Native Americans

The Indigenous people of North America are often called Native Americans—but they are not just one group of people. Before Europeans arrived in North America, tens of millions of Native Americans lived on the continent. They spoke more than a thousand languages and had many diverse cultures. However, just a few years after the arrival of Europeans, about 90 percent of Native Americans died from diseases such as smallpox, which they had no prior exposure to and therefore no immunity against. Following that, Native Americans suffered through centuries of conflict with the Europeans and their descendants. In the twentieth century, many Indigenous activists fought for civil rights and greater recognition of Native American cultures. In the twenty-first century, many Indigenous groups in the United States and Canada have special treaty rights and recognition as sovereign tribes, bands, or nations.

Native Americans were originally referred to by those of European descent as American Indians, or Indians, due to explorer Christopher Columbus's mistaken belief that he had reached the East Indies upon first reaching what would be called North America. The term "Native American" was introduced to correct this mistake and avoid the racist connotations that had been attached to the "Indian" designation. However, as Indigenous activist groups gained more influence in the late twentieth century, some people of Indigenous descent began to reclaim the term "American Indian" and many even came to prefer it to "Native American." Others reject both terms—and similar ones, such as "Amerind"—as offensive because they lump together such a wide range of cultures and promote stereotypes. For these reasons, the preferred terms used for and by people of Indigenous descent vary and have often caused controversy.

It should also be noted that the usage of terms referring to the Indigenous peoples of North America vary geographically as well. "Native American" is most common in the United States. Historically, however, it did not include Alaska Natives, such as the Aleut and Tlingit cultures, or Native Hawaiians. In Canada, meanwhile, Indigenous groups are officially referred to as First Nations, while the Métis and Inuit cultures are recognized as distinct. Some sources also use "Native American" or "American Indian" to refer to any aboriginal person in not only North America but in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean as well. Because these terms are so often ill-defined and controversial, it is best to instead use specific names of band or nation whenever possible.

Overview

Before Europeans arrived in North America, Native Americans inhabited the entire continent, where they had lived for thousands of years. Somewhere between 140 and 160 distinct tribes are thought to have existed, each with a unique culture and language. When European diseases such as measles, influenza, and smallpox swept through the continent, entire tribes were sometimes wiped out. Even those tribes that survived faced death rates of 60 to 90 percent of their population. Historians estimate that in the years following the Europeans' arrival, 90 percent of North America's native population was killed. Since Native Americans kept no written records, the vast majority of the tribes' history was lost, along with their languages. Even the names of some tribes were lost.

The Europeans had no understanding of infectious diseases. They thought smallpox was a gift sent by God to make it easier for them to take land off of Native Americans. After exposure to infectious diseases, the devastated native populations were easy to subjugate. Many Native Americans were enslaved. Some Europeans acted as enslavers, but most paid native tribes to enslave other tribes. These Native Americans knew that if they refused to sell other tribes as slaves, they could easily become enslaved themselves. Native Americans were also often convinced to fight against one colonial power by another and then denied whatever payment they had been promised.

After the formation of the United States, there were some efforts to include Native Americans as citizens, generally by cultural assimilation. This process was often forced and suppressed native traditions, and racism remained rampant. In the early 1800s, the US government issued the Indian Removal Act which ordered all Native Americans to be moved west of the Mississippi River into designated areas in what is now Oklahoma. The government did this to make space for the growing number of White settlers in the country. It wanted to protect White people from having to confront angry Native Americans when they built homes on their land. This plan was problematic for several reasons. Most of the land west of the Mississippi was already home to native tribes—and this land was typically of poor quality and unable to support additional residents. And the journey to the new areas was often long and dangerous. Many Native American tribes, especially the Cherokee, had no way to prepare for a march that was thousands of miles long. Soldiers shot and killed any Native Americans who refused to make the journey. More than five thousand Cherokee people died on the march, which became known as the Trail of Tears.

Life was not any easier for those who survived the Trail of Tears. The US government repeatedly failed to honor treaties it had made with Native Americans. Payments and survival supplies promised in exchange for the trek to Oklahoma arrived years late or were stolen by corrupt officials. Additionally, almost all Native Americans who agreed to make the journey had signed an agreement with the US government stating that they were being moved to a permanent homeland, where they would not be bothered or forced to move again. The Native Americans could self-govern themselves once again. However, only a short time after the Native Americans became settled, gold was discovered on their new land. Prospectors flocked to the territory, and some of them brought their families and settled there. Eventually, the government reneged on its agreement and took back the land it had given them. The government then placed many Native Americans on reservations, which were often small tracts of poor-quality, remote land.

In the late 1800s, the US government again made attempts to assimilate Native Americans, forcibly bringing them into White culture. At the time, this seemed an acceptable alternative to taking more of their land. More than 100,000 Native American children were forced to attend "Indian Boarding Schools" based on military camps. Children were treated cruelly at these schools. If they spoke a Native American language there, expressed their heritage, or stepped out of line, they were savagely beaten. The children were forced to work all day without ever being educated. They were taught nothing of their former culture except offensive stereotypes, such as "Kill the Indian, save the man." Because of all this, many children were rejected by their families when they returned to their reservations.

Native Americans' land struggles did not end in the 1800s. Those living on reservations in the twenty-first century have drastically higher rates of poverty, alcoholism, drug abuse, sexual assault, and general crime than the rest of the country. Much of this is due to a lack of clear authority on reservations. A reservation is a sovereign nation, although the Supreme Court has exercised power over reservations on numerous occasions. However, often the state police cannot investigate or prosecute crimes on reservations. Because of this, people from outside the reservations are leery of establishing businesses there and banks are reluctant to give loans to tribe members. Should a tribe member refuse to repay a loan, the local authorities cannot force payment because they have no jurisdiction over reservations. Some tribes are attempting to fix these problems by reforming their legal systems.

Despite these historical and ongoing challenges, many Native American groups take pride in their heritage and continue to work for greater cultural recognition and social justice. The broad civil rights movement that gained traction in the 1960s saw many Native American activist groups, including controversial militant groups such as the American Indian Movement (AIM), work to improve conditions for people of Indigenous descent both on and off reservations. Though these efforts met with mixed results, including violent clashes with law enforcement as during the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation, they succeeded in bringing attention to the Native cause. They also set the groundwork for later activist groups that continue to advocate for Native American interests. One symbolic victory came in 2009 when the US government officially apologized to the native people of the United States for years of mistreatment and violence. The federal government has also worked to improve the legal situation for Native Americans; in 2013 it extended jurisdiction of the Violence Against Women Act into reservations in certain situations. Additionally, Native American leaders have had success lobbying for the rights of native peoples by rising to positions of leadership within the US government. For instance, Deb Haaland became the first Native American to head the Department of the Interior in 2021, and Marilynn Malerba was appointed to the position of US treasurer in 2022. Under Malerba, the federal government created a new treasury office of tribal and Native affairs to further improve relations between the US government and Native Americans.

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