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Life on reservations

Throughout the 19th century, the American government’s policy towards Native Americans was to relocate them onto reservations. These reservations were governed by Native Americans but funded by the federal government and not linked to the state they were in. By the 1960s, over half of all Native Americans lived on a reservation.

Conditions on reservations

Residents of reservations had a limited standard of life. For example:

• Medical services were of poor quality. The Indian Health Service(IHS) was underfunded and gave substandard care.
• Over half of those living on reservations in 1969 were living below the poverty line due to high unemployment rates.
• Schools were underfunded by the federal government, which ran the reservations.
• Literacy rates among Native Americans were much lower than among white Americans.
• Alcoholism was seen at a higher rate in Native Americans than in other groups of people.

Forced assimilation, adoption and sterilisation

Native Americans experienced this substandard treatment because the government wanted to assimilate their community into US society. This policy had begun in the 1870s and was enhanced in the 1920s. Its aim was to decrease the influence of Native Americans across America and remove their culture, language and traditions.

Around 25 per cent of Native American children were separated from their families to live with adopted parents or in institutions. Around 90 per cent of these children lived with non-Native American parents. Many were not told of their Native American heritage.

The IHS sterilised around 25 per cent of Native American women during the 1970s, frequently without a good medical reason and without the women’s full understanding that the procedure would be permanent.

The impact of poor living conditions in reservations and government policies designed to remove Native American identity saw many migrate to urban areas in search of better living conditions and opportunities to leave poverty. This migration helped to improve the education of young Native Americans and created a desire for protests against the discrimination their people experienced.