Boarding School and Land Allotment Eras 1879-1933
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1879
Boarding School policy instated, removing Native children from their communities to “kill the Indian, save the man”
The U.S. government launches a policy of forcibly removing Native children from their families and...Read More
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1880s
American traders along Arctic shore introduce alcohol and guns, disrupting Alaska Native lifeways
American traders settling along the Arctic shore hire Native whalers and introduce alcohol and guns,...Read More
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1882
The U.S. Navy shells and destroys Tlingit villages
Following the death of a Tlingit leader employed by a whaling company, Tlingit villagers take...Read More
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1882
Indian dancing is banned
U.S. Secretary of Interior Henry M. Teller orders an end to all “heathenish dances” on...Read More
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1883
Religious Crimes Code of 1883 bans Native dances, ceremonies
Congress bans all Native dancing and ceremonies, including the Sun Dance, Ghost Dance, potlatches, and...Read More
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1884
Organic Act of 1884 supports “educating” Alaska Native children as part of U.S. assimilation policy
The U.S. supports government teachers, in collaboration with U.S. missionaries, to Christianize and use education...Read More
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1884
The U.S. colonizes Alaska after military occupation but offers no health assistance to Alaska Natives
The U.S. Army and Navy shells and burns unarmed villages and then takes steps to...Read More
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1885
Bureau of Indian Affairs-Indian Police Units are established
Indian police units are established at 48 of the 60 Indian agencies. The police units...Read More
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1885
Alaska regions are assigned to religious denominations and industrial schools are established
In line with U.S. policy, the U.S. General Agent for Education, who is also the...Read More
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1887
Native Hawaiians rebel against the Bayonet Constitution
Daily newspapers printed stories about the cultural inferiority of Native Hawaiians and the economic superiority...Read More
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1887-1934
General Allotment Act (Dawes Act) of 1887
Congress passes the General Allotment Act, better known as the Dawes Severalty Act (Dawes Act),...Read More
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1887
Indian Affairs Commissioner bans Native languages in schools
By order of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, J.D.C. Atkins, Native languages are banned from...Read More
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1887
Kamehameha Schools are founded for the education of Native Hawaiian children, require English as the sole medium of instruction
The first principal at Kamehameha is a man named William Oleson. The Reverend Oleson was...Read More
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1887
Plantation owners force King Kalakaua to sign the Bayonet Constitution
All White, American non-Hawaiian merchants and businessman, dubbing themselves the Hawaiian League, form to protect...Read More
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1889
Ghost Dance revival
Wovoka, a Paiute spiritual leader in Nevada, leads the revitalization of the Ghost Dance movement,...Read More
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1889
First Oklahoma Land Rush
The Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) had been set aside in the Indian Removal Act of...Read More
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1890
Buffalo Gap murder of Lakota visiting White friend (South Dakota)
“Several wagonloads” of Lakota are murdered by South Dakota militiamen when they visit the home...Read More
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1890
Native population plunges to all-time low
“The 1890 census records 237,196 Native people -- a decrease of approximately 95 percent from...Read More
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1890
White businessmen plan for annexation of Hawai’i
Congress passes a tariff that shrinks market advantages for Hawaiian sugar producers and, as a...Read More
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1890
Massacre at Wounded Knee
Upon hearing about Sitting Bull’s death, Chief Big Foot decides to move his band to...Read More
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1890
Stronghold Massacre of Lakota (South Dakota)
Seventy-five Lakota are ambushed and killed by South Dakota Home Guard militiamen at the Stronghold,...Read More
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1890
Native Hawaiians are decimated by introduction of foreign diseases
Diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhea, tuberculosis, smallpox, measles, leprosy, and typhoid fever from the time...Read More
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1891
Compulsory attendance law for Native Boarding School attendance
In 1891, the government issues a “compulsory attendance” law that enables federal officers to forcibly...Read More
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1892
Imprisonment for practicing spirituality
Thomas J. Morgan, commissioner of Indian affairs, further suppresses Native ceremonial practices by ordering penalties...Read More
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1892
Chiricahua Apaches and Geronimo are imprisoned without due process
Geronimo and Apaches are transferred from a Florida prison to Mount Vernon Barracks in Alabama...Read More
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1893
Committee of Safety: White planters and businessman illegally overthrow the Hawaiian monarchy
Haole businessmen plot with U.S. Minister to Hawai’i John L. Stevens to overthrow Queen Lili’uokalani,...Read More
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1893
Indian remains continue to be looted from ancient burial sites
Warren K. Moorehead ships hundreds of remains to Chicago for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition...Read More
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1894
Geronimo and Apaches are disallowed a return to their homelands
Apaches are supposed to be allowed to return to their homelands. However, they are met...Read More
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1896
Captured Indians are used as “living specimens” for study
Arctic explorer Robert E. Peary brings “living specimens” of Alaska and Greenland Indigenous peoples to...Read More
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1896
Hawaiian language is restricted in public and private schools
In 1896, haole lawmakers implement an “English only” policy for both public and private schools,...Read More