Indian Self Determination Act
The Indian Self Determination Act is a US law from 1975 that restored the rights of the Indians that had been lost under the previous termination policy.
The high social spending as a result of the termination policy, through which the Indian tribes were to be dissolved, left a large hole in the US budget. Those responsible felt compelled to stop the dissolution of the tribes .
In 1971, the US government ratified the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act . This guaranteed the indigenous people of Alaska 44 million acres (178,000 km²) of land. A $ 1 billion fund was also set up to provide economic aid to Alaska's indigenous communities. A number of tribes that had been dissolved in the termination policy were given state recognition again. Three years later, a similar act, the Indian Financing Act , provided additional funds for Indian business ventures.
In 1975 the US government under President Gerald Ford finally turned its back on termination. Two laws underlined the new stance. On the one hand the Indian Self Determination Act and on the other hand the Educational Assistance Act were passed. These were based on the admission that the Indians would probably never go into the melting pot of the USA.
The cultural restrictions from the termination period were gradually relaxed. In 1978 the American Indian Religious Freedom Act allowed Indians to resume their traditional religious practices. This ensured the survival of the last Indian cultural elements, at least for the moment.
With the new policy of self-determination, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was able to transfer its business to the tribal government if it so wished. With these tribes, the BIA would only act as a control body for the proper use of government funds. The BIA itself also passed more and more into Indian hands. At the beginning of the 1990s, over 80 percent of all BIA employees were Indians. Self-determination brought about changes in the school system in particular. Indian students received better support, and the tribes were encouraged to start their own schools.
At the latest, the government under Ronald Reagan was aware that Indian self-determination would be pointless without economic help from the US government and would only lead to poverty .
See also
literature
- Frantz, Klaus: The Indian reservations in the USA - aspects of territorial development and socio-economic change . Geological knowledge, volume 109. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart: 1993
- Washburn, Wilcomb: Handbook of North American Indians . Volume 4: History of Indian-White Relations . Smithsonian Institution (ed.). Washington: 1988.