The Reference Shelf Vol. 29 No. 4: American Indians Walter M. Daniels The H. W. Wilson Co 1957 5th Printing
Title: The Reference Shelf Vol. 29 No. 4: American Indians
Author: Walter M. Daniels
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: The H. W. Wilson Co 1957
Edition: 5th Printing
LCCN: 57-10004
Size: 5.5 X 8 * 219 pages
Synopsis: PREFACE - The status of the American Indian in the United States is a perennial subject for debate. The issues involved have been raised most recently by the retreat under the Truman Administration from the liberal and cooperative policies of the Roosevelt Administration and by the efforts made under the Eisenhower Administration to "get the Government out of the Indian business."
The white man's treatment of the aboriginal inhabitants of North America has run a full cycle since the advent of the first European settlers. While the Spaniards sought to absorb the Indians and their culture, the Dutch and English followed policies of extermination and isolation. This trend was followed in the earliest days of the United States, when Indian affairs came under the jurisdiction of the War Department. With the transfer of these functions to the Department of the Interior in the late 1840's, there came an era of paternalism, marked by efforts to assimilate the Indians into our European type of culture by breaking up their reservations and alloting their lands to individual members of the tribes.
It became apparent, however, that something more than land ownership was needed to adapt the Indian to the white man's civilization. It was during the Civil War that President Lincoln said: "If we get through this war, and I live, this Indian system shall be reformed." It was not until the Hoover Administration, however, that the foundation was laid for such reform. A report made in 1928 by Lewis Meriam and his associates in the Institute for Government Research provided the basis for the new policies of three successive commissioners of Indian Affairs who sought conscientiously to reconcile the interests of the Indian and the white man.
The reform movement reached its high point in the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, pushed through a none-too-willing Congress by Commissioner John Collier. The Act gave the Indians the greatest measure of control over their tribal affairs and lands that they had ever enjoyed under United States jurisdiction.
Collier's policies were abruptly reversed by his successor, Dillon S. Myer, an appointee of President Truman. The Indian Bureau reverted to paternalistic domination of Indian affairs. The main trend of policy under the Eisenhower Administration has been to reduce the Government's long-term involvement in Indian affairs by encouraging Indians to leave their reservations, sell their holdings, and "join the mainstream of American life."
All discussions of the status of American Indians resolve themselves at some point into the question: Shall the Indians be forcibly adapted to our European type of civilization, or shall they be gradually assimilated by a commingling of the best elements of our culture and theirs? The consensus of anthropologists, as reported in "Outlook for the Indians" in Section II of this book, is that the Indians will subsist indefinitely as "cultural islands," despite any attempt to swallow them up in the general population.
The cultural background of the Indians and the history of their relations with the white man are presented in the first two sections of this book. Section III reviews their legal status in our political system. Attempts to assimilate the Indians by turning over reservation jurisdiction to the states and by finding jobs and homes for Indian families in industrial centers are discussed in Sections IV and V. Section VI presents the programs of Indian and non-Indian groups for long-range solution of the problems involved in Indian-white relations.
The editor wishes to express his appreciation to publishers and authors who have permitted the reproduction of materials in this volume. He is especially grateful to the Association on American Indian Affairs, the Nation- al Congress of American Indians, and the American Friends Service Committee for guidance and assistance in assembling material. March 15, 1957 WALTER M. DANIELS
Overall Condition: Good+ Ex Library with some of the usual extras with no jacket and the spine reinforced with tape.. The binding has minimal wear and the pages are undamaged with no creasing or tearing, no pencil underlining of text, no highlighting of text, and no writing in the margins. There are no missing pages; see images.
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