The Era of Native Urban Relocation: Ep 17 of Crash Course Native American History

Key Concepts:

• Relocation Era: U.S. government policy in the 1950s and 60s aimed at assimilating Native Americans by relocating them to cities and terminating federal recognition of tribes.
• Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA): The U.S. government agency responsible for administering land held in trust for Native Americans.
• Urban Indians/Native people experiencing urban life: Native Americans living in urban areas, a term that can create a false dichotomy with "rez Indians."
• Pan-Indianism: A political philosophy that promotes intertribal unity and working toward common goals, but can also be seen as a blending of distinct tribal identities into generic sameness.
• Intertribal Organizations: Groups that bring together members of different Native tribes to address common issues and promote Native culture.

1. Relocation Era and its Goals:

• The Relocation Era (1950s-1960s) was a U.S. government initiative to assimilate Native Americans by relocating them to cities and terminating federal recognition of tribes.
• The goal was to cut costs by ending treaty obligations and closing the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).
• Dillon S. Myer, Commissioner of the BIA, spearheaded the relocation program, offering Native Americans a one-way ticket to cities with promises of jobs, schools, and housing.
• The plan was to make reservation lands available for taxation and sale.

2. The Reality of Relocation:

• The BIA launched the relocation program in 1953, offering a paid ride and a month's stipend to Native people willing to relocate.
• Many Natives found scarce housing, low-end jobs, culture shock, and racism in cities, lacking the support of their communities.
• Between 1953 and 1973, at least 100,000 Native Americans moved to cities like Chicago, Denver, LA, San Francisco, and Cleveland.
• The BIA measured the program's success by the number of Natives who remained in cities a year later, regardless of their well-being.

3. Data Discrepancies and the "Invisibility" of Urban Natives:

• The 2020 U.S. Census found that nearly 7 in 10 people who identify as "American Indian or Alaska Native" live in urban areas, contradicting earlier reports.
• The "American Indian" category on the census includes anyone with Indigenous ancestry from anywhere in the Americas, not just the U.S.
• The census reflects self-identification, which doesn't necessarily mean someone is a tribal member.
• Example: In 2023, the Cherokee Nation had 450,000 enrolled members, while over 1.5 million people reported Cherokee ancestry on the census.
• The lack of accurate data on urban Native populations hinders the allocation of resources to important programs.
• Only one percent of the Indian Health Service's (IHS) budget is earmarked for cities, despite the high population of Native people in urban areas.

4. Urban Indian Organizations and Activism:

• Native people in cities formed intertribal organizations to address common issues and promote Native culture.
• The National Urban Indian Family Coalition led the #StatisticallySignificant campaign to encourage Natives in cities to respond to the 2020 U.S. Census.
• The Red Power Movement and the American Indian Movement (AIM) sprouted in cities during the 1960s and 70s, promoting Native pride and organizing protests.
• In 1973, Little Earth was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota— the first and only subsidized housing complex in the U.S. to give preference to Natives.
• Little Earth offers services like rides to school, food banks, doctor visits, tutoring, support groups, an urban farm, community patrol, arts collective, ceremonies, and mentorship from elders.

5. Pan-Indianism: Unity vs. Sameness:

• Pan-Indianism is a political philosophy that promotes intertribal unity and working toward common goals.
• Some see it as positive, representing intertribal unity, while others see it as a blending of distinct tribal identities into generic sameness.
• Cherokee scholar and activist Robert Thomas warned that Natives living in cities were at risk of being cut off from their cultures and the natural world.
• Scholar Sydney Ann Beckmann argues that the debate over Pan-Indianism perpetuates the idea that Indigenous people and cultures cannot exist in urban spaces.

6. Conclusion:

• Native Americans are present in cities in full force and have refused to be invisible.
• They have banded together to provide mutual support and celebrate their uniqueness across cultures.
• Fifty years after relocation officially ended, Native people continue to define and redefine what it means to be Native in the city.
• As the Cheyenne and Arapaho writer Tommy Orange wrote, "The city made us new, and we made it ours."