Native American Self-determination - Origin of The Concept of Self-determination

Origin of The Concept of Self-determination

Self-determination is defined as the movement by which the Native Americans sought to achieve restoration of tribal community, self-government, cultural renewal, reservation development, educational control, and equal or controlling input into federal government decisions concerning policies and programs. The beginnings of the federal policy favoring self-determination dates back to the 1930s. In 1933, John Collier, a social worker and reformer who had long worked in American Indian affairs, was appointed commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was likely the most knowledgeable person about American Indians appointed to this position, and he respected tribal cultures and values.

The US Congress passed Collier's legislation, the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, although with numerous changes. It was to enable tribes to reorganize their governments and strengthen their communities. It ended the allotment of Indian lands, which had led to loss of control over their territories. The law was intended to decrease the paternalistic power of the BIA, which extended to their running numerous boarding schools, where American Indian children were forced to give up native languages and cultural practices. Four years before the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act, the government acknowledged that the paternalism was unfair to the Indian tribes and their people. The IRA was called the Indian "New Deal" by the Roosevelt administration. The IRA enabled the restoration of tribal governments, but Congress made many changes in response to lobbyists, and the bill fell short of the policy of "Indian self-determination without termination."

During the 1950s, government policy changed toward American Indians, and politicians recommended termination of many of the tribes' special relationships with the government under federal recognition of their status, in favor of assimilation. Over 100 tribes were terminated; those that continued suffered from increased governmental paternalism. During the 1960s and later, with increased activism for civil rights and American Indian rights, the movement for self-determination gained strength.