American Environmentalism: The Role of Race, Class and Gender in Shaping Activism 1820-1995

• Published in: Race, gender & class (Towson, Md.) Vol. 5; no. 1; p. 16
• Main Author: Taylor, Dorceta E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Orleans Race, Gender and Class 01.01.1997
• Subjects: Activism; Agricultural policy; Agriculture; American Indians; Bryant, William Cullen; Civil rights; Discrimination; Downing, Andrew Jackson; Environmental law; Environmentalism; Ethnic relations; Farmers; Federal government; Fishing; Government agencies; History; Homicide; Human relations; Human rights; Interest groups; Interpersonal communication; Law; Lobbying; Lobbyists; Mental depression; Miners; Minority & ethnic groups; North America; Occupations; Personal relationships; Politics; Poverty; Preservation; Race relations; Racism; Relocation; Resource management; Sacredness; Social conditions & trends; Traditions; Urban areas; War; White people; Women; Womens rights movements; World War II; United States > US
• ISSN: 1082-8354

People of Color lived in inhumane conditions in the U.S. during the 1800s and the early 1900s. When Jamestown was established in 1607, an estimated 1-18 million Native Americans lived in the U.S, however, by 1890 when the last of the Native American wars ended, there were about 250,000 surviving Native Americans (Stiffarm, 1992:23-28; Wax, 1971:17; McNickle, 1973). Under the 1830 Indian Removal Act, Native Americans were driven from their land and forced onto desolate reservations. They lost their traditional hunting, gathering and fishing grounds, and sacred sites. About 20,000 Indians died on the trek west (Lurie, 1982:131-144; Josephy, 1968; Debo, 1970). Native Americans, forced to live in some oft he most inhospitable areas of the country (Lenarcic, 1982:137-139), used some of their traditional knowledge and practices to develop resource management techniques to sustain themselves on the reservations. Indians were in a precarious position in the 1860s. In California, for example, the federal government signed a series of treaties with Native Americans which clearly outlined reservation boundaries -- primarily in places not wanted by whites or too inaccessible to them. But, as the Gold Rush intensified, white miners responded to the federal government's efforts to define and protect Indian territory with violence. Bands of miners held Sunday "shoots" in which scores of Indians were massacred to prevent them from holding land. Because of political pressure, the California Indian treaties were never ratified by the U.S. Senate. Indians had trouble in other states too. Indians in the Pacific Northwest struggled with fish and game agencies to preserve their treaty fishing rights. Washington state systematically broke six treaties signed with Indians between 1854-1855. Through the implementation of the 1887 Daws (or general allotment) Act, Native Americans lost about two thirds of their land base. In the 1890s, Great Lakes Indians found themselves living on barren reservations doing odd jobs for local whites. Timber companies collaborated with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to strip the land of trees in an effort to transform Indians into farmers (DeLoria, 1994:5-7; [Jaimes, MA], 1992). As DeLoria (1994: 4) argues, from the 1890s to the 1960s Indians were the "Vanishing Americans" because most people thought Native Americans had been exterminated. During the Great Depression, the BIA was ordered to find lands for homeless California Indians who were living in poverty on the outskirts of cities or in remote mountainous areas of the state. Wealthy, white landowners were having a difficult time so the program was used to assist them instead of the Native Americans. To prevent them from going bankrupt, lands classified as "submarginal" by the Department of Agriculture was purchased from these landowners and given to Indians. The Indians who moved to these lands were organized into tribal governments by the BIA under the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act. Throughout World War II Indians moved to the West Coast to work in the war industries, but they lost their jobs to returning white veterans after the war (DeLoria, 1994: 6). Towards the end of the post-Hetch Hetchy era, Native Americans began organizing to end discrimination and bring some basic civil and human rights to their communities. Though Native American protest organizations existed since the 1910s, the modern protest movement began during World War II. In 1944, young Native American intellectuals formed the National Congress of Native American Indians (NCAI) and embarked on an effort to unite Indian nations (pan-tribalism) for the purpose of influencing state and Federal decisions affecting Indians (compensation for territory or resources, termination policy, etc). NCAI also stressed the importance of preserving Native American cultural traditions and institutions. Taking a moderate approach of advocating the needs of Native Americans while participating in the policy debates regarding Indian nations, NCAI enjoyed moderate success (Lenarcic, 1982: 145-148; Cornell, 1988: 119; Weeks, 1988: 261-262). In the 1950s, the BIA launched a program to remove Indians from the reservations, sell the land and terminate the tribal system. The BIA undertook a massive relocation program that placed thousands of Indians in low-paying jobs in urban areas (DeLoria, 1994: 6). Indians responded to these actions by launching the American Indian Movement (AIM).