Writing Homework Help. Grossmont College Great Depression on American Indians Discussion
1) What were the impacts of the Great Depression on American Indians, according to the article?
2) What were the impacts of the Indian Citizenship Act?
3) What was the Meriam Report, and what were its impacts?
4) What did Roosevelt’s New Deal entail, and what were its effects on Native Americans? How did the New Deal build off of/connect to previous events from previous lessons?
5) Briefly define what Termination and Relocation policies were. Next, explain the events that led up to these decisions, and what the lasting effects of these policies were.
6) Lastly, compare/contrast the American government’s perspective versus American Indian tribes’ perspectives regarding Termination and Relocation, as discussed in Prof. Mayfield’s lecture.
7) Lastly, please reflect on what resonated from this week’s materials overall. Please share your thoughts, reactions, or connections here.
Peer Response:
The impact of the Great Depression was a period of “forced assimilation” on American Indians. Not only was land taken from them, the Great Depression was one of the toughest periods for American Indian rights. They were denied free speech, property rights, and even practicing their religion. The American Indians have been through historical trauma and mistreatment till this day.
The impact of the Indian Citizenship Act was a violation towards the Native Americans’ sovereignty because they had no choice whether or not they wanted to become a citizen of the United States. Although this grant enabled Native Americans to become citizens, their tribal land was removed from federal protection and even stolen. In addition, becoming a citizen also meant unprotected treaty rights and federal land allotment.
The Meriam Report was a study that was authorized by the federal government on the American Indian policy. The impacts and results of this report showed the harsh conditions that these Native Americans had to endure. For instance, in their boarding schools, it was deemed inadequate due to the unsanitary conditions and was overcrowded. This report also emphasized the discipline on Indian children because if they rebelled against the rules like speaking in their mother tongue or practicing their religion, they would get physically abused.
In Roosevelt’s New Deal, it guaranteed political rights of sovereignty that granted the tribes economic autonomy and opportunities of trade relations with the United States. In addition, it entailed legal weights in courts to lodge complaints against the federal government for land, cultural losses, education and health care. The effects included 2 million acres of land given back to the tribes and the relationship between the federal government and the tribes progressively improved. This also gave the Native Americans a chance to work in the cities and get an education. This new deal later became the Indian Health Service.
Termination policies were policies that led to an immediate withdrawal of aid, services, and protection from the federal government along with no more reservations. Relocation policies were aided to help reservation members in relocating to cities become prepared in obtaining a job. The termination policy is the reason why most Native Americans today do not live in reservations. However, those who stayed behind had no welfare and were barely surviving. The relocation policies led to the massive culture shock and assimilation in the Native Americans who went to the cities to work.
From the American government’s perspective, they thought that the Native Americans were actually benefiting from certain policies like reconfiguring tribal lands and teaching them American values in boarding schools. They thought that by doing this the Native Americans could become civilized and Americanized. From their perspective, they think they have tried to help the Native Americans when it came to their policies whether it was assimilating them in boarding schools or granting them cultural rights. However, it all failed. This created the idea that Native Americans simply could not govern and function on their own. Therefore, by eliminating the reservations, it would eliminate the barriers that have been the root of the problems for Native Americans. From the Native American’s perspective, it was perceived as cultural death and forced assimilation. Many Native Americans stayed behind in their reservation because they thought it was their last chance to keep their culture alive.
In this week’s material, I learned the mistreatment and harsh conditions that the Native Americans had to endure during the Great Depression. I was shocked to hear in Professor Mayfield’s lecture that the first people in this country were granted US citizenship until four years after women could vote. This really surprised me because they were considered unworthy to have US citizenship on land that was initially theirs to begin with.
