American Spirit: How Oklahoma tribes fought autocratic US regime and won Native American rights
The American Indians who have lived and thrived in the state of Oklahoma have a rich history marred with hardships and branded with many victories. Their way of life was dominated by the natural raw materials available on their lands which provided them with food, shelter and clothing. The roots of the Indigenous peoples in Oklahoma can be traced back to many centuries ago when the Sprio Mound builders first inhabited the lands between 500 AD and 1300 AD. Generations later, many other tribes settled in the extended territory along the Mississipi river, including the Indigenous Caddoans (Caddo, Wichita, and Pawnee), the Athapascans (Plains Apache) and the Siouans (Quapaw and Osage). The Kiowa, Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne and Comanche tribes also claimed their territories within the region.
The name of the state is derived from two Choctaw words: 'Ukla' meaning person and 'Huma' meaning red which put together meant 'red person'. The history and lifestyle of the Oklahoma Indians were drastically affected by newcomers who journeyed to the area in search of the 'New World'. The European settlers came with new innovations and ideas as well as epidemic diseases that they had not been immune to which ultimately caused huge losses to their population. They were also subject to exploitation, including taxes, enslavement, and forced labor. Adaptation and adjustment are profound to Native cultures and essentially became integral to the Oklahoman Indians, particularly after the removal to the Indian Territory, as they were forced to re-establish their communities.
In the 1700s, various tribes from the great Indian Nations were forced to move from their homes and permitted to claim the land in Oklahoma. From the 1830s to the 1880s, the Indian Territory was a vast expanse of the US federal territory on the Great Planes that were reserved for Indians. This was the period of 'Indian Removal' and the US government displaced eastern Indian tribes to the Indian Territory including, the Alabama, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole. During the time of the Civil War and later, displaced tribes from the northeast -- the Delaware, Sac and Fox, Shawnee, Ottawa, Wyandotte, Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Peoria, Seneca and Iowa -- went on to join them. Along with them were also Prairie tribes, including the Kaw, Ponca, Otoe, and Missouri.
'Reservations' emerged during the Indian Wars in the 1870s in the Oklahoma region for Plains tribes like the Comanche, Kiowa, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Nez Perce, Modoc, and others. Ultimately, the US government needed up removing a total of 67 different tribes from their lands. In the 1860s, the territories along with the US became embroiled in the struggle between the North and the South. The tribes of the Indian territory were forced to fight for the Confederacy and suffered mass devastation in their homelands while their lives were once again uprooted. The largest conflict of the American Civil War that they engaged in was the Battle of Honey Springs in 1863. The Union emerged victoriously and the tribes' allegiance was pledged to the Confederacy which fueled the retaliation by the United States. In 1866, they were forced to sign the Reconstruction Treaties and the Five Tribes' land was reduce so that the US could allow western tribes to move into the Indian Territory.
In the late 19th century, the Indigenous people of Oklahoma were governed by a new federal policy, much of which sabotages the tribal sovereignty by ending the traditional Indian system of tribal land ownership. The controversial Dawes Severality Act of 1887 promised individual land ownership and US Citizenship to Indigenous peoples. Through this allotment act, at least 27 million acres of tribal land was stripped from Oklahoma Indian nations. In 1889, some 50,000 non-Indian settlers migrated with the first land opening, into the unassigned land of central Oklahoma, and from then on, the population only grew manifold. The Curtis Act, 1898, was then introduced to dissolve all formal tribal governments, cancel reservation status, and nullified tribal schools and judicial systems. Political pressure for statehood inspired them to demand a state of their own, State of Sequoyah, but their lobbying power was limited. Regardless of the setbacks and the federal governments' move to end tribal sovereignty, it still allowed for tribes to have an informal government.
The Indian Territory eventually became the states of Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma and by 1907, it ceased to exist after Oklahoma was recognized and admitted as a state. But the Indian nations did not disappear and instead, they rebuilt again. Of the estimated 10,000 American Indians that served in World War I, many of them hailed from Oklahoma. Many Oklahoma Indians who became US citizens upon receiving land allotments ended up losing their lands to fraudulent and deceptive white opportunists. The Great Depression also wreaked havoc in the Indian communities and many Oklahoman Indians moved to the west during the Dust Bowl Years. Similar to the Dawes Act, the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) was installed in 1934 and it exempted the American Indians of Oklahoma. In 1936, the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act extended IRA provisions which allowed the indigenous people to re-establish their tribal entities and Indian communities into Native government, structured like the US government. Other provisions of this legislation aided them as well as other communities across the Indian Country to endure the Great Depression.
Oklahoma Indian young men were encouraged to join the armed forces when the US headed into battle in World War II. They filled noticeable ranks of the US Army's Forty-fifth Division and even earned accolades for their service after the war. A new federal policy in the 1950s and 1960s, Termination, yet again jeopardized the tribal's self-governance but Oklahoma tribes were able to escape from the verdict of the trust obligations by the US. Tribal governments remained under the firm control of the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior. The 1952 Relocation Program affected many Oklahoma Indian tribes as individuals were sent to major cities for employment and housing. This had major negative ramifications on Native family life. Throughout the 20th century, Oklahoma Indians have seen through many vicious cycle policies implemented by the federal government. The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, 1975, supported and reinforced tribal governments and the former, as a result of the IRA legislation, allowed American Indians in Oklahoma to form 39 federally recognized governments. These nations now exercise powers of self-government and have formed a positive relationship with the state of Oklahoma, through the years.
On Thursday, July 9, 2020, the US Supreme Court ruled that a large expanse of the area in eastern Oklahoma is Native American land for certain purposes, a decision that could essentially reshape the criminal justice system. It could prevent state officials from prosecuting offenses there that involve Native Americans. The ruling sided with a Native American man who had challenged his rape conviction by state authorities in the territory. The 5-4 decision is possibly one of the most consequential legal victories for the Native Americans in decades and was suffused with the US government's blemished history with regard to displacement and broken treaties with Indigenous peoples. It was concerned with whether the lands of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation had remained in the reservation after Oklahoma became a state. Muscogee leaders rejoiced at the decision that finally determined the status of their lands.
The ruling came as the verdict of the case of a convicted child rapist, Jimcy Grant, and convicted murderer Patrick Murphy, whose convictions of state charges were overturned by the Supreme Court. Murphy was sentenced to death but now both men can be prosecuted for their crimes by the federal authorities, said a lawyer of the tribe. The cases revolved around the application of the Major Crimes Act, which allows federal authorities and not state prosecutors, jurisdiction over serious crimes committed by or against Native Americans in Native American territory. In conclusion, much of Eastern Oklahoma, including Tulsa and approximately 1.8 million people, has regained its status as Indigenous land, the state convictions of indigenous individuals have been vacated, and in addition to that, tribes are now exempted from taxes.
American Spirit is a campaign on the issues faced by the Native American Community in America. Over the next few days, this column will feature stories of determination, triumph, legacy and redemption.