.6% 0.6% Maryland 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3% 0.4% Massachusetts 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.2% 0.3% Michigan 0.3% 0.3% 0.3% 0.2% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.4% 0.6% 0.6% 0.6% Minnesota 0.8% 0.5% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.5% 0.6% 0.9% 1.1% 1.1% 1.1% Mississippi 0.2% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.2% 0.3% 0.4% 0.5% Missouri 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.3% 0.4% 0.4% 0.5% Montana 7.8% 4.7% 0.8% 2.0% 2.8% 3.0% 2.8% 3.1% 3.9% 4.7% 6.0% 6.2% 6.3% Nebraska 0.6% 0.3% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3% 0.4% 0.4% 0.6% 0.8% 0.9% 1.2% Nevada 10.9% 12.3% 6.4% 6.3% 5.3% 4.3% 3.1% 2.3% 1.6% 1.7% 1.6% 1.3% 1.2% New Hampshire 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% New Jersey 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.2% 0.3% New Mexico 9.4% 6.7% 6.3% 5.4% 6.8% 6.5% 6.2% 5.9% 7.2% 8.1% 8.9% 9.5% 9.4% New York 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.2% 0.3% 0.4% 0.6% North Carolina 0.1% 0.3% 0.4% 0.5% 0.5% 0.6% 0.1% 0.8% 0.9% 1.1% 1.2% 1.2% 1.3% North Dakota 4.3% 2.2% 1.1% 1.0% 1.2% 1.6% 1.7% 1.9% 2.3% 3.1% 4.1% 4.9% 5.4% Ohio 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% Oklahoma 24.9% 8.2% 4.5% 2.8% 3.9% 2.7% 2.4% 2.8% 3.8% 5.6% 8.0% 7.9% 8.6% Oregon 1.6% 1.2% 0.8% 0.6% 0.5% 0.4% 0.4% 0.5% 0.6% 1.0% 1.4% 1.3% 1.4% Pennsylvania 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% Rhode Island 0.1% 0.0% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.3% 0.4% 0.5% 0.6% South Carolina 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.2% 0.3% 0.4% South Dakota 5.7% 5.0% 3.3% 2.6% 3.2% 3.6% 3.6% 3.8% 4.9% 6.5% 7.3% 8.3% 8.8% Tennessee 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3% Texas 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.2% 0.3% 0.4% 0.6% 0.7% Utah 1.6% 0.9% 0.8% 0.6% 0.6% 0.7% 0.6% 0.8% 1.1% 1.3% 1.4% 1.3% 1.2% Vermont 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.2% 0.3% 0.4% 0.4% Virginia 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.2% 0.3% 0.4% Washington 3.1% 1.9% 1.0% 0.7% 0.7% 0.7% 0.6% 0.7% 1.0% 1.5% 1.7% 1.6% 1.5% West Virginia 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.2% Wisconsin 0.6% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.6% 0.8% 0.9% 1.0% Wyoming 2.9% 1.8% 1.0% 0.7% 0.8% 0.9% 1.1% 1.2% 1.5% 1.5% 2.1% 2.3% 2.4% Puerto Rico 0.4% 0.5% Population distribution This Census Bureau map depicts the locations of differing Native American groups, including Indian reservations, as of 2000. Note the concentration (blue) in modern-day Oklahoma in the South West, which was once designated as an Indian Territory before statehood in 1907. 78% of Native Americans live outside a reservation. Full-blood individuals are more likely to live on a reservation than mixed-blood individuals. The Navajo, with 286,000 full-blood individuals, is the largest tribe if only full-blood individuals are counted; the Navajo are the tribe with the highest proportion of full-blood individuals, 86.3%. The Cherokee have a different history; it is the largest tribe with 819,000 individuals, and it has 284,000 full-blood individuals.[175] Urban migration Further information: Urban Indian As of 2012, 70% of Native Americans live in urban areas, up from 45% in 1970 and 8% in 1940. Urban areas with significant Native American populations include Minneapolis, Denver, Phoenix, Tucson, Chicago, Oklahoma City, Houston, New York City, and Los Angeles. Many live in poverty. Racism, unemployment, drugs and gangs are common problems which Indian social service organizations such as the Little Earth housing complex in Minneapolis attempt to address.[151] Distribution by U.S. state Further information: Native American ancestry According to 2003 United States Census Bureau estimates, a little over one-third of the 2,786,652 Native Americans in the United States live in three states: California (413,382), Arizona (294,137) and Oklahoma (279,559).[176] In 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that about 0.8% of the U.S. population was of American Indian or Alaska Native descent. This population is unevenly distributed across the country.[177] Below, all fifty states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, are listed by the proportion of residents citing American Indian or Alaska Native ancestry, based on the 2010 U.S. Census.[178] 2010 Native American population, by state State Pop. (2010) % pop (2010) Alabama Alabama 28,218 0.6% Alaska Alaska 104,871 14.8% Arizona Arizona 296,529 4.6% Arkansas Arkansas 22,248 0.8% California California 362,801 1.0% Colorado Colorado 56,010 1.1% Connecticut Connecticut 11,256 0.3% Delaware Delaware 4,181 0.5% Washington, D.C. District of Columbia 2,079 0.3% Florida Florida 71,458 0.4% Georgia (U.S. state) Georgia 32,151 0.3% Hawaii Hawaii 4,164 0.3% Idaho Idaho 21,441 1.4% Illinois Illinois 43,963 0.3% Indiana Indiana 18,462 0.3% Iowa Iowa 11,084 0.4% Kansas Kansas 28,150 1.0% Kentucky Kentucky 10,120 0.2% Louisiana Louisiana 30,579 0.7% Maine Maine 8,568 0.6% Maryland Maryland 20,420 0.4% Massachusetts Massachusetts 18,850 0.3% Michigan Michigan 62,007 0.6% Minnesota Minnesota 60,916 1.1% Mississippi Mississippi 15,030 0.5% Missouri Missouri 27,376 0.5% Montana Montana 62,555 6.3% Nebraska Nebraska 18,427 1.2% Nevada Nevada 32,062 1.2% New Hampshire New Hampshire 3,150 0.2% New Jersey New Jersey 29,026 0.3% New Mexico New Mexico 193,222 9.4% New York (state) New York 106,906 0.6% North Carolina North Carolina 122,110 1.3% North Dakota North Dakota 36,591 5.4% Ohio Ohio 25,292 0.2% Oklahoma Oklahoma 321,687 8.6% Oregon Oregon 53,203 1.4% Pennsylvania Pennsylvania 26,843 0.2% Rhode Island Rhode Island 6,058 0.6% South Carolina South Carolina 19,524 0.4% South Dakota South Dakota 71,817 8.8% Tennessee Tennessee 19,994 0.3% Texas Texas 170,972 0.7% Utah Utah 32,927 1.2% Vermont Vermont 2,207 0.4% Virginia Virginia 29,225 0.4% Washington (state) Washington 103,869 1.5% West Virginia West Virginia 3,787 0.2% Wisconsin Wisconsin 54,526 1.0% Wyoming Wyoming 13,336 2.4% Totals 2,932,248 0.8% Population by tribal grouping Below are numbers for U.S. citizens self-identifying to selected tribal groupings, according to the 2010 U.S. census.[179] 2010 Native American distribution by tribal group Tribal grouping Tribal flag Tribal seal American Indian & Alaska Native Alone one tribal grouping reported American Indian & Alaska Native Alone more than one tribal grouping reported American Indian & Alaska Native Mixed one tribal grouping reported American Indian & Alaska Native Mixed more than one tribal grouping reported American Indian & Alaska Native tribal grouping alone or mixed in any combination Total 2,879,638 52,610 2,209,267 79,064 5,220,579 Apache 63,193 6,501 33,303 8,813 111,810 Arapaho Flag of Arapaho Nation.svg 8,014 388 2,084 375 10,861 Blackfeet 27,279 4,519 54,109 19,397 105,304 Canadian & French American Indian 6,433 618 6,981 790 14,822 Central American Indian 15,882 572 10,865 525 27,844 Cherokee Flag of the Cherokee Nation.svg Great seal of the cherokee nation.svg 284,247 16,216 468,082 50,560 819,105 Cheyenne (Northern and Southern) Flag of Northern Cheyenne.svg 11,375 1,118 5,311 1,247 19,051 Chickasaw Flag of the Chickasaw Nation.PNG 27,973 2,233 19,220 2,852 52,278 Chippewa Flag of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa & Chippewa Indians of Michigan.PNG Chippewa Indians.jpg 112,757 2,645 52,091 3,249 170,742 Choctaw Flag of the Choctaw Nation.PNG Choctaw seal.svg 103,910 6,398 72,101 13,355 195,764 Colville 8,114 200 2,148 87 10,549 Comanche Flag of the Comanche Nation.svg 12,284 1,187 8,131 1,728 23,330 Cree Cree flag.svg 2,211 739 4,023 1,010 7,983 Creek Flag of the Muskogee Nation.PNG Muscogee Nation Seal.png 48,352 4,596 30,618 4,766 88,332 Crow Flag of the Crow Nation.svg 10,332 528 3,309 1,034 15,203 Delaware (Lenape) Flag of the Delaware Tribe of Indians.PNG 7,843 372 9,439 610 18,264 Hopi Flag of the Hopi Reservation.svg 12,580 2,054 3,013 680 18,327 Houma Flag of the United Houma Nation.svg 8,169 71 2,438 90 10,768 Iroquois Flag of the Iroquois Confederacy.svg Iroquois Confederacy coat of arms.svg 40,570 1,891 34,490 4,051 81,002 Kiowa Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma Seal.jpg 9,437 918 2,947 485 13,787 Lumbee Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina logo.svg 62,306 651 10,039 695 73,691 Menominee Flag of the Menominee Nation.png 8,374 253 2,330 176 11,133 Mexican American Indian 121,221 2,329 49,670 2,274 175,494 Navajo Navajo flag.svg Great Seal of the Navajo Nation.svg 286,731 8,285 32,918 4,195 332,129 Osage Flag of the Osage Nation of Oklahoma.png Osage nation seal.gif 8,938 1,125 7,090 1,423 18,576 Ottawa 7,272 776 4,274 711 13,033 Paiute[180] 9,340 865 3,135 427 13,767 Pima O'odham unofficial flag.svg 22,040 1,165 3,116 334 26,655 Potawatomi Flag of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation.PNG 20,412 462 12,249 648 33,771 Pueblo Flag of the Pueblo of Zia.PNG 49,695 2,331 9,568 946 62,540 Puget Sound Salish 14,320 215 5,540 185 20,260 Seminole Flag of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.PNG 14,080 2,368 12,447 3,076 31,971 Shoshone 7,852 610 3,969 571 13,002 Sioux Pine Ridge Flag.svg 112,176 4,301 46,964 6,669 170,110 South American Indian 20,901 479 25,015 838 47,233 Spanish American Indian 13,460 298 6,012 181 19,951 Tohono O'odham TohonoOOdhamNationflag.png 19,522 725 3,033 198 23,478 Ute Flag of the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation.png 7,435 785 2,802 469 11,491 Yakama 8,786 310 2,207 224 11,527 Yaqui Flag of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona.svg 21,679 1,516 8,183 1,217 32,595 Yuman Quechan tribal seal.jpg 7,727 551 1,642 169 10,089 All other American Indian tribes 270,141 12,606 135,032 11,850 429,629 American Indian tribes, not specified 131,943 117 102,188 72 234,320 Alaska Native tribes, specified 98,892 4,194 32,992 2,772 138,850 Alaskan Athabaskans 15,623 804 5,531 526 22,484 Aleut 11,920 723 6,108 531 19,282 Inupiat 24,859 877 7,051 573 33,360 Tlingit-Haida Flag of Haida.svg CHN Crest.png 15,256 859 9,331 634 26,080 Tsimshian 2,307 240 1,010 198 3,755 Yup'ik 28,927 691 3,961 310 33,889 Alaska Native tribes, not specified 19,731 173 9,896 133 29,933 American Indian or Alaska Native tribes, not specified 693,709 no data 852,253 1 1,545,963 Tribal sovereignty Main articles: Tribal sovereignty in the United States, Native American tribe, and Indian reservation Indian reservations in the continental United States There are 573 federally recognized tribal governments[181] and 326 Indian reservations[182] in the United States. These tribes possess the right to form their own governments, to enforce laws (both civil and criminal) within their lands, to tax, to establish requirements for membership, to license and regulate activities, to zone, and to exclude persons from tribal territories. Limitations on tribal powers of self-government include the same limitations applicable to states; for example, neither tribes nor states have the power to make war, engage in foreign relations, or coin money (this includes paper currency).[183] In addition, there are a number of tribes that are recognized by individual states, but not by the federal government. The rights and benefits associated with state recognition vary from state to state. Many Native Americans and advocates of Native American rights point out that the U.S. federal government's claim to recognize the "sovereignty" of Native American peoples falls short, given that the United States wishes to govern Native American peoples and treat them as subject to U.S. law.[184] Such advocates contend that full respect for Native American sovereignty would require the U.S. government to deal with Native American peoples in the same manner as any other sovereign nation, handling matters related to relations with Native Americans through the Secretary of State, rather than the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Bureau of Indian Affairs reports on its website that its "responsibility is the administration and management of 55,700,000 acres (225,000 km2) of land held in trust by the United States for American Indians, Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives".[185] Many Native Americans and advocates of Native American rights believe that it is condescending for such lands to be considered "held in trust" and regulated in any fashion by other than their own tribes, whether the U.S. or Canadian governments, or any other non-Native American authority. Some tribal groups have been unable to document the cultural continuity required for federal recognition. To achieve federal recognition and its benefits, tribes must prove continuous existence since 1900. The federal government has maintained this requirement, in part because through participation on councils and committees, federally recognized tribes have been adamant about groups' satisfying the same requirements as they did.[186] The Muwekma Ohlone of the San Francisco Bay Area are pursuing litigation in the federal court system to establish recognition.[187] Many of the smaller eastern tribes, long considered remnants of extinct peoples, have been trying to gain official recognition of their tribal status. Several tribes in Virginia and North Carolina have gained state recognition. Federal recognition confers some benefits, including the right to label arts and crafts as Native American and permission to apply for grants that are specifically reserved for Native Americans. But gaining federal recognition as a tribe is extremely difficult; to be established as a tribal group, members have to submit extensive genealogical proof of tribal descent and continuity of the tribe as a culture. Native peoples are concerned about the effects of abandoned uranium mines on or near their lands. In July 2000, the Washington State Republican Party adopted a resolution recommending that the federal and legislative branches of the U.S. government terminate tribal governments.[188] In 2007, a group of Democratic Party congressmen and congresswomen introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives to "terminate" the Cherokee Nation.[189] This was related to their voting to exclude Cherokee Freedmen as members of the tribe unless they had a Cherokee ancestor on the Dawes Rolls, although all Cherokee Freedmen and their descendants had been members since 1866. As of 2004, various Native Americans are wary of attempts by others to gain control of their reservation lands for natural resources, such as coal and uranium in the West.[190][191] In the state of Virginia, Native Americans face a unique problem. Until 2017 Virginia previously had no federally recognized tribes but the state had recognized eight. This is related historically to the greater impact of disease and warfare on the Virginia Indian populations, as well as their intermarriage with Europeans and Africans. Some people confused ancestry with culture, but groups of Virginia Indians maintained their cultural continuity. Most of their early reservations were ended under the pressure of early European settlement. Some historians also note the problems of Virginia Indians in establishing documented continuity of identity, due to the work of Walter Ashby Plecker (1912–1946). As registrar of the state's Bureau of Vital Statistics, he applied his own interpretation of the one-drop rule, enacted in law in 1924 as the state's Racial Integrity Act. It recognized only two races: "white" and "colored". Plecker, a segregationist, believed that the state's Native Americans had been "mongrelized" by intermarriage with African Americans; to him, ancestry determined identity, rather than culture. He thought that some people of partial black ancestry were trying to "pass" as Native Americans. Plecker thought that anyone with any African heritage had to be classified as colored, regardless of appearance, amount of European or Native American ancestry, and cultural/community identification. Plecker pressured local governments into reclassifying all Native Americans in the state as "colored" and gave them lists of family surnames to examine for reclassification based on his interpretation of data and the law. This led to the state's destruction of accurate records related to families and communities who identified as Native American (as in church records and daily life). By his actions, sometimes different members of the same family were split by being classified as "white" or "colored". He did not allow people to enter their primary identification as Native American in state records.[186] In 2009, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee endorsed a bill that would grant federal recognition to tribes in Virginia.[192] As of 2000, the largest groups in the United States by population were Navajo, Cherokee, Choctaw, Sioux, Chippewa, Apache, Blackfeet, Iroquois, and Pueblo. In 2000, eight of ten Americans with Native American ancestry were of mixed ancestry. It is estimated that by 2100 that figure will rise to nine out of ten.[193] Civil rights movement Main articles: Civil Rights Movement, Jim Crow Laws, Martin Luther King Jr., National Congress of American Indians, National Indian Youth Council, Native American Rights Fund, and Brown v. Board of Education A group of NIYC demonstrators holding signs in front of the BIA office. National Indian Youth Council demonstrations, Bureau of Indian Affairs Office The civil rights movement was a very significant moment for the rights of Native Americans and other people of color. Native Americans faced racism and prejudice for hundreds of years, and this increased after the American Civil War. Native Americans, like African Americans, were subjected to the Jim Crow Laws and segregation in the Deep South especially after they were made citizens through the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. As a body of law, Jim Crow institutionalized economic, educational, and social disadvantages for Native Americans, and other people of color living in the south.[194][195][196] Native American identity was especially targeted by a system that only wanted to recognize white or colored, and the government began to question the legitimacy of some tribes because they had intermarried with African Americans.[194][195] Native Americans were also discriminated and discouraged from voting in the southern and western states.[196] In the south segregation was a major problem for Native Americans seeking education, but the NAACP's legal strategy would later change this.[197] Movements such as Brown v. Board of Education was a major victory for the Civil Rights Movement headed by the NAACP, and inspired Native Americans to start participating in the Civil Rights Movement.[198][199] Martin Luther King Jr. began assisting Native Americans in the south in the late 1950s after they reached out to him.[199] At that time the remaining Creek in Alabama were trying to completely desegregate schools in their area. In this case, light-complexioned Native children were allowed to ride school buses to previously all white schools, while dark-skinned Native children from the same band were barred from riding the same buses.[199] Tribal leaders, upon hearing of King's desegregation campaign in Birmingham, Alabama, contacted him for assistance. He promptly responded and, through his intervention, the problem was quickly resolved.[199] King would later make trips to Arizona visiting Native Americans on reservations, and in churches encouraging them to be involved in the Civil Rights Movement.[200] In King's book "Why We Can't Wait" he writes: Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race. Even before there were large numbers of Negroes on our shores, the scar of racial hatred had already disfigured colonial society. From the sixteenth century forward, blood flowed in battles over racial supremacy. We are perhaps the only nation which tried as a matter of national policy to wipe out its Indigenous population. Moreover, we elevated that tragic experience into a noble crusade. Indeed, even today we have not permitted ourselves to reject or to feel remorse for this shameful episode. Our literature, our films, our drama, our folklore all exalt it.[201] Native Americans would then actively participate and support the NAACP, and the civil rights movement.[202] The National Indian Youth Council (NIYC) would soon rise in 1961 to fight for Native American rights during the Civil Rights Movement, and were strong King supporters.[203][204] During the 1963 March on Washington there was a sizable Native American contingent, including many from South Dakota, and many from the Navajo nation.[199][205] Native Americans also participated the Poor People's Campaign in 1968.[203] The NIYC were very active supporters of the Poor People's Campaign unlike the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI); the NIYC and other Native organizations met with King in March 1968 but the NCAI disagreed on how to approach the anti-poverty campaign; the NCAI decided against participating in the march.[204] The NCAI wished to pursue their battles in the courts and with Congress, unlike the NIYC.[203][204] The NAACP also inspired the creation of the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) which was patterned after the NAACP's Legal Defense and Education Fund.[199] Furthermore, the NAACP continued to organize to stop mass incarceration and end the criminalization of Native Americans and other communities of people of color.[206] The following is an excerpt from a statement from Mel Thom on May 1, 1968, during a meeting with Secretary of State Dean Rusk:[204] (It was written by members of the Workshop on American Indian Affairs and the NIYC) We have joined the Poor People's Campaign because most of our families, tribes, and communities number among those suffering most in this country. We are not begging. We are demanding what is rightfully ours. This is no more than the right to have a decent life in our own communities. We need guaranteed jobs, guaranteed income, housing, schools, economic development, but most important- we want them on our own terms. Our chief spokesman in the federal government, the Department of Interior, has failed us. In fact it began failing us from its very beginning. The Interior Department began failing us because it was built upon and operates under a racist, immoral, paternalistic and colonialistic system. There is no way to improve upon racism, immorality and colonialism; it can only be done away with. The system and power structure serving Indian peoples is a sickness which has grown to epidemic proportions. The Indian system is sick. Paternalism is the virus and the secretary of the Interior is the carrier. Contemporary issues Main article: Contemporary Native American issues in the United States Native American struggles amid poverty to maintain life on the reservation or in larger society have resulted in a variety of health issues, some related to nutrition and health practices. The community suffers a vulnerability to and disproportionately high rate of alcoholism.[207] It has long been recognized that Native Americans are dying of diabetes, alcoholism, tuberculosis, suicide, and other health conditions at shocking rates. Beyond disturbingly high mortality rates, Native Americans also suffer a significantly lower health status and disproportionate rates of disease compared with all other Americans. — U.S. Commission on Civil Rights[208] (September 2004) Recent studies also point to rising rates of stroke,[209] heart disease,[210] and diabetes[211] in the Native American population. Societal discrimination and racism Further information: Stereotypes of Native Americans A discriminatory sign posted above a bar. Birney, Montana, 1941 Chief Plenty Coups and seven Crow prisoners under guard at Crow agency, Montana, 1887 In a study conducted in 2006–2007, non-Native Americans admitted they rarely encountered Native Americans in their daily lives. While sympathetic toward Native Americans and expressing regret over the past, most people had only a vague understanding of the problems facing Native Americans today. For their part, Native Americans told researchers that they believed they continued to face prejudice, mistreatment, and inequality in the broader society.[212] Affirmative action issues Federal contractors and subcontractors, such as businesses and educational institutions, are legally required to adopt equal opportunity employment and affirmative action measures intended to prevent discrimination against employees or applicants for employment on the basis of "color, religion, sex, or national origin".[213][214] For this purpose, a Native American is defined as "A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains a tribal affiliation or community attachment". The passing of the Indian Relocation Act saw a 56% increase in Native American city dwellers over 40 years.[215] The Native American urban poverty rate exceeds that of reservation poverty rates due to discrimination in hiring processes.[215] However, self-reporting is permitted: "Educational institutions and other recipients should allow students and staff to self-identify their race and ethnicity unless self-identification is not practicable or feasible."[216] Self-reporting opens the door to "box checking" by people who, despite not having a substantial relationship to Native American culture, innocently or fraudulently check the box for Native American.[217] The difficulties that Native Americans face in the workforce, for example, a lack of promotions and wrongful terminations are attributed to racial stereotypes and implicit biases. Native American business owners are seldom offered auxiliary resources that are crucial for entrepreneurial success.[215] Native American mascots in sports Main article: Native American mascot controversy Protest against the name of the Washington Redskins in Minneapolis, November 2014 American Indian activists in the United States and Canada have criticized the use of Native American mascots in sports, as perpetuating stereotypes. This is considered cultural appropriation. There has been a steady decline in the number of secondary school and college teams using such names, images, and mascots. Some tribal team names have been approved by the tribe in question, such as the Seminole Tribe of Florida's approving use of their name for the teams of Florida State University.[218][219] Further information: NCAA Native American mascot decision Among professional teams, the NBA's Golden State Warriors discontinued use of Native American-themed logos in 1971. The NFL's Washington Redskins, whose name was considered to be a racial slur,[220] has recently been removed. They are currently now known as the Washington Football Team. MLB's Cleveland Indians, whose usage of a caricature called Chief Wahoo has also faced protest.[221][222] Starting in 2019, Chief Wahoo ceased to be a logo for Cleveland Indians, though Chief Wahoo merchandise could still be sold in the Cleveland-area.[223][224][225][226] On December 13, 2020 The New York Times reported that Cleveland would be officially changing their name, set to take effect likely following the 2021 season.[227] Historical depictions in art Secotan Indians' dance in North Carolina. Watercolor by John White, 1585 Native Americans have been depicted by American artists in various ways at different periods. A number of 19th- and 20th-century United States and Canadian painters, often motivated by a desire to document and preserve Native culture, specialized in Native American subjects. Among the most prominent of these were Elbridge Ayer Burbank, George Catlin, Seth Eastman, Paul Kane, W. Langdon Kihn, Charles Bird King, Joseph Henry Sharp, and John Mix Stanley. In the 20th century, early portrayals of Native Americans in movies and television roles were first performed by European Americans dressed in mock traditional attire. Examples included The Last of the Mohicans (1920), Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans (1957), and F Troop (1965–67). In later decades, Native American actors such as Jay Silverheels in The Lone Ranger television series (1949–57) came to prominence. The roles of Native Americans were limited and not reflective of Native American culture. By the 1970s some Native American film roles began to show more complexity, such as those in Little Big Man (1970), Billy Jack (1971), and The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), which depicted Native Americans in minor supporting roles. For years, Native people on U.S. television were relegated to secondary, subordinate roles. During the years of the series Bonanza (1959–1973), no major or secondary Native characters appeared on a consistent basis. The series The Lone Ranger (1949–1957), Cheyenne (1955–1963), and Law of the Plainsman (1959–1963) had Native characters who were essentially aides to the central white characters. This continued in such series as How the West Was Won. These programs resembled the "sympathetic" yet contradictory film Dances With Wolves of 1990, in which, according to Ella Shohat and Robert Stam, the narrative choice was to relate the Lakota story as told through a Euro-American voice, for wider impact among a general audience.[228] Like the 1992 remake of The Last of the Mohicans and Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), Dances with Wolves employed a number of Native American actors, and made an effort to portray Indigenous languages. In 1996, Plains Cree actor Michael Greyeyes would play renowned Native American warrior Crazy Horse in the 1996 television film Crazy Horse,[229] and would also later play renowned Sioux chief Sitting Bull in the 2017 movie Woman Walks Ahead.[230] The 1998 film Smoke Signals, which was set on the Coeur D'Alene Reservation and discussed hardships of present-day American Indian families living on reservations, featured numerous Native American actors as well.[231] The film was the first feature film to be produced and directed by Native Americans, and was also the first feature to include an exclusive Native American cast.[231] At the annual Sundance Film Festival, Smoke Signals would win the Audience Award and it's producer Chris Eyre, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, would win the Filmmaker's Trophy.[232] In 2009, We Shall Remain (2009), a television documentary by Ric Burns and part of the American Experience series, presented a five-episode series "from a Native American perspective". It represented "an unprecedented collaboration between Native and non-Native filmmakers and involves Native advisors and scholars at all levels of the project".[233] The five episodes explore the impact of King Philip's War on the northeastern tribes, the "Native American confederacy" of Tecumseh's War, the U.S.-forced relocation of Southeastern tribes known as the Trail of Tears, the pursuit and capture of Geronimo and the Apache Wars, and concludes with the Wounded Knee incident, participation by the American Indian Movement, and the increasing resurgence of modern Native cultures since. Terminology differences Further information: Native American name controversy Common usage in the United States The term Native American was introduced in the United States in preference to the older term Indian to distinguish the Indigenous peoples of the Americas from the people of India. During World War II, the draft board classified American Indians from Virginia as Negroes.[234][235] In 1995, a plurality of Indigenous Americans, however, preferred the term American Indian[236] and many tribes include the word Indian in their formal title. Criticism of the neologism Native American comes from diverse sources. Russell Means, an Oglala Lakota activist, opposed the term Native American because he believed it was imposed by the government without the consent of Native people. He has also argued that the use of the word Indian derives not from a confusion with India but from a Spanish expression en Dios meaning "in God"[237][verification needed] (and a near-homophone of the Spanish word for "Indians", indios). A 1995 U.S. Census Bureau survey found that more Native Americans in the United States preferred American Indian to Native American.[236] Most American Indians are comfortable with Indian, American Indian, and Native American.[238] That term is reflected in the name chosen for the National Museum of the American Indian, which opened in 2004 on the Mall in Washington, DC. Gambling industry Sandia Casino, owned by the Sandia Pueblo of New Mexico Main article: Native American gaming Gambling has become a leading industry. Casinos operated by many Native American governments in the United States are creating a stream of gambling revenue that some communities are beginning to leverage to build diversified economies.[239][clarification needed] Although many Native American tribes have casinos, the impact of Native American gaming is widely debated. Some tribes, such as the Winnemem Wintu of Redding, California, feel that casinos and their proceeds destroy culture from the inside out. These tribes refuse to participate in the gambling industry. Financial services Numerous tribes around the country have entered the financial services market including the Otoe-Missouria, Tunica-Biloxi, and the Rosebud Sioux. Because of the challenges involved in starting a financial services business from scratch, many tribes hire outside consultants and vendors to help them launch these businesses and manage the regulatory issues involved. Similar to the tribal sovereignty debates that occurred when tribes first entered the gaming industry, the tribes, states, and federal government are currently in disagreement regarding who possesses the authority to regulate these e-commerce business entities.[240] Crime on reservations Prosecution of serious crime, historically endemic on reservations,[241][242] was required by the 1885 Major Crimes Act,[243] 18 U.S.C. §§1153, 3242, and court decisions to be investigated by the federal government, usually the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and prosecuted by United States Attorneys of the United States federal judicial district in which the reservation lies.[244][245][246][247][248] A December 13, 2009 New York Times article about growing gang violence on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation estimated that there were 39 gangs with 5,000 members on that reservation alone.[249] Navajo country recently reported 225 gangs in its territory.[250] As of 2012, a high incidence of rape continued to impact Native American women and Alaskan native women. According to the Department of Justice, 1 in 3 Native women have suffered rape or attempted rape, more than twice the national rate.[251] About 46 percent of Native American women have been raped, beaten, or stalked by an intimate partner, according to a 2010 study by the Centers for Disease Control.[252] According to Professor N. Bruce Duthu, "More than 80 percent of Indian victims identify their attacker as non-Indian".[253][254] Barriers to economic development Today, other than tribes successfully running casinos, many tribes struggle, as they are often located on reservations isolated from the main economic centers of the country. The estimated 2.1 million Native Americans are the most impoverished of all ethnic groups. According to the 2000 Census, an estimated 400,000 Native Americans reside on reservation land. While some tribes have had success with gaming, only 40% of the 562 federally recognized tribes operate casinos.[255] According to a 2007 survey by the U.S. Small Business Administration, only 1% of Native Americans own and operate a business.[256] The barriers to economic development on Native American reservations have been identified by Joseph Kalt[257] and Stephen Cornell[258] of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development at Harvard University, in their report: What Can Tribes Do? Strategies and Institutions in American Indian Economic Development (2008),[259] are summarized as follows: Lack of access to capital Lack of human capital (education, skills, technical expertise) and the means to develop it Reservations lack effective planning Reservations are poor in natural resources Reservations have natural resources but lack sufficient control over them Reservations are disadvantaged by their distance from markets and the high costs of transportation Teacher with picture cards giving English instruction to Navajo day school students Tribes cannot persuade investors to locate on reservations because of intense competition from non-Native American communities The Bureau of Indian Affairs is inept, corrupt or uninterested in reservation development Tribal politicians and bureaucrats are inept or corrupt On-reservation factionalism destroys stability in tribal decisions The instability of tribal government keeps outsiders from investing. The lack of international recognition Native American tribal sovereignty weakens their political-economic legitimacy.[260] (Many tribes adopted constitutions by the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act model, with two-year terms for elected positions of chief and council members deemed too short by the authors for getting things done) Entrepreneurial skills and experience are scarce A major barrier to development is the lack of entrepreneurial knowledge and experience within Indian reservations. "A general lack of education and experience about business is a significant challenge to prospective entrepreneurs", was the report on Native American entrepreneurship by the Northwest Area Foundation in 2004. "Native American communities that lack entrepreneurial traditions and recent experiences typically do not provide the support that entrepreneurs need to thrive. Consequently, experiential entrepreneurship education needs to be embedded into school curriculum and after-school and other community activities. This would allow students to learn the essential elements of entrepreneurship from a young age and encourage them to apply these elements throughout life".[261] Rez Biz magazine addresses these issues. Discourse in Native American economic development Some scholars argue that the existing theories and practices of economic development are not suitable for Native American communities—given the lifestyle, economic, and cultural differences, as well as the unique history of Native American-U.S. relations.[260] Little economic development research has been conducted on Native American communities. The federal government fails to consider place-based issues of American Indian poverty by generalizing the demographic.[260][262] In addition, the concept of economic development threatens to upend the multidimensionality of Native American culture.[260] The dominance of federal government involvement in Indigenous developmental activities perpetuates and exacerbates the salvage paradigm.[260] Land ownership challenges Native land owned by individual Native Americans sometimes cannot be developed because of fractionalization. Fractionalization occurs when a landowner dies, and their land is inherited by their children, but not subdivided. This means that one parcel might be owned by 50 different individuals. A majority of those holding interest must agree to any proposal to develop the land, and establishing this consent is time-consuming, cumbersome, and sometimes impossible. Another landownership issue on reservations is checkerboarding, where Tribal land is interspersed with land owned by the federal government on behalf of Natives, individually owned plots, and land owned by non-Native individuals. This prevents Tribal governments from securing plots of land large enough for economic development or agricultural uses.[263] Because reservation land is owned "in trust" by the federal government, individuals living on reservations cannot build equity in their homes. This bars Native Americans from getting loans, as there is nothing that a bank can collect if the loan is not paid. Past efforts to encourage land ownership (such as the Dawes Act) resulted in a net loss of Tribal land. After they were familiarized with their smallholder status, Native American landowners were lifted of trust restrictions and their land would get transferred back to them, contingent on a transactional fee to the federal government. The transfer fee discouraged Native American land ownership, with 65% of tribal-owned land being sold to non-Native Americans by the 1920s.[264] Activists against property rights point to historical evidence of communal ownership of land and resources by tribes. They claim that because of this history, property rights are foreign to Natives and have no place in the modern reservation system. Those in favor of property rights cite examples of tribes negotiating with colonial communities or other tribes about fishing and hunting rights in an area.[265] Land ownership was also a challenge because of the different definitions of land that the Natives and the Europeans had.[266] Most Native American tribes thought of property rights more as "borrowing" the land, while those from Europe thought of land as individual property.[267] Land ownership and bureaucratic challenges in historical context State-level efforts such as the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act were attempts to contain tribal land in Native American hands. However, more bureaucratic decisions only expanded the size of the bureaucracy. The knowledge disconnect between the decision-making bureaucracy and Native American stakeholders resulted in ineffective development efforts.[262][264] Traditional Native American entrepreneurship does not prioritize profit maximization, rather, business transactions must have align with their social and cultural values.[268] In response to Indigenous business philosophy, the federal government created policies that aimed to formalize their business practices, which undermined the Native American status quo.[264] Additionally, legal disputes interfered with tribal land leasing, which were settled with the verdict against tribal sovereignty.[269] Often, bureaucratic overseers of development are far removed from Native American communities and lack the knowledge and understanding to develop plans or make resource allocation decisions.[262] The top-down heavy involvement in developmental operations corrupts bureaucrats into further self-serving agenda. Such incidences include fabricated reports that exaggerate results.[262] Geographic poverty While Native American urban poverty is attributed to hiring and workplace discrimination in a heterogeneous setting,[215] reservation and trust land poverty rates are endogenous to deserted opportunities in isolated regions.[270] Trauma Historical trauma Historical trauma is described as collective emotional and psychological damage throughout a person's lifetime and across multiple generations.[271] Examples of historical trauma can be seen through the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890, where over 200 unarmed Lakota were killed,[272] and the Dawes Allotment Act of 1887, when American Indians lost four-fifths of their land.[273] Impacts of intergenerational trauma American Indian youth have higher rates of substance and alcohol use deaths than the general population.[274] Many American Indians can trace the beginning of their substance and alcohol use to a traumatic event related to their offender's own substance use.[275] A person's substance use can be described as a defense mechanism against the user's emotions and trauma.[276] For American Indians alcoholism is a symptom of trauma passed from generation to generation and influenced by oppressive behaviors and policies by the dominant Euro-American society.[277] Boarding schools were made to "Kill the Indian, Save the man".[278] Shame among American Indians can be attributed to the hundreds of years of discrimination.[276] Society, language, and culture Main article: Native American cultures of the United States Further information: category:Archaeological cultures of North America Three Native American women in Warm Springs Indian Reservation, Wasco County, Oregon (1902) The culture of Pre-Columbian North America is usually defined by the concept of the culture area, namely a geographical region where shared cultural traits occur. The northwest culture area, for example, shared common traits such as salmon fishing, woodworking, and large villages or towns and a hierarchical social structure.[279] Ethnographers generally classify the Indigenous peoples of North America into ten cultural areas based on geographical region. Though cultural features, language, clothing, and customs vary enormously from one tribe to another, there are certain elements which are encountered frequently and shared by many tribes. Early European American scholars described the Native Americans as having a society dominated by clans.[280] European colonization of the Americas had a major impact on Native American cultures through what is known as the Columbian exchange. The Columbian exchange, also known as the Columbian interchange, was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, and ideas between the Americas and Eurasia (the Old World) in the 15th and 16th centuries, following Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage.[281] The Columbian exchange generally had a destructive impact on Native American cultures through disease, and a 'clash of cultures',[282] whereby European values of private land ownership, the family, and division of labor, led to conflict, appropriation of traditional communal lands and changed how the Indigenous tribes practiced slavery.[282] Geronimo, Chiricahua Apache leader. Photograph by Frank A. Rinehart (1898). The impact of the Columbian exchange was not entirely negative, however. For example, the re-introduction of the horse to North America allowed the Plains Indian to revolutionize their ways of life by making hunting, trading, and warfare far more effective, and to greatly improve their ability to transport possessions and move their settlements.[283] The Great Plains tribes were still hunting the bison when they first encountered the Europeans. The Spanish reintroduction of the horse to North America in the 17th century and Native Americans' learning to use them greatly altered the Native Americans' cultures, including changing the way in which they hunted large game. Horses became such a valuable, central element of Native lives that they were counted as a measure of wealth by many tribes.[citation needed] In the early years, as Native peoples encountered European explorers and settlers and engaged in trade, they exchanged food, crafts, and furs for blankets, iron and steel implements, horses, trinkets, firearms, and alcoholic beverages. Ethno-linguistic classification Pre-contact: distribution of North American language families, including northern Mexico Main article: Indigenous languages of the Americas The Na-Dené, Algic, and Uto-Aztecan families are the largest in terms of the number of languages. Uto-Aztecan has the most speakers (1.95 million) if the languages in Mexico are considered (mostly due to 1.5 million speakers of Nahuatl); Na-Dené comes in second with approximately 200,000 speakers (nearly 180,000 of these are speakers of Navajo), and Algic in third with about 180,000 speakers (mainly Cree and Ojibwe). Na-Dené and Algic have the widest geographic distributions: Algic currently spans from northeastern Canada across much of the continent down to northeastern Mexico (due to later migrations of the Kickapoo) with two outliers in California (Yurok and Wiyot); Na-Dené spans from Alaska and western Canada through Washington, Oregon, and California to the U.S. Southwest and northern Mexico (with one outlier in the Plains). Several families consist of only 2 or 3 languages. Demonstrating genetic relationships has proved difficult due to the great linguistic diversity present in North America. Two large (super-) family proposals, Penutian and Hokan, look particularly promising. However, even after decades of research, a large number of families remain.[citation needed] A number of words used in English have been derived from Native American languages. Language education Oklahoma Cherokee language immersion school student writing in the Cherokee syllabary The Cherokee language taught to preschoolers as a first language, at New Kituwah Academy To counteract a shift to English, some Native American tribes have initiated language immersion schools for children, where an Indigenous American language is the medium of instruction. For example, the Cherokee Nation initiated a 10-year language preservation plan that involved raising new fluent speakers of the Cherokee language from childhood on up through school immersion programs as well as a collaborative community effort to continue to use the language at home.[284] This plan was part of an ambitious goal that, in 50 years, will result in 80% or more of the Cherokee people being fluent in the language.[285] The Cherokee Preservation Foundation has invested $3 million in opening schools, training teachers, and developing curricula for language education, as well as initiating community gatherings where the language can be actively used.[285] Formed in 2006, the Kituwah Preservation & Education Program (KPEP) on the Qualla Boundary focuses on language immersion programs for children from birth to fifth grade, developing cultural resources for the general public and community language programs to foster the Cherokee language among adults.[286] There is also a Cherokee language immersion school in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, that educates students from pre-school through eighth grade.[287] Because Oklahoma's official language is English, Cherokee immersion students are hindered when taking state-mandated tests because they have little competence in English.[288] The Department of Education of Oklahoma said that in 2012 state tests: 11% of the school's sixth-graders showed proficiency in math, and 25% showed proficiency in reading; 31% of the seventh-graders showed proficiency in math, and 87% showed proficiency in reading; 50% of the eighth-graders showed proficiency in math, and 78% showed proficiency in reading.[288] The Oklahoma Department of Education listed the charter school as a Targeted Intervention school, meaning the school was identified as a low-performing school but has not so that it was a Priority School.[288] Ultimately, the school made a C, or a 2.33 grade point average on the state's A-F report card system.[288] The report card shows the school getting an F in mathematics achievement and mathematics growth, a C in social studies achievement, a D in reading achievement, and an A in reading growth and student attendance.[288] "The C we made is tremendous", said school principal Holly Davis, "[t]here is no English instruction in our school's younger grades, and we gave them this test in English."[288] She said she had anticipated the low grade because it was the school's first year as a state-funded charter school, and many students had difficulty with English.[288] Eighth graders who graduate from the Tahlequah immersion school are fluent speakers of the language, and they usually go on to attend Sequoyah High School where classes are taught in both English and Cherokee. See also: Massachusett language § Current status Indigenous foodways Further information: Native American cuisine, Inuit cuisine, and Eastern Agricultural Complex Maize grown by Native Americans Ojibwe baby waits on a cradleboard while parents tend wild rice crops (Minnesota, 1940). Frybread Historical diets of Native Americans differed dramatically from region to region. Different peoples might have relied more heavily on agriculture, horticulture, hunting, fishing, or gathering wild plants and fungi. Tribes developed diets best suited to their environments. Iñupiat, Yupiit, Unangan, and fellow Alaska Natives fished, hunted, and harvested wild plants, but did not rely on agriculture. Coastal peoples relied more heavily on sea mammals, fish, and fish eggs, while inland peoples hunted caribou and moose.[289] Alaskan Natives prepared and preserved dried and smoked meat and fish. Pacific Northwest tribes crafted seafaring dugouts 40–50 feet (12–15 m) long for fishing. In the Eastern Woodlands, early peoples independently invented agricultural and by 1800 BCE developed the crops of the Eastern Agricultural Complex, which include squash (Cucurbita pepo ssp. ovifera), sunflower (Helianthus annuus var. macrocarpus), goosefoot (Chenopodium berlandieri), and marsh elder (Iva annua var. macrocarpa).[290][291] The Sonoran desert region including parts of Arizona and California, part of a region known as Aridoamerica, relied heavily on the tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius) as a staple crop. This and other desert crops, mesquite bead pods, tunas (prickly pear fruit), cholla buds, saguaro cactus fruit, and acorns are being actively promoted today by Tohono O'odham Community Action.[292] In the Southwest, some communities developed irrigation techniques while others, such as the Hopi dry-farmed. They filled storehouses with grain as protection against the area's frequent droughts. Maize or corn, first cultivated in what is now Mexico was traded north into Aridoamerica and Oasisamerica, southwest. From there, maize cultivation spread throughout the Great Plains and Eastern Woodlands by 200 CE. Native farmers practiced polycropping maize, beans, and squash; these crops are known as the Three Sisters. The beans would replace the nitrogen, which the maize leached from the ground, as well as using corn stalks for support for climbing. The agriculture gender roles of the Native Americans varied from region to region. In the Southwest area, men prepared the soil with hoes. The women were in charge of planting, weeding, and harvesting the crops. In most other regions, the women were in charge of most agriculture, including clearing the land. Clearing the land was an immense chore since the Native Americans rotated fields. Europeans in the eastern part of the continent observed that Native Americans cleared large areas for cropland. Their fields in New England sometimes covered hundreds of acres. Colonists in Virginia noted thousands of acres under cultivation by Native Americans.[293] Makah Native Americans and a whale, The King of the Seas in the Hands of the Makahs, 1910 photograph by Asahel Curtis Early farmers commonly used tools such as the hoe, maul, and dibber. The hoe was the main tool used to till the land and prepare it for planting; then it was used for weeding. The first versions were made out of wood and stone. When the settlers brought iron, Native Americans switched to iron hoes and hatchets. The dibber was a digging stick, used to plant the seed. Once the plants were harvested, women prepared the produce for eating. They used the maul to grind the corn into a mash. It was cooked and eaten that way or baked as cornbread.[294] Religion Main article: Native American religion Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, the patron of ecologists, exiles, and orphans, was canonized by the Catholic Church. Baptism of Pocahontas was painted in 1840 by John Gadsby Chapman, who depicts Pocahontas, wearing white, being baptized Rebecca by Anglican minister Alexander Whiteaker (left) in Jamestown, Virginia. This event is believed to have taken place either in 1613 or 1614. Native American religious practices, beliefs, and philosophies differ widely across tribes. These spiritualities, practices, beliefs, and philosophies may accompany adherence to another faith or can represent a person's primary religious, faith, spiritual or philosophical identity. Much Native American spirituality exists in a tribal-cultural continuum, and as such cannot be easily separated from tribal identity itself. Cultural spiritual, philosophical, and faith ways differ from tribe to tribe and person to person. Some tribes include the use of sacred leaves and herbs such as tobacco, sweetgrass or sage. Many Plains tribes have sweatlodge ceremonies, though the specifics of the ceremony vary among tribes. Fasting, singing and prayer in the ancient languages of their people, and sometimes drumming are also common.[295][citation needed] The Midewiwin Lodge is a medicine society inspired by the oral history and prophesies of the Ojibwa (Chippewa) and related tribes. Another significant religious body among Native peoples is known as the Native American Church. It is a syncretistic church incorporating elements of Native spiritual practice from a number of different tribes as well as symbolic elements from Christianity. Its main rite is the peyote ceremony. Prior to 1890, traditional religious beliefs included Wakan Tanka. In the American Southwest, especially New Mexico, a syncretism between the Catholicism brought by Spanish missionaries and the native religion is common; the religious drums, chants, and dances of the Pueblo people are regularly part of Masses at Santa Fe's Saint Francis Cathedral.[296] Native American-Catholic syncretism is also found elsewhere in the United States. (e.g., the National Kateri Tekakwitha Shrine in Fonda, New York, and the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville, New York). Some Native American tribes who practice Christianity, including the Lumbee, organized denominations, such as the Lumber River Conference of the Holiness Methodist Church.[297] The eagle feather law (Title 50 Part 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations) stipulates that only individuals of certifiable Native American ancestry enrolled in a federally recognized tribe are legally authorized to obtain eagle feathers for religious or spiritual use. The law does not allow Native Americans to give eagle feathers to non-Native Americans. Gender roles Main articles: Gender roles among the indigenous peoples of North America, Clan Mother, Matriarchy, Matrilineality, and Two-Spirit Susan La Flesche Picotte was the first Native American woman to become a physician in the United States. Gender roles are differentiated in many Native American tribes. Many Natives have retained traditional expectations of sexuality and gender, and continue to do so in contemporary life despite continued and on-going colonial pressures.[298] Whether a particular tribe is predominantly matrilineal or patrilineal, often both sexes have some degree of decision-making power within the tribe. Many Nations, such as the Haudenosaunee Five Nations and the Southeast Muskogean tribes, have matrilineal or Clan Mother systems, in which property and hereditary leadership are controlled by and passed through the maternal lines.[299] In these Nations, the children are considered to belong to the mother's clan. In Cherokee culture, women own the family property. When traditional young women marry, their husbands may join them in their mother's household. Matrilineal structures enable young women to have assistance in childbirth and rearing and protect them in case of conflicts between the couple. If a couple separates or the man dies, the woman has her family to assist her. In matrilineal cultures the mother's brothers are usually the leading male figures in her children's lives; fathers have no standing in their wife and children's clan, as they still belong to their own mother's clan. Hereditary clan chief positions pass through the mother's line and chiefs have historically been selected on the recommendations of women elders, who could also disapprove of a chief.[299] In the patrilineal tribes, such as the Omaha, Osage, Ponca, and Lakota, hereditary leadership passes through the male line, and children are considered to belong to the father and his clan. In patrilineal tribes, if a woman marries a non-Native, she is no longer considered part of the tribe, and her children are considered to share the ethnicity and culture of their father.[300] In patriarchal tribes, gender roles tend to be rigid. Men have historically hunted, traded and made war while, as life-givers, women have primary responsibility for the survival and welfare of the families (and future of the tribe). Women usually gather and cultivate plants, use plants and herbs to treat illnesses, care for the young and the elderly, make all the clothing and instruments, and process and cure meat and skins from the game. Some mothers use cradleboards to carry an infant while working or traveling.[301] In matriarchal and egalitarian nations, the gender roles are usually not so clear-cut and are even less so in the modern era.[298] At least several dozen tribes allowed polygyny to sisters, with procedural and economic limits.[280] Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota girls are encouraged to learn to ride, hunt and fight.[302] Though fighting in war has mostly been left to the boys and men, occasionally women have fought as well – both in battles and in defense of the home – especially if the tribe was severely threatened.[303] Modern education As of 2020 90% of Native American school-aged children attend public schools operated by school districts.[304] Tribally-operated schools under contracts/grants with the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) and direct BIE-operated schools take about 8% of Native American students,[305] including students who live in very rural remote areas.[304] In 1978, 215,000 (78%) of Native Americans attended school district-operated public schools, 47,000 (17%) attended schools directly operated by the BIA, 2,500 (1%) attended tribal schools and/or other schools that contracted with the BIA, and the remaining 9,000 (3%) attended missionary schools for Native American children and/or other private schools.[306] Sports Jim Thorpe—gold medalist at the 1912 Olympics, in the pentathlon and decathlon events Native American leisure time led to competitive individual and team sports. Jim Thorpe, Joe Hipp, Notah Begay III, Chris Wondolowski, Jacoby Ellsbury, Joba Chamberlain, Kyle Lohse, Sam Bradford, Jack Brisco, Tommy Morrison, Billy Mills, Angel Goodrich, Shoni Schimmel, and Kyrie Irving are well known professional athletes. Ball players from the Choctaw and Lakota tribe in a 19th-century lithograph by George Catlin Team sports Native American ball sports, sometimes referred to as lacrosse, stickball, or baggataway, were often used to settle disputes, rather than going to war, as a civil way to settle potential conflict. The Choctaw called it isitoboli ("Little Brother of War");[307] the Onondaga name was dehuntshigwa'es ("men hit a rounded object"). There are three basic versions, classified as Great Lakes, Iroquoian, and Southern.[308] The game is played with one or two rackets or sticks and one ball. The object of the game is to land the ball in the opposing team's goal (either a single post or net) to score and to prevent the opposing team from scoring on your goal. The game involves as few as 20 or as many as 300 players with no height or weight restrictions and no protective gear. The goals could be from around 200 feet (61 m) apart to about 2 miles (3.2 km); in lacrosse the field is 110 yards (100 m). Individual sports Chunkey was a game that consisted of a stone-shaped disk that was about 1–2 inches in diameter. The disk was thrown down a 200-foot (61 m) corridor so that it could roll past the players at great speed. The disk would roll down the corridor, and players would throw wooden shafts at the moving disk. The object of the game was to strike the disk or prevent your opponents from hitting it. Billy Mills crosses the finish line at the end of the 10,000-meter race at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. U.S. Olympics Jim Thorpe, a Sauk and Fox Native American, was an all-around athlete playing football and baseball in the early 20th century. Future President Dwight Eisenhower injured his knee while trying to tackle the young Thorpe. In a 1961 speech, Eisenhower recalled Thorpe: "Here and there, there are some people who are supremely endowed. My memory goes back to Jim Thorpe. He never practiced in his life, and he could do anything better than any other football player I ever saw."[309] In the 1912 Olympics, Thorpe could run the 100-yard dash in 10 seconds flat, the 220 in 21.8 seconds, the 440 in 51.8 seconds, the 880 in 1:57, the mile in 4:35, the 120-yard high hurdles in 15 seconds, and the 220-yard low hurdles in 24 seconds.[310] He could long jump 23 ft 6 in and high-jump 6 ft 5 in.[310] He could pole vault 11 feet (3.4 m), put the shot 47 ft 9 in (14.55 m), throw the javelin 163 feet (50 m), and throw the discus 136 feet (41 m).[310] Thorpe entered the U.S. Olympic trials for the pentathlon and the decathlon. Louis Tewanima, Hopi people, was an American two-time Olympic distance runner and silver medalist in the 10,000-meter run in 1912. He ran for the Carlisle Indian School where he was a teammate of Jim Thorpe. His silver medal in 1912 remained the best U.S. achievement in this event until another Indian, Billy Mills, won the gold medal in 1964. Tewanima also competed at the 1908 Olympics, where he finished in ninth place in the marathon.[1] Ellison Brown, of the Narragansett people from Rhode Island, better known as "Tarzan" Brown, won two Boston Marathons (1936, 1939) and competed on the United States Olympic team in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany, but did not finish due to injury. He qualified for the 1940 Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland, but the games were canceled due to the outbreak of World War II. Billy Mills, a Lakota and USMC officer, won the gold medal in the 10,000-meter run at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He was the only American ever to win the Olympic gold in this event. An unknown before the Olympics, Mills finished second in the U.S. Olympic trials. Billy Kidd, part Abenaki from Vermont, became the first American male to medal in alpine skiing in the Olympics, taking silver at age 20 in the slalom in the 1964 Winter Olympics at Innsbruck, Austria. Six years later at the 1970 World Championships, Kidd won the gold medal in the combined event and took the bronze medal in the slalom. Ashton Locklear (Lumbee), an uneven bars specialist was an alternate for the 2016 Summer Olympics U.S. gymnastics team, the Final Five.[311] In 2016, Kyrie Irving (Sioux) also helped Team USA win the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics. With the win, he became just the fourth member of Team USA to capture the NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal in the same year, joining LeBron James, Michael Jordan, and Scottie Pippen.[312] Music Main articles: Native American music and Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas Fancy Dancer at the Seafair Indian Days Pow-Wow, Daybreak Star Cultural Center, Seattle, Washington Jake Fragua, Jemez Pueblo from New Mexico Traditional Native American music is almost entirely monophonic, but there are notable exceptions. Native American music often includes drumming or the playing of rattles or other percussion instruments but little other instrumentation. Flutes and whistles made of wood, cane, or bone are also played, generally by individuals, but in former times also by large ensembles (as noted by Spanish conquistador de Soto). The tuning of modern flutes is typically pentatonic. Performers with Native American parentage have occasionally appeared in American popular music such as Rita Coolidge, Wayne Newton, Gene Clark, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Blackfoot, and Redbone (members are also of Mexican descent). Some, such as John Trudell, have used music to comment on life in Native America. Other musicians such as R. Carlos Nakai, Joanne Shenandoah and Robert "Tree" Cody integrate traditional sounds with modern sounds in instrumental recordings, whereas the music by artist Charles Littleleaf is derived from ancestral heritage as well as nature. A variety of small and medium-sized recording companies offer an abundance of recent music by Native American performers young and old, ranging from pow-wow drum music to hard-driving rock-and-roll and rap. In the International world of ballet dancing Maria Tallchief was considered America's first major prima ballerina,[313] and was the first person of Native American descent to hold the rank.[314] along with her sister Marjorie Tallchief both became star ballerinas. The most widely practiced public musical form among Native Americans in the United States is that of the pow-wow. At pow-wows, such as the annual Gathering of Nations in Albuquerque, New Mexico, members of drum groups sit in a circle around a large drum. Drum groups play in unison while they sing in a native language and dancers in colorful regalia dance clockwise around the drum groups in the center. Familiar pow-wow songs include honor songs, intertribal songs, crow-hops, sneak-up songs, grass-dances, two-steps, welcome songs, going-home songs, and war songs. Most Indigenous communities in the United States also maintain traditional songs and ceremonies, some of which are shared and practiced exclusively within the community.[315] Art Further information: petroglyph, pictogram, petroform, Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous ceramics of the Americas, and Native American jewelry The Iroquois, living around the Great Lakes and extending east and north, used strings or belts called wampum that served a dual function: the knots and beaded designs mnemonically chronicled tribal stories and legends, and further served as a medium of exchange and a unit of measure. The keepers of the articles were seen as tribal dignitaries.[316] Pueblo peoples crafted impressive items associated with their religious ceremonies. Kachina dancers wore elaborately painted and decorated masks as they ritually impersonated various ancestral spirits.[317] Pueblo people are particularly noted for their traditional high-quality pottery, often with geometric designs and floral, animal and bird motifs.[318] Sculpture was not highly developed, but carved stone and wood fetishes were made for religious use. Superior weaving, embroidered decorations, and rich dyes characterized the textile arts. Both turquoise and shell jewelry were created, as were formalized pictorial arts.[319] Navajo spirituality focused on the maintenance of a harmonious relationship with the spirit world, often achieved by ceremonial acts, usually incorporating sandpainting. For the Navajo, the sand painting is not merely a representational object, but a dynamic spiritual entity with a life of its own, which helped the patient at the center of the ceremony re-establish a connection with the life force. These vivid, intricate, and colorful sand creations were erased at the end of the healing ceremony.[320] The Native American arts and crafts industry brings in more than a billion in gross sales annually.[321] Native American art comprises a major category in the world art collection. Native American contributions include pottery, paintings, jewellery, weavings, sculpture, basketry, and carvings. Franklin Gritts was a Cherokee artist who taught students from many tribes at Haskell Institute (now Haskell Indian Nations University) in the 1940s, the Golden Age of Native American painters. The integrity of certain Native American artworks is protected by the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, which prohibits the representation of art as Native American when it is not the product of an enrolled Native American artist. Attorney Gail Sheffield and others claim that this law has had "the unintended consequence of sanctioning discrimination against Native Americans whose tribal affiliation was not officially recognized".[322] Native artists such as Jeanne Rorex Bridges (Echota Cherokee) who was not enrolled ran the risk of fines or imprisonment if they continued to sell their art while affirming their Indian heritage.[323][324][325] Interracial relations Lillian Gross, described as a "Mixed Blood" by the Smithsonian source, was of Cherokee and European-American heritage. She identified with the Cherokee culture in which she was raised. Interracial relations between Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans is a complex issue that has been mostly neglected with "few in-depth studies on interracial relationships".[326][327] Some of the first documented cases of European/Native American intermarriage and contact were recorded in Post-Columbian Mexico. One case is that of Gonzalo Guerrero, a European from Spain, who was shipwrecked along the Yucatan Peninsula, and fathered three Mestizo children with a Mayan noblewoman. Another is the case of Hernán Cortés and his mistress La Malinche, who gave birth to another of the first multi-racial people in the Americas.[328] Assimilation Further information: Cultural assimilation of Native Americans European impact was immediate, widespread, and profound already during the early years of colonization and the creation of the countries which currently exist in the Americas. Europeans living among Native Americans were often called "white indians". They "lived in native communities for years, learned native languages fluently, attended native councils, and often fought alongside their native companions".[329] Early contact was often charged with tension and emotion, but also had moments of friendship, cooperation, and intimacy.[330] Marriages took place in English, Spanish, French, and Russian colonies between Native Americans and Europeans though Native American women were also the victims of rape.[331] There was fear on both sides, as the different peoples realized how different their societies were.[330] Many whites regarded Native people as "savages" because the Native people were not Protestant or Roman Catholic and therefore the Native people were not considered to be human beings. Orthodox Christians never viewed Native people as savages or sub-human.[330] The Native American author, Andrew J. Blackbird, wrote in his History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan (1897), that white settlers introduced some immoralities into Native American tribes. Many Native Americans suffered because the Europeans introduced alcohol. Many Native people do not break down alcohol in the same way as people of Eurasian background. Many Native people were learning what their body could tolerate of this new substance and died as a result of imbibing too much.[330] Blackbird wrote: The Ottawas and Chippewas were quite virtuous in their primitive state, as there were no illegitimate children reported in our old traditions. But very lately this evil came to exist among the Ottawas-so lately that the second case among the Ottawas of 'Arbor Croche' is yet living in 1897. And from that time this evil came to be quite frequent, for immorality has been introduced among these people by evil white persons who bring their vices into the tribes.[330] The 1725 return of an Osage bride from a trip to Paris, France. The Osage woman was married to a French soldier. Five Indians and a Captive, painted by Carl Wimar, 1855 The U.S. government had two purposes when making land agreements with Native Americans: to open up more land for white settlement,[330] and to "ease tensions" (in other words assimilate Native people to Eurasian social ways) between whites and Native Americans by forcing the Native Americans to use the land in the same way as did the whites—for subsistence farms.[330] The government used a variety of strategies to achieve these goals; many treaties required Native Americans to become farmers in order to keep their land.[330] Government officials often did not translate the documents which Native Americans were forced to sign, and native chiefs often had little or no idea what they were signing.[330] Charles Eastman was one of the first Native Americans to become certified as a medical doctor, after he graduated from Boston University.[332][333] For a Native American man to marry a white woman, he had to get consent of her parents, as long as "he can prove to support her as a white woman in a good home".[334] In the early 19th century, the Shawnee Tecumseh and blonde hair, blue-eyed Rebbecca Galloway had an interracial affair. In the late 19th century, three European-American middle-class women teachers at Hampton Institute married Native American men whom they had met as students.[335] As European-American women started working independently at missions and Indian schools in the western states, there were more opportunities for their meeting and developing relationships with Native American men. For instance, Charles Eastman, a man of European and Lakota origin whose father sent both his sons to Dartmouth College, got his medical degree at Boston University and returned to the West to practice. He married Elaine Goodale, whom he met in South Dakota. He was the grandson of Seth Eastman, a military officer from Maine, and a chief's daughter. Goodale was a young European-American teacher from Massachusetts and a reformer, who was appointed as the U.S. superintendent of Native American education for the reservations in the Dakota Territory. They had six children together. European enslavement Main articles: Slavery among Native Americans in the United States and Slavery among Indigenous peoples of the Americas The majority of Native American tribes did practice some form of slavery before the European introduction of African slavery into North America, but none exploited slave labor on a large scale. Most Native American tribes did not barter captives in the pre-colonial era, although they sometimes exchanged enslaved individuals with other tribes in peace gestures or in exchange for their own members.[336] When Europeans arrived as colonists in North America, Native Americans changed their practice of slavery dramatically. Native Americans began selling war captives to Europeans rather than integrating them into their own societies as they had done before. As the demand for labor in the West Indies grew with the cultivation of sugar cane, Europeans enslaved Native Americans for the Thirteen Colonies, and some were exported to the "sugar islands". The British settlers, especially those in the southern colonies, purchased or captured Native Americans to use as forced labor in cultivating tobacco, rice, and indigo. Accurate records of the numbers enslaved do not exist because vital statistics and census reports were at best infrequent.[337] Scholars estimate tens to hundreds of thousands of Native Americans may have been enslaved by the Europeans, being sold by Native Americans themselves or Europeans.[338][339] Slaves became a caste of people who were foreign to the English (Native Americans, Africans and their descendants) and non-Christians. The Virginia General Assembly defined some terms of slavery in 1705: All servants imported and brought into the Country ... who were not Christians in their native Country ... shall be accounted and be slaves. All Negro, mulatto and Indian slaves within this dominion ... shall be held to be real estate. If any slave resists his master ... correcting such slave, and shall happen to be killed in such correction ... the master shall be free of all punishment ... as if such accident never happened. — Virginia General Assembly declaration, 1705[340] The slave trade of Native Americans lasted only until around 1750. It gave rise to a series of devastating wars among the tribes, including the Yamasee War. The Indian Wars of the early 18th century, combined with the increasing importation of African slaves, effectively ended the Native American slave trade by 1750. Colonists found that Native American slaves could easily escape, as they knew the country. The wars cost the lives of numerous colonial slave traders and disrupted their early societies. The remaining Native American groups banded together to face the Europeans from a position of strength. Many surviving Native American peoples of the southeast strengthened their loose coalitions of language groups and joined confederacies such as the Choctaw, the Creek, and the Catawba for protection. Even after the Indian Slave Trade ended in 1750, the enslavement of Native Americans continued (mostly through kidnappings) in the west and in the Southern states.[341][342] Both Native American and African enslaved women suffered rape and sexual harassment by male slaveholders and other white men.[331] Native American and African relations Further information: Black Indians and Native American slave ownership African and Native Americans have interacted for centuries. The earliest record of Native American and African contact occurred in April 1502, when Spanish colonists transported the first Africans to Hispaniola to serve as slaves.[343] Buffalo Soldiers, 1890. The nickname was given to the "Black Cavalry" by the Native American tribes they fought. Sometimes Native Americans resented the presence of African Americans.[344] The "Catawaba tribe in 1752 showed great anger and bitter resentment when an African American came among them as a trader".[344] To gain favor with Europeans, the Cherokee exhibited the strongest color prejudice of all Native Americans.[344] Because of European fears of a unified revolt of Native Americans and African Americans, the colonists tried to encourage hostility between the ethnic groups: "Whites sought to convince Native Americans that African Americans worked against their best interests."[345] In 1751, South Carolina law stated: The carrying of Negroes among the Indians has all along been thought detrimental, as an intimacy ought to be avoided.[346] In addition, in 1758 the governor of South Carolina James Glen wrote: it has always been the policy of this government to create an aversion in them [Indians] to Negroes.[347] Europeans considered both races inferior and made efforts to make both Native Americans and Africans enemies.[348] Native Americans were rewarded if they returned escaped slaves, and African Americans were rewarded for fighting in the late 19th-century Indian Wars.[348][349][350] "Native Americans, during the transitional period of Africans becoming the primary race enslaved, were enslaved at the same time and shared a common experience of enslavement. They worked together, lived together in communal quarters, produced collective recipes for food, shared herbal remedies, myths and legends, and in the end they intermarried."[351][352] Because of a shortage of men due to warfare, many tribes encouraged marriage between the two groups, to create stronger, healthier children from the unions.[353] In the 18th century, many Native American women married freed or runaway African men due to a decrease in the population of men in Native American villages.[348] Records show that many Native American women bought African men but, unknown to the European sellers, the women freed and married the men into their tribe.[348] When African men married or had children by a Native American woman, their children were born free, because the mother was free (according to the principle of partus sequitur ventrem, which the colonists incorporated into law).[348] While numerous tribes used captive enemies as servants and slaves, they also often adopted younger captives into their tribes to replace members who had died. In the Southeast, a few Native American tribes began to adopt a slavery system similar to that of the American colonists, buying African American slaves, especially the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Creek. Though less than 3% of Native Americans owned slaves, divisions grew among the Native Americans over slavery.[354] Among the Cherokee, records show that slaveholders in the tribe were largely the children of European men who had shown their children the economics of slavery.[349] As European colonists took slaves into frontier areas, there were more opportunities for relationships between African and Native American peoples.[348] Racial identity Main article: Native American identity Ben Nighthorse Campbell, one of only four Native Americans elected to the U.S. Senate Sharice Davids became one of the first two Native American women elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Deb Haaland became one of the first two Native American women elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Yvette Herrell became the first Cherokee woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Ada E. Brown, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation with African-American heritage, nominated by President Donald Trump in 2019 to be a federal judge in Texas In the 2010 Census, nearly 3 million people indicated that their race was Native American (including Alaska Native).[355] Of these, more than 27% specifically indicated "Cherokee" as their ethnic origin.[356][357] Many of the First Families of Virginia claim descent from Pocahontas or some other "Indian princess". This phenomenon has been dubbed the "Cherokee Syndrome".[358] Across the US, numerous individuals cultivate an opportunistic ethnic identity as Native American, sometimes through Cherokee heritage groups or Indian Wedding Blessings.[359] Some tribes (particularly some in the Eastern United States) are primarily made up of individuals with an unambiguous Native American identity, despite having a large number of mixed-race citizens with prominent non-Native ancestry. More than 75% of those enrolled in the Cherokee Nation have less than one-quarter Cherokee blood,[360] and the former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Bill John Baker, is 1/32 Cherokee, amounting to about 3%. Historically, numerous Native Americans assimilated into colonial and later American society, e.g. through adopting English and converting to Christianity. In many cases, this process occurred through forced assimilation of children sent off to special boarding schools far from their families. Those who could pass for white had the advantage of white privilege.[359] With the enforcement of blood quantum laws, Indian blood could be diluted over generations through interbreeding with non-Native populations, as well as intermarrying with tribes that were not recognized by the United States government.[361] "Kill the Indian, save the man" was a mantra of nineteenth-century U.S. assimilation policies.[362] Native Americans are more likely than any other racial group to practice interracial marriage, resulting in an ever-declining proportion of Indigenous blood among those who claim a Native American identity.[363] Some tribes will even resort to disenrollment of tribal members unable to provide scientific "proof" of Native ancestry, usually through a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood. Disenrollment has become a contentious issue in Native American reservation politics.[364][365] Admixture and genetics Members of the Creek (Muscogee) Nation in Oklahoma around 1877; they include men with some European and African ancestry.[366] Intertribal mixing was common among many Native American tribes prior to European contact, as they would adopt captives taken in warfare. Individuals often had ancestry from more than one tribe, particularly after tribes lost so many members from disease in the colonial era and after.[62] Bands or entire tribes occasionally split or merged to form more viable groups in reaction to the pressures of climate, disease and warfare.[367] A number of tribes traditionally adopted captives into their group to replace members who had been captured or killed in battle. Such captives were from rival tribes and later were taken from raids on European settlements. Some tribes also sheltered or adopted white traders and runaway slaves, and others owned slaves of their own. Tribes with long trading histories with Europeans show a higher rate of European admixture, reflecting years of intermarriage between Native American women and European men, often seen as advantageous to both sides.[367] A number of paths to genetic and ethnic diversity among Native Americans have occurred. In recent years, genetic genealogists have been able to determine the proportion of Native American ancestry carried by the African-American population. The literary and history scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., had experts on his TV programs who discussed African-American ancestry. They stated that 5% of African Americans have at least 12.5% Native American ancestry, or the equivalent to one great-grandparent, which may represent more than one distant ancestor. A greater percentage could have a smaller proportion of Indian ancestry, but their conclusions show that popular estimates of Native American admixture may have been too high.[368] More recent genetic testing research of 2015, have found varied ancestries which show different tendencies by region and sex of ancestors. Though DNA testing is limited these studies found that on average, African Americans have 73.2–82.1% West African, 16.7%–29% European, and 0.8–2% Native American genetic ancestry, with large variation between individuals.[369][370][371][372] DNA testing is not sufficient to qualify a person for specific tribal membership, as it cannot distinguish among Native American tribes; however some tribes such as the Meskwaki Nation require a DNA test in order to enroll in the tribe.[373] In Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science, Kim Tallbear states that a person, "… could have up to two Native American grandparents and show no sign of Native American ancestry. For example, a genetic male could have a maternal grandfather (from whom he did not inherit his Y chromosome) and a paternal grandmother (from whom he did not inherit his mtDNA) who were descended from Native American founders, but mtDNA and Y-chromosome analyses would not detect them."[362] Native American identity has historically been based on culture, not just biology, as many American Indian peoples adopted captives from their enemies and assimilated them into their tribes. The Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism (IPCB) notes that: "Native American markers" are not found solely among Native Americans. While they occur more frequently among Native Americans, they are also found in people in other parts of the world.[374] Geneticists state: Not all Native Americans have been tested; especially with the large number of deaths due to disease such as smallpox, it is unlikely that Native Americans only have the genetic markers they have identified [so far], even when their maternal or paternal bloodline does not include a [known] non-Native American.[375][376] Tribal membership Further information: Cherokee freedmen controversy, Cherokee descent, and Tribal disenrollment To receive tribal services, a Native American must be a certified (or enrolled) member of a federally recognized tribal organization. Each tribal government makes its own rules for the eligibility of citizens or tribal members. Among tribes, qualification for enrollment may be based upon a required percentage of Native American "blood" (or the "blood quantum") of an individual seeking recognition, or documented descent from an ancestor on the Dawes Rolls or other registers. But, the federal government has its own standards related to who qualifies for services available to certified Native Americans. For instance, federal scholarships for Native Americans require the student both to be enrolled in a federally recognized tribe and to be of at least one-quarter Native American descent (equivalent to one grandparent), attested to by a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB) card issued by the federal government. Some tribes have begun requiring genealogical DNA testing of individuals' applying for membership, but this is usually related to an individual's proving parentage or direct descent from a certified member.[377] Requirements for tribal membership vary widely by tribe. The Cherokee require documented direct genealogical descent from a Native American listed in the early 1906 Dawes Rolls. Tribal rules regarding the recognition of members who have heritage from multiple tribes are equally diverse and complex. Federally recognized tribes do not accept genetic-ancestry results as appropriate documentation for enrollment and do not advise applicants to submit such documentation.[362] Tribal membership conflicts have led to a number of legal disputes, court cases, and the formation of activist groups. One example of this is the Cherokee Freedmen. Today, they include descendants of African Americans once enslaved by the Cherokees, who were granted, by federal treaty, citizenship in the historic Cherokee Nation as freedmen after the Civil War. The modern Cherokee Nation, in the early 1980s, passed a law to require that all members must prove descent from a Cherokee Native American (not Cherokee Freedmen) listed on the Dawes Rolls, resulting in the exclusion of some individuals and families who had been active in Cherokee culture for years. Increased self-identification Since the 2000 United States Census, people may identify as being of more than one race.[152] Since the 1960s, the number of people claiming Native American ancestry has grown significantly and, by the 2000 census, the number had more than doubled. Sociologists attribute this dramatic change to "ethnic shifting" or "ethnic shopping"; they believe that it reflects a willingness of people to question their birth identities and adopt new ethnicities which they find more compatible. The author Jack Hitt writes: The reaction from lifelong Indians runs the gamut. It is easy to find Native Americans who denounce many of these new Indians as members of the wannabe tribe. But it is also easy to find Indians like Clem Iron Wing, an elder among the Lakota, who sees this flood of new ethnic claims as magnificent, a surge of Indians 'trying to come home.' Those Indians who ridicule Iron Wing's lax sense of tribal membership have retrofitted the old genocidal system of blood quantum—measuring racial purity by blood—into the new standard for real Indianness, a choice rich with paradox.[153] The journalist Mary Annette Pember notes that identifying with Native American culture may be a result of a person's increased interest in genealogy, the romanticization of the lifestyle, and a family tradition of Native American ancestors in the distant past. There are different issues if a person wants to pursue enrollment as a member of a tribe. Different tribes have different requirements for tribal membership; in some cases persons are reluctant to enroll, seeing it as a method of control initiated by the federal government; and there are individuals who are 100% Native American but, because of their mixed tribal heritage, do not qualify to belong to any individual tribe. Pember concludes: The subjects of genuine American Indian blood, cultural connection and recognition by the community are extremely contentious issues, hotly debated throughout Indian country and beyond. The whole situation, some say, is ripe for misinterpretation, confusion and, ultimately, exploitation.[378] Genetics Main article: Genetic history of indigenous peoples of the Americas See also: Y-DNA haplogroups in Indigenous peoples of the Americas The genetic history of Indigenous peoples of the Americas primarily focuses on human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups and human mitochondrial DNA haplogroups. "Y-DNA" is passed solely along the patrilineal line, from father to son, while "mtDNA" is passed down the matrilineal line, from mother to offspring of both sexes. Neither recombines, and thus Y-DNA and mtDNA change only by chance mutation at each generation with no intermixture between parents' genetic material.[379] Autosomal "atDNA" markers are also used, but differ from mtDNA or Y-DNA in that they overlap significantly.[380] Autosomal DNA is generally used to measure the average continent-of-ancestry genetic admixture in the entire human genome and related isolated populations.[380] Within mtDNA, genetic scientists have found specific nucleotide sequences classified as "Native American markers" because the sequences are understood to have been inherited through the generations of genetic females within populations that first settled the "New World". There are five primary Native American mtDNA haplogroups in which there are clusters of closely linked markers inherited together. All five haplogroups have been identified by researchers as "prehistoric Native North American samples", and it is commonly asserted that the majority of living Native Americans possess one of the common five mtDNA haplogroup markers.[362] The genetic pattern indicates Indigenous Americans experienced two very distinctive genetic episodes; first with the initial-peopling of the Americas, and secondly with European colonization of the Americas.[381][382][383] The former is the determinant factor for the number of gene lineages, zygosity mutations and founding haplotypes present in today's Indigenous Amerindian populations.[382] Human settlement of the New World occurred in stages from the Bering sea coast line, with an initial 15,000 to 20,000-year layover on Beringia for the small founding population.[381][384][385] The micro-satellite diversity and distributions of the Y lineage specific to South America indicates that certain Amerindian populations have been isolated since the initial colonization of the region.[386] The Na-Dené, Inuit and Indigenous Alaskan populations exhibit haplogroup Q-M242 (Y-DNA) mutations, however, that are distinct from other Indigenous Amerindians, and that have various mtDNA and atDNA mutations.[387][388][389] This suggests that the paleo-Indian migrants into the northern extremes of North America and Greenland were descended from a later, independent migrant population.[390][391] Genetic analyses of HLA I and HLA II genes as well as HLA-A, -B, and -DRB1 gene frequencies links the Ainu people of northern Japan and southeastern Russia to some Indigenous peoples of the Americas, especially to populations on the Pacific Northwest Coast such as Tlingit. Scientists suggest that the main ancestor of the Ainu and of some Native American groups can be traced back to Paleolithic groups in Southern Siberia.[392]

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