Pan-Indianism
Pan-Indianism is a movement among Indigenous Americans that encourages unity across diverse tribal affiliations, promoting a shared ethnic identity rather than loyalty to individual tribes. This approach emerged notably in the early 19th century, with figures like Shawnee chief Tecumseh advocating for intertribal cooperation against external threats. The movement gained momentum in the 20th century, particularly post-World War II, as Indigenous Americans mobilized for political and civil rights amidst a backdrop of federal policies aimed at terminating tribal status. Organizations such as the National Congress of American Indians and the American Indian Movement (AIM) exemplify this pan-Indian mobilization, focusing on collective action and broader advocacy for Indigenous rights.
The late 20th century saw increasing distinctions between pan-Indian and tribal movements, with urban-dwelling Indigenous Americans often aligning more with pan-Indian identities due to the erosion of traditional tribal connections. However, this blending of identities has sparked tensions, as more traditionalists view it as a dilution of tribal heritage. Overall, Pan-Indianism represents an ongoing struggle for solidarity and recognition among Indigenous peoples in the face of historical and contemporary challenges.
Pan-Indianism
SIGNIFICANCE: American Indians have long attempted to balance tribal loyalties and affiliations with the possibilities and benefits afforded by intertribal unity; during the latter half of the twentieth century, pan-Indianism became a hotly contested issue.
Since the 1960s, Indigenous Americans have become increasingly politicized and reform-minded. This mobilization has occurred along three lines: tribal, pantribal, and pan-Indian. Tribal activity focuses on organizations or actions by and for members of a specific tribe. This type of movement usually concentrates on the protection or expansion of a single tribe’s rights or opportunities. Pantribalism occurs when two or more tribal entities unite in pursuit of a mutually beneficial goal. The Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT) is an example of such activity. Tribal and pantribal mobilizations are distinct from the pan-Indian movement, which promotes the universality of the Indian experience and emphasizes ethnic identification rather than tribal affiliations. According to Vine Deloria, Jr., a nationally recognized authority on Indigenous American rights, in his work The Nations Within: The Past and Future of American Indian Sovereignty (1984), “the tribes are concerned with the substance of Indian life while the ethnics [pan-Indianists] look to the process.”
Historical Background
The pan-Indian movement had its inception during the opening decades of the nineteenth century. The first definable pan-Indian action occurred during the War of 1812 at the instigation of the Shawnee chief Tecumseh and his brother, a revivalist religious leader named Tenskwatawa (the Shawnee Prophet). Urging the various tribes at the frontier to put aside their differences and to oppose the encroachment of the US government, Tecumseh proclaimed in 1810, “The only way to stop the evil is for the red men to unite in claiming a common and equal right in the land, as it was at first and should be now—for it was never divided but belonged to all.” The pan-Indian activity during the remainder of the nineteenth century focused on a combination of strategies and objectives guided largely by religious inspiration. The most notable of these mobilizations remains the Ghost Dance revivals of the Great Plains fostered by the Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka.
This movement acquired a different direction and form at the beginning of the twentieth century. The focal point shifted from religious revival toward political and civil equity and more formal organization. In 1912, for example, a group of Indigenous Americans drawn together by common experience founded the Society of American Indians. This group continues its commitment to collective action and promoting various pan-Indian and pan-tribal activities. One such organization was the National Congress of American Indians, founded in 1944 by the Indigenous American employees of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Its primary purpose remains to lobby for Indigenous American causes and rights.
Developments Since World War II
During the last half of the twentieth century, distinctions between pantribal and pan-Indian mobilizations became more pronounced. Government programs and policies aimed at the termination of tribal status gave the movements greater impetus. The general atmosphere of protest and reform during the 1960s and early 1970s radicalized the behavior of Indigenous American reformers. An early indicator of the growing schism and changes in tactics was the founding of the National Indian Youth Council in 1961. Frustrated by the “poetic” responses of the older, more established pan-Indian organizations, a group of younger, more radical leaders led by Clyde Warrior, a Ponca, and Mel Thom, a Paiute, formed a new organization. They urged their audiences to come to grips with the continued paternalism of the federal government and its failure to correct dire social and economic conditions confronting Indigenous Americans everywhere. Their cause, according to Thom, was “a Greater Indian America.” This action also foreshadowed the development of the Red Power mobilizations of the 1970s and the constituency within which they would find their base. This movement attracted the interest of urban-dwelling Indigenous Americans whose identification was ethnic rather than tribal in nature.
Among the most important and visible organizations of the next generation of organizations was the American Indian Movement (AIM), founded in 1968 in Minneapolis by Dennis Banks, George Mitchell, and Clyde Bellecourt of the Chippewa (Ojibwa), and Russell Means, a Sioux. This group advocated a much broader range of tactics to accomplish their purpose. In addition to legal recourse, they employed protest demonstrations, sit-ins and occupations, and occasional violence to promote their causes. Two of the most memorable of these activities were the occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969 and the violent stand-off at Wounded Knee in 1973. The founding of the International Indian Treaty Council and the Women of All Red Nations represents institutional outgrowths of the AIM mobilization.
During the 1970s and into the 1980s, this movement also discovered some limitations, especially with regard to goal setting and continued competition with traditional tribal organizations. The strongest supporters of the pan-Indian mobilization remain urban-dwelling Indigenous Americans whose tribal affiliations have eroded. In large and often hostile cities, Indigenous Americans of various nations find it easier to identify with one another than with the larger communities that surround them. They acknowledge a common ethnic origin and welcome partnerships across tribal lines. This tendency places them at odds with many tribalists who are more traditional in their approach and perceive this blending as a dilution of their identities. Pan-Indianists have also realized that defining themselves, their ideals, and their objectives in the abstract is much simpler than developing specific plans of action. All but the broadest of their objectives involve groups too specific to be truly considered pan-Indian in nature.
Bibliography
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Lawson, Russell M., editor. Encyclopedia of American Indian Issues Today. ABC-CLIO, 2013.
McGlennen, Molly. Creative Alliances: The Transnational Designs of Indigenous Women's Poetry. University of Oklahoma Press, 2014.
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"Pan-Indian Movements." The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=PA010. Accessed 2 Nov. 2024.
Shreve, Bradley G. Red Power Rising: The National Indian Youth Council and the Origins of Native Activism. University of Oklahoma Press, 2011.