This article is about the people indigenous to the United States. For broader uses of "Native American" and
related terms, see
Native Americans.
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples from the
regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States,
including parts of Alaska. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups,
many of which are still enduring as political communities. There is a wide range of terms used, and some controversy surrounding their use: they are variously known as American Indians,
Indians, Amerindians, Amerinds, or Indigenous, Aboriginal
or Original Americans.
Not all Native Americans come from the contiguous U.S. Some
come from Alaska, Hawaii and other insular regions. These other indigenous peoples,
including Alaskan Native groups such as the Inupiaq,
Yupik Eskimos, and Aleuts, are not always counted as
Native Americans, although Census 2000 demographics listed "American Indian
and Alaskan Native" collectively. Native Hawaiians (also known as Kanaka Māoli and
Kanaka ʻOiwi) and various other Pacific Islander American peoples, such as the Chamorros (Chamoru), can also be considered Native American, but it is not common to use such a
designation.
European colonization
Initial impacts
The European colonization of the Americas nearly obliterated
the populations and cultures of the Native Americans. During the 16th through
19th centuries, their populations were ravaged by conflicts with European explorers and
colonists, disease, displacement, enslavement,
internal warfare as well as high rate of intermarriage.[3] Scholars now
believe that, among the various contributing factors, epidemic disease was the overwhelming cause of the population decline of the American natives.[4][5][6]
The first Native American group encountered by Christopher Columbus in 1492,
were the Island Arawaks (more properly called the Taino) of
Boriquen (Puerto Rico), the (Quisqueya) of the
Dominican Republic, the Cubanacan (Cuba). It is said
that of the 250 thousand to 1 million Island Arawaks, only about 500 survived by the year 1550, and the group was considered
extinct before 1650. Yet DNA studies show that the genetic contribution of the Taino to that region continues, and the
mitochondrial DNA studies of the Taino are said to show relationships to the Northern Indigenous Nations, such as
Inuit (Eskimo) and others.[7]
In the sixteenth century, Spaniards and other Europeans brought horses to the Americas. Some of these animals escaped and began to breed and increase their numbers in the wild.
Ironically, the horse had originally evolved in the Americas, but the early American horse became game for the earliest humans
and became extinct about 7,000 BC, just after the end of the last ice age. The re-introduction
of the horse had a profound impact on Native American culture in the Great Plains of North
America. As a new mode of travel the horse made it possible for some tribes to greatly expand their territories, exchange goods
with neighboring tribes, and more easily capture game.
European settlers brought diseases against which
the Native Americans had no natural immunity. Chicken
pox and measles, though common and rarely fatal among Europeans, often proved deadly to
Native Americans. Smallpox, always a terrible disease, proved particularly deadly to Native
American populations.[8] Epidemics often immediately followed European exploration, sometimes destroying entire villages. While precise
figures are difficult to arrive at, some historians estimate that up to 80% of some Native populations died due to European diseases.[9]
In 1617-1619 smallpox wiped out 90% of the Massachusetts
Bay Indians. As it had done elsewhere, the virus wiped out entire population groups of Native Americans. It reached
Lake Ontario in 1636, and the lands of the Iroquois by
1679, killing millions. During the 1770's, smallpox killed at least 30% of the West Coast Native Americans.[10][11]
Early relations
Spanish explorers of the early 16th century were probably the first Europeans to
interact with the native population of Florida.[12] The
first documented encounter of Europeans with Native Americans of the United States came with the first expedition of
Juan Ponce de León to Florida in 1513, although he
encountered at least one native that spoke Spanish. In 1521, he encountered the Calusa people
during a failed colonization attempt in which they drove off the Europeans.
In 1526, Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón tried to found a colony in what is now
South Carolina, but for multiple reasons it failed after only a year. The remaining
slaves of the colony revolted and fled into the wilderness to live among the Cofitachiqui
people.
The next encounter came with the members of the Narváez expedition from 1528–1536.
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca wrote a detailed account of the failed expedition
which includes descriptions of several Native American cultures he encountered from Florida, the northern Gulf Coast, Texas, possibly New Mexico and Arizona, and northern Mexico.
He described the behavior, living situation, dress, and food of the people he encountered as he wandered from village to
village.
An expedition in 1539 headed by Fray Marcos de Niza went in search of The Seven Cities of Gold. They were guided by another survivor of the Narváez expedition,
Estevanico, who encountered the Zuni people in his wanderings.
Following de Niza in search of the fabled cities was Francisco Vásquez de
Coronado from 1540–1542. He had encounters with the Hopi and Zuni as well as several other native groups in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Kansas,
and Oklahoma.
Also in 1539, the Hernando De Soto expedition traveled through the
Southern United States from 1539–1542. This expedition was responsible for introducing diseases into that region, and also
resulted in several battles with various tribes. De Soto's expedition was almost lost in what is today Alabama when Chief Tuskaloosa of the Choctaw people, suspicious of de Soto's intentions, prepared an ambush. When one of the Spanish explorers
attacked a Choctaw man, Tuskaloosa's warriors almost decimated the Spanish contingent. The expedition included a member of the
failed Narváez expedition of 1528 named Juan Ortiz who lived among the Tocobaga people for
twelve years before being rescued by de Soto.
In August 1570, a group of Spanish Jesuits landed on the Virginia Peninsula to create their Ajacan Mission. Their
guide, a convert to Christianity named Don Luis, soon left them and rejoined his tribe. Around
February of 1571, Don Luis returned with other natives, stole all their clothing and supplies, and killed all but a young servant
boy. This disastrous attempt at establishing a mission in Virginia spelled the end of Spanish ventures to colonize the area.
[7] [8]
Another encounter was the failed Roanoke Colony led by Sir Walter Raleigh of England beginning in 1584. At first, the local
tribes on Roanoke Island bartered with the colonists, but this was during a time of a
severe drought, and when the local tribes grew more reluctant to trade, relations deteriorated. Supplies from England were
interrupted by a war with Spain, and they were gone when the supplies finally arrived after 3 years. The fate of the colonists
has never been ascertained, leading to the 400 year mystery of the "Lost Colony". [9]
By 1578 there were about 350 European fishing vessels at Newfoundland and
sailors began to trade metal implements (particularly knives) for the natives' well worn pelts. The French fur trade was undertaken by Francis Grave (a merchant) and Chauvin (a captain) in 1599 when they acquired a
monopoly from Henry IV and their attempt to establish a colony at the mouth of the Saguenay
River was a direct result of their desire to profit from trading native fur pelts for European goods.
England attempted again to colonize, in May of 1607 at Jamestown, Virginia, and
in August 1607 with the Popham Colony in present-day Maine.
The Popham Colony interacted with the Abeneki tribe, but failed to establish
cooperation, and was abandoned after a year. Jamestown became the first permanent English settlement in the United States.
However, it only survived with a great loss of life. Jamestown's breakdown in relations with the Paspahegh and Powhatan tribes resulted in the First Anglo–Powhatan War, which ended with the marriage of John
Rolfe and Pocahontas, the youngest daughter of Chief Powhatan in 1614.
In 1610 a teenage Étienne Brûlé was sent by Samuel de Champlain to live with the Hurons for a year as a sort of
'exchange student'. Champlian, in turn, accepted the company of a Huron youth named Savignon who
accompanied him back to France. The two cultures made a successful rendezvous the next year and the young men returned to their
respective groups to report their experiences.
In 1620, a group of English settlers, including the Pilgrims, who were heading for the
Hudson River, got blown off-course and anchored in Provincetown Harbor before they settled at present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, instead, during a harsh winter. In the autumn of 1621, they celebrated
a three-day thanksgiving feast with the native Wampanoag people, without whom they
would not have survived the winter of 1620.
On March 22, 1622 about 347 people, or almost one-third of the English population of
Jamestown colony, were killed by a coordinated series of surprise attacks of the
Powhatan Confederacy under Chief Opechancanough.
Opechancanough launched a campaign of surprise attacks upon at least thirty-one separate English settlements mostly along the
James river.[13]
The Great Migration continued into the 1630s and 40s, creating many
settlements in New England and the Virginia colony. Dutch colonization
activities proceeded in an overlapping Pequot War. Meanwhile, Spanish and French
colonization were also proceeding on other areas of the continent. The French
and Iroquois Wars erupted during the mid-17th century, fueled by the fur trade.
Some European settlers used Native American contacts to further their activities in the fur
trade; others sold European technology to the natives, including firearms which fueled tribal wars. Peaceful coexistence
was established in some times and places. For example, the careful diplomacy of William
Pynchon facilitated the founding of what would become Springfield,
Massachusetts in a desirable farming location close to the native Agawam settlement.
Struggles for economic and territorial dominance also continued to result in armed conflict. In some cases these latent
conflicts resulted in escalating tensions, gradually followed by escalating multi-party violence. In other cases sudden,
relatively unprovoked raids were conducted on native and colonial settlements, which might involve arson, massacre, or kidnapping for slavery.
Determining how many people died in these massacres overall is difficult. In the book The
Wild Frontier: Atrocities during the American-Indian War from Jamestown Colony to Wounded Knee, amateur historian William M.
Osborn sought to tally every recorded atrocity in the area that would eventually become the
continental United States, from first contact (1511) to the closing of the frontier
(1890), and determined that 9,156 people died from atrocities perpetrated by Native Americans,
and 7,193 people died from atrocities perpetrated by Europeans. Osborn defines an atrocity as the murder, torture, or mutilation of civilians, the wounded, and prisoners.[14]
Pre-existing rivalries among both the Native American tribes and confederacies and the European nations led groups from both
continents to find war allies among the others against their traditional enemies. When transatlantic civilizations clashed,
better technology (including firearms) and the epidemics decimating native populations gave Europeans a substantial military
advantage.
In 1637, the Pequot War erupted in the Massachusetts and Plymouth colonies. Indian Wars in the English colonies would continue on and off into the American Revolution.
In the early 1680s, Philadelphia was established by William Penn in the Delaware Valley, which was home to the
Lenni-Lenape nation. Chief Tamanend reputably took part in a
peace treaty between the leaders of the Lenni-Lenape nation and the leaders of the Pennsylvania colony held under a large elm
tree at Shakamaxon.
In the Spanish sphere, many of the Pueblo people harbored hostility toward the Spanish, primarily due to their denigration and
prohibition of the traditional religion (the Spanish at the time being staunchly and aggressively Roman Catholic). The traditional economies of the pueblos were likewise disrupted when they were
forced to labor on the encomiendas of the colonists. However, the Spanish had introduced new
farming implements and provided some measure of security against Navajo and
Apache raiding parties. As a result, they lived in relative peace with the Spanish following the
founding of the Northern New Mexican colony in 1598. In the 1670s, however, drought swept
the region, which not only caused famine among the Pueblo, but also provoked increased attacks from neighboring hunter-gatherer tribes — attacks against which Spanish soldiers were unable to defend. Unsatisfied with
the protective powers of the Spanish crown, the Pueblo revolted in 1680. In 1692, Spanish
control was reasserted, but under much more lenient terms.
At the same time, European-introduced diseases were ravaging the natives, greatly decreasing their numbers. It has also been
alleged that the introduction of these diseases was exacerbated when soldiers handed out infected blankets. During the
Siege of Fort Pitt late in the French and
Indian War (1756-1763), British General Jeffery Amherst wrote
in a letter to Colonel Henry Bouquet on July 17, 1763, "You will Do well to try to
Inoculate the Indians, by means of Blankets, as well as to Try Every other Method, that can Serve to Extirpate this Execrable
Race. — I should be very glad [if] your Scheme for Hunting them down by Dogs could take Effect; but England is at too great a
Distance to think that at present."[15] Prior
correspondence between Amherst and Bouquet also discussed the use of smallpox-infected blankets. Fort Pitt trader William Trent had already given two smallpox-infected blankets to
Delaware Indians, apparently without Amherst's knowledge, but likely with the knowledge of the
Fort Pitt commander Captain Simeon Ecuyer.[16]
Historians have been unable to establish whether or not this plan was implemented, particularly in light of the fact that
smallpox was already present in the region. Despite the lack of historical evidence, the claim
that British and American soldiers used germ warfare against North American tribes has remained fairly strong in certain oral
traditions and in popular culture.[17] A smallpox
epidemic in fact did devastate the Delawares, but it is impossible to know if they were infected by the blankets or through
exposure to English soldiers infected with the disease.[18]
Relations during and after the American Revolutionary War
During the American Revolutionary War, 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, hoping to use the war to halt further colonial expansion onto Native American land. Many native communities were divided
over which side to support in the war. For the Iroquois Confederacy, the American Revolution
resulted in civil war. Cherokees split into a neutral (or pro-American) faction and the
anti-American Chickamaugas, led by Dragging
Canoe.
Frontier warfare during the American Revolution was
particularly brutal, and numerous atrocities were committed by settlers and native tribes.
Noncombatants suffered greatly during the war, and villages and food supplies were frequently destroyed during military
expeditions. The largest of these expeditions was the Sullivan Expedition of 1779,
which destroyed more than 40 Iroquois villages in order to neutralize Iroquois raids in upstate New York. The expedition failed to have the desired effect: Native American activity became
even more determined.[19]
The British made peace with the Americans in the Treaty of Paris (1783), and
had ceded a vast amount of Native American territory to the United States without informing the Native Americans. The United
States initially treated the Native Americans who had fought with the British as a conquered people who had lost their land. When
this proved impossible to enforce, the policy was abandoned. The United States was eager to expand, and the national government
initially sought to do so only by purchasing Native American land in treaties. The states and settlers were frequently at odds with this policy.[20]
Removal and reservations
- See also: List of
Indian reservations in the United States
In the nineteenth 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.
Under President Andrew Jackson, 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 eventually relocated in 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), but
in practice great pressure was put on Native American leaders to sign removal treaties. Arguably the most egregious violation of
the stated intention of the removal policy was the Treaty of New Echota, which was
signed by a dissident faction of Cherokees, but not the elected leadership. The treaty was
brutally enforced by President Andrew Jackson, which resulted in the deaths of an
estimated four thousand Cherokees on the Trail of Tears.
The explicit policy of Indian Removal forced or coerced the relocation of major Native American groups in both the Southeast
and the Northeast United States, resulting directly and indirectly in the deaths of tens of thousands. The subsequent process of
assimilations was no less devastating to Native American peoples. Tribes were generally located to reservations on which they
could more easily be separated from traditional life and pushed into European-American society. Some Southern states additionally
enacted laws in the 19th century forbidding non-Indian settlement on Indian lands, intending to prevent sympathetic white
missionaries from aiding the scattered Indian resistance.[21]
At one point, President Jackson told people to kill as many bison as possible in order to cut out the Plains Indian's main
source of food. Later in time there were fewer than 500 bison left in the Great Plains.[22]
Conflicts, generally known as "Indian Wars", broke out between U.S. forces and many different tribes. U.S. government authorities entered numerous treaties during this
period, but later abrogated many for various reasons. Well-known military engagements include the Native American victory at the
Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876 and the massacre of Native Americans at
Wounded Knee in 1890. This, together with the near-extinction of the
American Bison that many tribes had lived on, set about the downturn of Prairie Culture that had developed around the use of the horse for hunting, travel and trading.
Students at the Bismarck Indian School in the early twentieth century.
American policy toward Native Americans has been an evolving process. In the late nineteenth century, reformers, in efforts to
"civilize" or otherwise assimilate Indians (as opposed to relegating them to
reservations), adapted the practice of educating native children in Indian Boarding Schools. These schools, which were primarily run by Christian
missionaries,[23] often proved traumatic to Native
American children, who were forbidden to speak their native
languages, taught Christianity instead of their native religions and in numerous
other ways forced to abandon their various Native American identities[24] and adopt European-American culture. There are also many documented cases of sexual, physical and
mental abuses occurring at these schools.[25][26]
The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 gave United States citizenship to
Native Americans, in part because of an interest by many to see them merged with the American mainstream, and also because of the
heroic service of many Native American veterans in World War I.
Current status
There are 561 federally recognized tribal governments in the United
States. These tribes possess the right to form their own government, to enforce laws (both civil and criminal), to tax, to
establish 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).[27]
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 at 413,382, Arizona at 294,137 and
Oklahoma at 279,559.[28]
As of 2000, the largest tribes in the U.S. by population were Navajo, Cherokee, Choctaw, Sioux, Chippewa, Apache, Lumbee,
Blackfeet, Iroquois, and Pueblo. In 2000, eight of ten Americans with Native American ancestry were of mixed blood. It is estimated that
by 2100 that figure will rise to nine out of ten.[29] 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.
Some tribal nations have been unable to establish their heritage and obtain federal recognition. The Muwekma Ohlone of the San Francisco bay area are pursuing litigation in the federal court system to establish
recognition.[30] Many of the smaller eastern tribes have
been trying to gain official recognition of their tribal status. The 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 recognition as a tribe is extremely difficult; to be established as a tribal group, members have to submit extensive
genealogical proof of tribal descent.
Military defeat, cultural pressure, confinement on reservations, forced cultural assimilation, outlawing of native languages
and culture, termination policies of the 1950s and 1960s and earlier,
slavery, and poverty have had deleterious effects on
Native Americans' mental and physical health. Contemporary health problems suffered disproportionately include alcoholism,[31] heart disease, diabetes, and suicide.
As recently as the 1970s, the Bureau of Indian Affairs was still actively
pursuing a policy of "assimilation",[32] dating at least
to the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. The goal of assimilation — plainly
stated early on — was to eliminate the reservations and steer Native Americans into mainstream U.S. culture. In July 2000 the
Washington state Republican
Party[33] adopted a resolution of termination
for tribal governments. As of 2004, there are still claims of theft of Native American land for the coal and uranium it contains.[34][35][36]
In the state of Virginia, Native Americans face a unique problem. Virginia has no federally
recognized tribes, largely due to Walter Ashby Plecker. In 1912, Plecker became the
first registrar of the state's Bureau of Vital Statistics, serving until 1946. Plecker believed that the state's Native Americans
had been "mongrelized" with its African American population. A law passed by the
state's General Assembly recognized only two races, "white" and "colored". Plecker pressured local governments into reclassifying
all Native Americans in the state as "colored", leading to the destruction of records on the state's Native American
community.
Maryland also has a non-recognized tribal nation — the Piscataway Indian
Nation.
This Census Bureau map depicts the locations of Native Americans in the United States as of 2000.
In order to receive federal recognition and the benefits it confers, tribes must prove their continuous existence since 1900.
The federal government has so far refused to bend on this bureaucratic requirement.[37] A bill currently before U.S.
Congress to ease this requirement has been favorably reported out of a key Senate committee, being supported by both of Virginia's senators, George Allen and John Warner, but faces opposition
in the House from Representative Virgil Goode, who has expressed concerns that federal recognition could open the door to gambling in the state.[38]
In the early 21st century, Native American communities remain an enduring fixture on the United States landscape, in the
American economy, and in the lives of Native Americans. Communities have consistently formed governments that administer services
like firefighting, natural resource management,
and law enforcement. Most Native American communities have established court systems to adjudicate matters related to local ordinances, and most also look to various forms of moral and
social authority vested in traditional affiliations within the community. To address the housing needs of Native Americans,
Congress passed the Native American Housing and Self Determination Act (NAHASDA) in 1996. This legislation replaced public
housing, and other 1937 Housing Act programs directed towards Indian Housing Authorities, with a block grant program directed
towards Tribes.
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 use as leverage to build diversified economies. Native American communities have waged and prevailed in legal
battles to assure recognition of rights to self-determination and to use of natural resources. Some of those rights, known as
treaty rights are enumerated in early treaties signed with the young United States government.
Tribal sovereignty has become a cornerstone of American
jurisprudence, and at least on the surface, in national legislative policies. Although
many Native American tribes have casinos, they are a source of conflict. Most tribes, especially small ones 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 gaming
industry.
On May 19, 2005, the Massachusetts legislature finally
repealed a disused 330 year-old law that barred Native Americans from entering Boston.
In August 2005, the National Collegiate Athletic Association
(NCAA) banned the use of "hostile and abusive" Native American mascots from postseason tournaments.[39] The use of Native American themed team names in U.S. professional sports is
widespread and often controversial, with examples such as Chief Wahoo of the
Cleveland Indians and the Washington
Redskins.
Conflicts between the federal government and native Americans occasionally erupt into violence. Perhaps one of the more
noteworthy incidents in recent history is the Wounded Knee incident in small town
of Wounded Knee, South Dakota. On February 27, 1973, the town was surrounded
by federal law enforcement officials and the United States military. The town itself was under the control of members of the
American Indian Movement which was protesting a variety of issues important to
the organization. Two members of AIM were killed and one United States
Marshal was paralyzed as a result of gunshot wounds. In the aftermath of the conflict, one man, Leonard Peltier was
arrested and sentenced to life in prison while another, John Graham, as late as 2007, was extradited to the U.S. to stand trial
for killing a Native American woman, months after the standoff, that he believed to be an FBI informant.[40][41]
Blood Quanta
- See also: Blood quantum laws
Intertribal and interracial mixing was common among Native American tribes making it difficult to clearly identify which tribe
an individual belonged to. Bands or entire tribes occasionally split or merged to form more viable groups in reaction to the
pressures of climate, disease and warfare. A number of tribes practiced the adoption of captives into their group to replace their members who had been captured or killed in battle. These
captives came from rival tribes and later from European settlers. Some tribes also sheltered or adopted white traders and runaway
slaves and Native American-owned slaves. So a number of paths to genetic mixing existed.
In later years, such mixing, however, proved an obstacle to qualifying for recognition and assistance from the U.S. federal
government or for tribal money and services. To receive such support, Native Americans must belong to and be certified by a
recognized tribal entity. This has taken a number of different forms as each tribal government makes its own rules while the
federal government has its own set of standards. In many cases, qualification is based upon the percentage of Native American
blood, or the "blood quanta" identified in an individual seeking recognition. To attain such certainty, some tribes have begun
requiring genetic genealogy (DNA testing).[42] Requirements for tribal certification vary widely. The Cherokee require only a
descent from an Native American listed on the early 20th century Dawes Rolls while federal
scholarships require enrollment in a federally recognized tribe as well as a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood card showing at least a one-quarter Native
American descent. Tribal rules regarding recognition of members with Native American blood from multiple tribes are equally
diverse and complex.
Tribal membership conflicts have led to a number of activist groups, legal disputes and court cases. One example are the
Cherokee freedmen, who were descendants of slaves once owned by the Cherokees. The Cherokees
had allied with the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War and, after the war, were forced by the federal government, in an 1866 treaty, to
free their slaves and make them citizens. They were later disallowed as tribe members due to their not having "Indian blood".
However, in March 2006, the Judicial Appeals Tribunal — the Cherokee Nation's highest court — ruled that Cherokee freedmen are
full citizens of the Cherokee Nation. The court declared that the Cherokee freedmen retain citizenship, voting rights and other
privileges despite attempts to keep them off the tribal rolls for not having identifiable "Indian" blood. In March 2007 the
Freedmen were voted out of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.
In the 20th century, among white ethnic groups, it became popular to claim descent from an "American Indian princess", often a
Cherokee. The prototypical "American Indian princess" was Pocahontas, and, in
fact, descent from her is a frequent claim.[citation needed] However, the American Indian "princess" is a false concept, derived from
the application of European concepts to Native Americans, as also seen in the naming of war chiefs as "kings".[43] Descent from "Indian braves" is also sometimes claimed.
This descent from Native Americans was seen as fashionable not only among whites claiming prestigious colonial descent but
also among whites seeking to claim connection to groups with distinct folkways that would differentiate them from the mass
culture. Large influxes of recent immigrants with unique social customs may have been partially an object of envy. Among
African-Americans, the desire to be un-black was sometimes expressed in claims of Native American descent.[44] Those passing as white
might use the slightly more acceptable Native American ancestry to explain inconvenient details of their heritage.
Cultural aspects
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 hunter-gatherer tribes made stone weapons from around 10,000 years ago; as the
age of metallurgy dawned, newer technologies were used and more efficient weapons produced.
Prior to contact with Europeans, most tribes used similar weaponry. The most common implement were the bow and arrow, the war
club, and the spear. Quality, material, and design varied widely.
Large mammals like mammoths and mastodons were largely extinct by around 8,000 B.C., and the Native Americans switched to
hunting other large game, such as bison. The Great Plains tribes were still hunting the
bison when they first encountered the Europeans. The acquisition of the horse and horsemanship from the Spanish in the 17th
century greatly altered the natives' culture, changing the way in which these large creatures were hunted and making them a
central feature of their lives.
Organization
Gens structure
Before the formation of tribal structure, a structure dominated by gentes existed.
- The right of electing its sachem and chiefs.
- The right of deposing its sachem and chiefs.
- The obligation not to marry in the gens.
- Mutual rights of inheritance of the property of deceased members.
- Reciprocal obligations of help, defense, and redress of injuries.
- The right of bestowing names upon its members.
- The right of adopting strangers into the gens.
- Common religious rights, query.
- A common burial place.
- A council of the gens.[45]
Tribal structure
Subdivision and differentiation took place between various groups. Upwards of forty stock languages developed in North
America, with each independent tribe speaking a dialect of one of those languages. Some functions and attributes of tribes
are:
- The possession of a territory and a name.
- The exclusive possession of a dialect.
- The right to invest sachems and chiefs elected by the gentes.
- The right to depose these sachems and chiefs.
- The possession of a religious faith and worship.
- A supreme government consisting of a council of chiefs.
- A head-chief of the tribe in some instances.[45]
Society and art
Panoramic view of California Indians in 1916.
- See also: petroglyph, pictogram, and petroform
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.[46]
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. 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 high-quality pottery and formalized pictorial arts.
Navajo spirituality focused on the maintenance of a harmonious relationship with the
spirit world, often achieved by ceremonial acts, usually incorporating sandpainting. The
colors—made from sand, charcoal, cornmeal, and pollen—depicted specific spirits. These vivid, intricate, and colorful sand
creations were erased at the end of the ceremony.
Religion
The most widespread religion at the present time 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.[47] 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).
Native Americans are the only known ethnic group in the United States requiring a
federal permit to practice their religion. 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. Native Americans
and non-Native Americans frequently contest the value and validity of the eagle feather
law, charging that the law is laden with discriminatory racial preferences and infringes on tribal sovereignty. The law
does not allow Native Americans to give eagle feathers to non-Native Americans, a common modern
and traditional practice. Many non-Native Americans have been adopted into Native American families, made tribal members and
given eagle feathers.
Many Native Americans would describe their religious practices as a form of spirituality, rather than religion, although in practice the terms may
sometimes be used interchangeably.
Native Americans and African American slaves
There were historical treaties between the European Colonists and the Native American tribes requesting the return of any
runaway slaves. For example, in 1726, the British Governor of New York exacted a promise
from the Iroquois to return all runaway slaves who had joined up with them. This same promise was extracted from the Huron
Natives in 1764 and from the Delaware Natives in 1765.[48] There are also numerous accounts of advertisements requesting the return of African Americans who
had married Native Americans or who spoke a Native American language. Individuals in some tribes owned African slaves; however, other tribes incorporated African Americans, slave or freemen, into the tribe. This custom
among the Seminoles was part of the reason for the Seminole Wars where the European
Americans feared their slaves fleeing to the Natives. The Cherokee Freedmen and tribes such as
the Lumbee in North Carolina include African American ancestors.
After 1800, the Cherokees and some other tribes started buying and using black slaves, a
practice they continued after being relocated to Indian Territory in the 1830s. The
nature of slavery in Cherokee society often mirrored that of white
slave-owning society. The law barred intermarriage of Cherokees and blacks, whether slave or free. Blacks who aided slaves were
punished with one hundred lashes on the back.[49]
In Cherokee society, blacks were barred from holding office, bearing arms, and owning property, and it was illegal to teach
blacks to read and write.[49][50]
Gender roles
Most Native American tribes had traditional gender roles. In some tribes, such as the
