Little Shell Tribe

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The Little Shell Tribe or Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana is an Indian tribe near Great Falls in Montana , made up of members of the Chippewa and the Cree . It has also been recognized as an Indian tribe by the US federal government since 2019. It includes around 4,500 tribal members (as of 2018), some of whom can be traced back to Métis ancestors . Therefore, they have long been referred to as half -breeds .

The name of the tribe goes back to Chief Esens or Thomas Little Shell († 1901).

history

Early history

The history of the Little Shell Tribe is closely related to the early history of the Chippewa (also: Ojibwa or Anishinabe ).

ancestors

The ancestors of the tribe were called Métis descendants of women of the Cree and especially the Ojibwa and non-Indian fathers mostly of French descent. The Métis were predominantly Catholic. The ancestors of the Little Shell did not live in the Canadian Red River District , but in North Dakota in the Pembina District .

In 1870 some of them moved west and lived on the Milk River in Montana for nine years . They helped refugees across the Canadian border after the Nez Percé chief Chief Joseph had to give up his resistance to the US Army in 1877. In May 1879, the small game they needed to survive did not appear, so 25 Métis families moved to Fort Benton on the upper Missouri and on to the Judith Mountains in Lewistown .

In 1883 the Canadian rebel and Métis leader Louis Riel fled to Montana after being defeated in an uprising against the Canadian government. In 1885, another Métis leader, Gabriel Dumont , came from Saskatchewan to St. Peter's Mission not far from Cascade and convinced Riel of the need to risk the uprising in Canada a second time. Dumont fled to Montana after another defeat, Louis Riel was executed in Regina . As a result, an unknown number of Cree-Métis (in contrast to the local Ojibwa-Métis) also came to Montana. Soon all local Métis were considered "Canadian" Métis, and thus as descendants of the French and Cree, not of Ojibwa.

There was also a small Chippewa group in the Pembina area that claimed land north of Devils Lake in North Dakota , which also includes the Turtle Mountains . Their leader was called Little Shell, "little clam", as did his son and grandson, who followed him as chiefs. This group was recognized as the Pembina band . In 1863 they signed a contract. However, with the establishment of the Turtle Mountain Reservation on October 4, 1882, the government opened their land to settlement. Two years later, the reserve area was reduced to two towns ( townships ) in the southeast of the Turtle Mountains. The responsible Indian agent reported in 1884 of "31 Chippewas and 1,200 mixed bloods" in the reservation. On August 19, 1890, the congress gave the order to dissolve the reserve, especially since the residents did not know what to live on after the bison had finally disappeared .

The emergence of the trunk

In 1892, the Indian agent in charge, John Waugh, came to the Turtle Mountain Reservation when Chief Thomas Little Shell (Esens) was hunting with 112 families. In his absence, a contract was signed that sold the tribe 9,500,000 acres of land for one million dollars. Because this meant a purchase price of 10 cents per acre , the treaty also became known as the 10 Cent Treaty . Esens refused to recognize the contract, especially since the 112 families with a total of 525 members no longer appeared in the tribal role. However, this was the only way to secure land claims and state aid. Esens commissioned John Bottineau to sue for the tribe, but he couldn't get his way. On April 21, 1904, Congress ratified the treaty.

The suddenly landless Indians dispersed. In 1896, 600 members of this group were picked up by the army under the orders of John J. Pershing , loaded onto cars and unloaded again at Lethbridge , Canada. However, during the winter they went back and lived in tiny huts and tents. They were turned away by both whites and Indian tribesmen. In 1906 549 tribal members tried to get at least land due to Indians for settlement, but without success.

In 1916 the government assigned them the Rocky Boy's Reservation as Montana's rallying point for landless Indians, but many members of the Little Shell group did not have the necessary funds for the trip and the few who had arrived were not adequately provided for.

In contrast to eleven tribes, which were recognized in Montana by the federal government and established for the seven reserves, most remained landless and hired those who were not recognized as migrant workers on cattle farms. Their children did not go to school during the warmer months. In addition, they had no access to preventive healthcare, so that they often lacked teeth or glasses in old age. In many cases the crow offered them medical help.

The leader of the tribe, Joseph (Joe) Dussome, managed to keep the tribe together for more than four decades despite the adverse circumstances. In 1927 Dussome founded a tribe with the name The Abandoned Band of Chippewa Indians (translated "The abandoned tribe of the Chippewa Indians"), in 1934 he was called The Landless Indians of Montana ("The landless Indians of Montana"). In 1930 the government had promised to buy land from Box Elder for the tribe, but the land went instead to the Rocky Boy's Agency , whose Cree residents, descendants of the Riel-Métis, benefited. Many of them were encamped in 40 acres of land purchased by the government in the 1930s on a hill near Great Falls , later named Hill 57 . Others moved to Choteau , Augusta , Dupuyer, or to places on the Milk River such as Havre , Chinook , but also Malta and Glasgow . Another attempt by the government to acquire a few dozen acres at Great Falls was unsuccessful because of resistance from townspeople. When an area in Phillips County was to be bought for the same purpose in the early 1940s , World War II intervened.

After the death of Thomas Little Shell (Ayabiwewidang), a grandson of the founding chief, the chieftainship passed to Louie Delorme, a descendant of one of the signatories to the 1892 treaty. In 1974, he forced the United States Claims Court to recognize that not even the 10 cents per acre agreed in 1892. For the first time, a court also recognized that the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians was not identical to the Little Shell Band of Chippewa Indians , let alone that they were "Canadian Cree". Nevertheless, it became more and more difficult to have 109 years of landlessness recognized in court by means of proof of parentage, as was required in 1991.

After attempts in 1978 and 1985, the tribe again applied for recognition as an independent Indian tribe in 1996. The state of Montana recognized the tribe in 2000, but not the federal government. A provisional recognition from 2000 was withdrawn in 2009. The main reason for rejection was the lack of evidence of uninterrupted cultural and ethnic identity of the tribe in the period from 1900 to 1934, when the Indian Reorganization Act came into force . The tribe again applied for recognition by the US government. Recognition as an Indian tribe brings with it land and self-government rights as well as some financial and legal incentives, entitlements, and safeguards such as free medical care and educational grants. In December 2019, the Little Shell Tribe finally became the 574th federally recognized American Indian tribe.

According to various sources, the tribe ranges from 4,500 to more than 5,000 members, some of whom live in north and south Dakota and Canada. For the calculation of government grants and subsidies, a list of the registered tribal members must be submitted to the Ministry of the Interior by mid-2021. With the recognition, the tribe is also entitled to 200 acres of land. Additional tribal land can be acquired later.

politics

The tribal government consists of a four-person executive board and a supervisory board ( executive committee ) with five council members . Board members are elected every four years; Council members every two years.

Tribal government

Members of the tribal government are (as of January 2020):

  • Gerald Gray, Chairman
  • Clarence Sivertsen, First Vice-Chairman (1st Vice-Chairman)
  • Leona Kienenberger, Second Deputy Chairwoman (2nd Vice-Chairman)
  • Colleen Hill, Secretary / Treasurer
  • Donald Davis, Council Member
  • Kim McKeehan, Council Member
  • Richard Parenteau, Council Member

See also

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b Great Falls Tribune: Little Shell tribal members weigh in on federal recognition , December 17, 2019
  2. ↑ a b c Great Falls Tribune: 'The day that never comes finally came': Little Shell community reacts to federal recognition , December 20, 2019
  3. ^ State of Montana, Governor's Office of Indian Affairs: Little Shell Chippewa Tribe. Retrieved August 10, 2018 (American English).
  4. ↑ Keith Richotte Jr: Claiming Turtle Mountain's Constitution: The History, Legacy, and Future of a Tribal Nation's Founding Documents . UNC Press Books, 2017, ISBN 978-1-4696-3452-4 ( google.com [accessed August 10, 2018]).
  5. ^ Marga Lincoln: Little Shell Tribe has sought federal recognition for over a century , in: helenair.com, October 14, 2007; archive.org, April 12, 2009.
  6. ^ Turtle Mountain documents could aid Little Shell Tribe . In: Great Falls Tribune . ( greatfallstribune.com [accessed August 10, 2018]).
  7. ^ State of Montana, Governor's Office of Indian Affairs: Little Shell Chippewa Tribe. Retrieved August 10, 2018 (American English).
  8. ^ Turtle Mountain documents could aid Little Shell Tribe . In: Great Falls Tribune . ( greatfallstribune.com [accessed August 10, 2018]).
  9. ^ Turtle Mountain documents could aid Little Shell Tribe . In: Great Falls Tribune . ( greatfallstribune.com [accessed August 10, 2018]).
  10. ↑ UPDATE: Little Shell's recognition bid advances . In: Great Falls Tribune . ( greatfallstribune.com [accessed August 10, 2018]).
  11. ↑ Little Shell Chippewa Tribe sees progress on federal recognition bill. In: Indianz.com. Ho-Chunk / Winnebago Tribe, July 9, 2018, accessed August 10, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Tester, Jon: All Info - p. 39 - 115th Congress (2017-2018): Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians Restoration Act of 2017. May 22, 2017, accessed on August 10, 2018 (English).
  13. ^ Montana Indians. Their History and Location. Montana Office of Public Instruction, pp. 63ff. , accessed on August 10, 2018 .
  14. ↑ a b Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians on mt.gov. Retrieved January 8, 2020
  15. ↑ a b Associated Press : Native tribe recognized by US government after long fight (English), December 21, 2019
  16. ^ A b Little Shell: Government . Retrieved January 14, 2020