| Formation | 1911 |
|---|---|
| Extinction | 1923 |
| Type | Native American rights |
| Purpose | Pan-Indianism |
| Headquarters | United States |
Official language
| English |
The Society of American Indians (1911–1923) was the first national American Indian rights organization run by and for American Indians. The Society pioneered twentieth century Pan-Indianism, the movement promoting unity among American Indians regardless of tribal affiliation. The Society was a forum for a new generation of American Indian leaders known as Red Progressives, prominent professionals from the fields of medicine, nursing, law, government, education, anthropology and ministry. They shared the enthusiasm and faith of Progressive Era white reformers in the inevitability of progress through education and governmental action.
The Society met at academic institutions, maintained a Washington, D.C. headquarters, conducted annual conferences and published a quarterly journal of American Indian literature by American Indian authors. The Society was one of the first proponents of an "American Indian Day." It was at the forefront of the fight for Indian citizenship and opening the U.S. Court of Claims to all tribes and bands in United States. The Indian Citizenship Law, signed on June 2, 1924, was a major achievement for the Society. The Society anticipated by decades the establishment of a federal Indian Claims Commission in 1946 to hear claims of Indian tribes against the United States. In 1978 such cases were transferred to the U.S. Court of Claims. The Society of American Indians was the forerunner of modern organizations such as the National Congress of American Indians.
Pan-Indianism
The Carlisle Indian School was a well-spring of Pan-Indianism.
The Carlisle Indian School and the Hampton Institute, off-reservation Eastern boarding schools, were well-springs of Pan-Indian leadership.
The most significant legacy of the Carlisle Indian School may have
been the connections established by the students. Lifelong friendships
were formed, and more importantly, ties between disparate Indian nations
were forged. Launched in the hopes of Americanizing the students, the
mixing of 85 Indian nations from all parts of the country also had
instead the effect of "nationalizing the Indian." Dr. Carlos Montezuma described Carlisle "as a Gibraltor, a place to think, observe and decide."
American Indian students from Alaska to Florida represented a rich
diversity of tribes and traditions. While students learned Euro-American
customs, they also learned about other tribes and religions and how
each tribe was subject to irrational and casual dealings by government. Carlisle alumni across the nation maintained a Pan-Indian espirit de corps and they visited and communicated frequently.
Early discussions
Rev. Sherman Coolidge
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Dr. Carlos Montezuma
In the early 1900s, three prominent American Indians, Dr. Charles Eastman, his brother Reverend John Eastman and Rev. Sherman Coolidge
first discussed organizing a Pan-Indian or intertribal Indian rights
organization. However, they concluded the time was not yet right to
broadly advance the idea, believing such a movement "would not be
understood either by our own people or the American people in general,"
present a "grave danger of arousing the antagonism of the Bureau," and
compromise the many progressively-oriented Indians affiliated with
Government service and programs.
In 1903, Rev. Coolidge and sociologist Fayette Avery McKenzie met at the Wind River Reservation Boarding School,
and they shared their ideas about forming national association run by
Indians for Indians. In 1905, McKenzie joined the faculty of the Ohio State University, and in 1908 invited Dr. Charles Eastman, Dr. Carlos Montezuma
and Rev. Coolidge to the Ohio State campus to deliver a series of
lectures on "several phases of the Indian problem in a course which he
was offering on "The Indian." The university lectures were well received, and they were covered by
the local press, who helped turn Columbus's discovery of "new" Indians
into news by printing striking photos of Coolidge and Montezuma on their
front pages. The three well-known intellectuals scheduled a full week
of speaking engagements with local civic organizations and churches,
drawing further attention when they traveled about the city as a
threesome to attend each other's events.
In 1909, after the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,
McKenzie sensed the time was ripe for a national organization of
"educated and progressive Indians" and corresponded with Coolidge and
Eastman calling for an Indian-led national conference on Indian affairs.
McKenzie asserted that "the time has come when a 'Mohonk by Indians' can
do even more for the country than a 'Mohonk for Indians.'" In a letter to inviting participants to a proposed 1909 Indian
conference, McKenzie envisioned a new dawn at Columbus, writing, "even
as the navigator Columbus discovered the old Indian in 1492, may we not
hope that the city of Columbus shall discover the "new Indian." McKenzie
called upon American Indians to form the first national pan-tribal
organization run by and for Indians, and not a "friends of Indians"
organization such as the progressive Indian Rights Association. However, McKenzie's first efforts to organize an Indian conference in 1909 failed.
First meeting in Columbus
On April 3–4, 1911, at the invitation of McKenzie, six American
Indian intellectuals attended a planning meeting at Ohio State State
University. The attendees were Dr. Charles Eastman, (Santee Dakota), physician; Dr. Carlos Montezuma, (Yavapai-Apache), physician; Thomas L. Sloan, (Omaha), attorney; Charles Edwin Dagenett, (Peoria), Bureau of Indian Affairs supervisor; Laura Cornelius Kellogg, (Oneida), educator; and Henry Standing Bear, (Oglala Lakota), educator. Arthur C. Parker, (Seneca), an anthropologist, was also invited to the meeting, but a fire at the New York State Capitol, which housed the New York State Museum, where he served as an archeologist, precluded his attendance.
After the meeting, the committee issued a public announcement of
the formation of the American Indian Association, plans for an inaugural
National Indian Conference to be held that fall at Ohio State
University and reasons for the conference: "One. The highest ethical
forces of America have been endeavoring on a large scale and in a
systematic way to bring the Native Americans into modern life. It is
well to see whether these efforts have brought results. Two. The time
is come when the Indian should be encouraged to develop self-help. This
can be achieved only with the attainment of a race consciousness and a
race leadership. We cannot predict the race leader, the gathering of the
educated, aggressive members of all the tribes is a prerequisite to
discuss discovery. Three. The Indian has certain contributions of value
to offer to our government and our people. These contributions will be
made more efficiently if made in authorizing collectively. They will, at
least they may, save us immense losses from mistaken policies which we
will might otherwise follow. Four. The white man is somewhat
uncomfortable under a conviction that a century of dishonor quote has
not been redeemed. If it any degree can convince himself and his red
brother that he is willing to do what he can for the race whose lands
has he has [sic] occupied, a new step toward social justice will have
been taken. "
On April 5, 1911, the press reported the meetings as "without
precedent in the history of the country, only paralleled in significance
by those held immediately after the close of the Civil War for the
purpose of organizing intelligent work among the freed men." It was
further reported that the new national organization was being
established for the purpose of "bettering of conditions for the Indians
and the upbuilding a race consciousness", and that in October an
official invitation will be extended by the Ohio Columbus Centennial
Commission to have the second annual meeting at this body held in
conjunction with the centennial celebration.
Temporary Executive Committee
Shortly
after the April meeting, a Temporary Executive Committee was formed,
consisting of 18 prominent Indians: Charles E. Dagenett (Peoria), Chairman; Laura Cornelius Kellogg (Oneida), Secretary; and Rosa La Flesche (Chippewa), Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer. Members of the Committee included William Hazlett (Blackfoot), Harry Kohpay (Osage), Charles D. Carter (Chickasaw and Cherokee), Emma Johnson (Pottawatomie), Howard E. Gansworth (Tuscarora), Henry Roe Cloud (Winnebago), Marie Louise Bottineau Baldwin, (Chippewa), Robert De Poe (Klamath), Charles Doxon (Onondaga) and Benjamin Caswell (Chippewa). Professor McKenzie was appointed "Local Representative, Columbus, Ohio."
Committee members were Indian progressives, many of whom were
educated in white institutions, lived and worked primarily in white
society. Most believed Indian advancement required education, hard work,
and aligning Indian attitudes, values, and lifestyle to white culture.
The committee adopted a Statement of Purpose composed of six
principles that addressed concepts of equal rights, good citizenship,
and race betterment, and asserted that in all Association activities,
"the honor of the race and the good of the country will always be
paramount." The preamble declares that the time has come when the
American Indian race should contribute, in a more united way, its
influence and exertion with the rest of the citizens of the United
States in all lines of progress and reform, for the welfare of the
Indian race in particular, and humanity in general."
"First. To promote and cooperate with all efforts looking to the
advancement of the Indian in enlightenment which leave him free as a man
to develop according to the natural laws of social evolution. Second.
To provide, through our open conference, the means for a free discussion
on all subjects bearing on the welfare of the race. Third. To present
in a just light a true history of the race, to preserve its records, and
to emulate it's distinguishing virtues. Fourth. To promote citizenship
among Indians and to obtain the rights thereof. Fifth. To establish a
legal department to investigate Indian problems, and to suggest and to
obtain remedies. Sixth. To exercise the right to oppose any movement
which may be detrimental to the race. Seventh. To direct its energies
exclusively to general principles and universal interest, and not allow
it self to be used for any personal or private interest. The honor of
the race and the good of the country will always be paramount."
On June 21 and 22, 1911, the Temporary Executive Committee met at the home of Laura Cornelius Kellogg in Seymour, Wisconsin, attended by prominent Oneida attorneys Chester Poe Cornelius and Dennison Wheelock. Charles E. Dagenett had the chair, with Emma Johnson, Rosa LaFlesche and Fayette McKenzie in attendance.
On June 25, 1911, the committee sent out a statement of intent to
approximately four thousand Indians throughout the nation pointing out
the vital necessity for an "organization that shall voice the best
judgment of the Indian people, and that shall command the attention of
the United States."
Inaugural Society Conference
The Society of American Indians, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, Inaugural Conference, 1911
From his faculty position at Ohio State, and given the official title
of "Local Representative", McKenzie organized much of the formal and
informal proceedings of the event, from logistics to program
development.
On July 29, 1911, The Washington Post
reported that all Indians living in United States had been invited to
attend a conference in Columbus Ohio, October 12 to 15, to map out a
concerted plan for the uplift and betterment of the race. One of the
main purposes of the meeting is to demonstrate to the American people
that the Indian is no longer a savage, and that the last twenty years
have shown a wonderful development of intellect and character among the
Indian tribes. It was further reported that Senators Robert L. Owen of Oklahoma, Charles Curtis of Kansas and Representative Charles D. Carter of Oklahoma, all of Indian parentage, joined in the call for the meeting.
McKenzie planned a symbolic event with national press coverage and worked with Arthur C. Parker
to recruit speakers, design the conference program and secure
endorsements from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, City of Columbus, Ohio
State University and several local civic and religious organizations. The response was positive. Impressed with the historical significance of the April meeting, Ohio State President William Oxley Thompson, Columbus Mayor George Sidney Marshall,
as well as by the President of the Chamber of Commerce, the President
of the Ministerial Association, the Secretary of the YMCA, the Secretary
of the State Historical and Archaeological Society, and the President
of the Columbus Federation of Labor invited the new American Indian
Association to hold their first national conference in Columbus, on
Columbus Day, October, 1911.
"Word has come to our ears that you are planning to meet in national
assembly for the first time in history to discuss the problems which
devolve upon the Indian race, and we, therefore, hasten to invite you to
light the camp-fire first in the city named for the first white man who
visited these shores. Let us, if we may, forget any animosities of the
past, and jointly work for those conditions and those policies which in
the future will justify peace because based upon the principles of
equity, intelligence and progress. The high position which your leaders
are reaching make us eager to welcome the representatives of all the
tribes in the name of Ohio State University, the City of Columbus, and
the civic and religious bodies of our city." The invitation was accepted and a call issued for a national conference.
On October 12, 1911, the Society's inaugural conference was convened on the campus of the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, symbolically held on Columbus Day as a fresh beginning for American Indians.
From October 12–17, 1911, approximately 50 prominent American Indian
scholars, clergy, writers, artists, teachers and physicians attended the
historic event, and was reported widely by national news media. The Society was formally welcomed by university and city officials, and a personal address by the U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Robert G. Valentine. Evening entertainment was provided by several of the Indian participants and by a quartette sent from the Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Group sessions were held issues affecting American Indians including
issues of citizenship, higher education, Indians in the professions,
Indian laws and the future of reservations. On Sunday, participants were
delegated to appear at various churches in Columbus. Participants
organized themselves under the temporary name of the American Indian
Association, elected officers, and adopted a constitution and by-laws.
The business session was attended by Indian delegates only. Thomas L. Sloan, Rev. Sherman Coolidge and Dr. Charles Eastman
were nominated for Chairman of the Executive Committee, and Sloan won.
Charles E. Dagenett, who had declined to continue as Executive
Committee Chairman, was elected secretary-treasurer. Other Executive
Committee members elected were Hiram Chase, Arthur C. Parker, Laura Cornelius Kellogg and Henry Standing Bear.
The committee was directed to "provide a provisional constitution for a
representative convention of all the Indians in the country,"
recommending that each tribe send at least two representatives.
Washington was selected as the headquarters and the Executive Committee
was to watch legislation affecting Indian Affairs and to cooperate with
the Indian Office "for the welfare of the Indians to the best of their
ability." The Constitution divided membership into classes including active,
Indian associate and associate. Only Indians could vote and hold office.
Associate members were persons of non-Indian blood interested in Indian
welfare.
The Society letterhead made clear the status of Indians and
non-Indians, "Memberships: active and associate: persons of Indian blood
only." John Milton Oskison (Cherokee), an editor of Collier's magazine, and Angel De Cora (Winnebago), art educator at the Carlisle Indian School were commissioned to create the Society emblem.
The committee also changed the name from the "American Indian
Association" to the "Society of American Indians" "in order to remove
it from the category of white–run "Indian associations" such as the Indian Rights Association
and unmistakably as an Indian movement. Washington, D.C. was selected
as the headquarters, the executive committee was directed to watch
legislation affecting Indian affairs and for the welfare of Indians to
the best of their ability. This was to be an association run by
Indians.
Red Progressives
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Charles R. Doxon
Rosa La Flesche
The early leaders of the Society were known as the "Red Progressives".
Progressive American Indians referred to themselves as such because
they shared the enthusiasm and faith of the white reformers in the
inevitability of progress, and belief in social improvement through
education and governmental action.
All them fought hard and for what they had won and expected that gains
could not be made without pains. They had a good deal of the psychology
of the self-made man
and very little of the psychology of the passive victim of
circumstance. The Society was born of hope, rather than despair. Not
the last stand of and embattled people, but a new force in American
life. The choice of Columbus Day
for the opening of the founding conference of the Indian reformers,
October 12, 1911, was to be a new beginning for American Indians.
Society members were educated professionals from the fields of
medicine, nursing, law, government, education, anthropology, ethnology
and clergy. There were no chiefs or tribal leaders amongst them. The
most important single influence at the conference was that of eastern
Indian boarding schools, especially Carlisle. The bond among Carlisle
alumni was so strong that it provided the major source of Pan-Indian
leadership. Red Progressives remained in close touch with tribal life and used both
Indian and American names. Many were the sons and daughters of
influential tribal leaders from New York, the Great Lakes, Oklahoma and
the Great Plains. Of the expanded committee, six were born or had lived
in Oklahoma, and almost all were from Eastern, Prairie or Plains Tribes:
four from tribes of the Six Nations Confederacy, two from the Lakota,
two from the Five Civilized Tribes, three from the Chippewa, one each
from the Blackfoot, Pottawattamie, Winnebago, Omaha, Osage, Apache and
Klamath, and born into progressive families and tribes with social and
marital connections to non-Indians. Also many were previously or
currently employed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Their perspective
was unique, and they used their education to champion American Indian
rights.
In April 1912, when the proceedings of the Columbus conference
were published, Society membership had increased to 101 actives, about
one-third of whom were women, and approximately the same number of
non-native associates. By 1913, active members grew to the high point of nearly 230 individuals representing almost 30 tribes. Membership included Arthur Bonnicastle, (Osage), community leader; Gertrude Bonnin, (Yankton Dakota), educator and author; Rev. Benjamin Brave, (Oglala Lakota), minister; Estaiene M. DePeltquestangue, (Kickapoo); nurse; William A. Durant, (Choctaw), lawyer; Rev. Philip Joseph Deloria, (Onondaga), priest; Rev. John Eastman, (Santee Dakota), minister; Father Philip B. Gordon, (Chippewa), priest; Albert Hensley, (Winnebago); missionary; John Napoleon Brinton Hewitt, (Tuscarora), linguist and ethnographer; William J. Kershaw, (Menominee), attorney; Susan LaFlesche, (Omaha), physician; Francis LaFlesche, (Omaha), anthropologist; Rev. Delos Lone Wolf (Kiowa), minister; Louis McDonald, (Ponca); businessman; Luther Standing Bear, (Oglala Lakota), educator; Dennison Wheelock, (Oneida), musician, composer, lawyer; and Chauncey Yellow Robe, (Sicangu Lakota), educator.
The official photograph of the Inaugural Society Conference in
Columbus, Ohio, shows members attired in the fashion of the day, the
Indian clergyman among them wearing clerical collars. There's no hint
"of Indianness" in their costume with the exception of Nora McFarland
from Carlisle who, wearing an Indian dress, was seated at the center of
the group.
The Society joined with reformist progressives in opposition to Wild
West shows, theatrical troupes, circuses and most motion picture firms.
The Society believed that theatrical shows were demoralizing and
degrading to Indians, and discouraged Indians from Wild Westing. Chauncey Yellow Robe
wrote that "Indians should be protected from the curse of the Wild West
show schemes, wherein the Indians have been led to the white man's
poison cup and have become drunkards." Red Progressives believed Wild West shows exploited Native Americans
and vigorously opposed theatrical portrayals of Native Americans as
savages and vulgar stereotypes.
From 1886 to the onset of World War I, reformist progressives fought a
war of images with Wild West shows before public exhibitions at world
fairs, expositions and parades portraying the model Carlisle Indian
Industrial School as a new generation of Native Americans embracing
civilization, education and industry.
The early course of the Society was influenced by many factors.
Pan-Indianism developed during the period when modern social science
came of age, and sociologists and anthropologists helped define the
common ground of "race."
Reformers of the bully Progressive era were inveterate founders of
organizations, translating ideas into organizations and organizations
into action. Problems existed to be solved, and the democratic promise
existed to be fulfilled. Arthur C. Parker,
an anthropologist, visioned the "Old Council Fire" composed of American
Indian men and women from all tribes of United States. He believed
that the Society should adopt an organizational format like that of
"friends of Indians" organizations, meet at academic institutions rather
than on reservations, maintain a Washington headquarters, publish a
quarterly journal, conduct annual conferences and be a vehicle for the
expression of a pan-Indian identity.
Christianity and Freemasonry
played crucial roles in the Society. Christian ideas of human
brotherhood and the equality of all men before God complemented
anthropological ideas of inherent racial equality. Most of the Red
Progressives were Christians, Protestant and Catholic, and some were
ordained ministers and priests. Others were religious peyotists from
more Christianized tribes. Freemasonry exercised an important influence
on the development of Pan-Indianism in the 1920s. Almost every male
Indian involved in the Society was an active Freemason. Arthur C.
Parker, who used both his "American" and his Seneca name
"Ga-wa-so-wa-neh", wrote a pamphlet on American Indian Masonry, published in 1919 by the Buffalo Consistory.
Parker wrote of Masonry's implicit link with American Indians, and
noted that the Iroquois, especially the Senecas, were "inherent"
Freemasons. He shared the view of his great-uncle Ely S. Parker,
the first American Indian Commissioner of Indian Affairs, that Masonry
offered upward mobility in the white world, and would preserve the
memory of the Indian, "If my race shall disappear from this continent."
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs
was a topic of constant and divisive debate within the Society. During
the conference, a contentious discussion grew out of the perceived
influence of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
within the Society. Many Indians regarded the Bureau with contempt and
viewed it as representing white oppression and control, and that Indians
affiliated with the Bureau worked against the race. McKenzie noted
that "a considerable body of Indians are positively afraid of and
opposed to the government," and that they feel "a government employee is
not morally free to express his own independent judgment." At the
first Columbus conference, Charles Edwin Dagenett,
who as Supervisor of Employment was the highest ranking Indian in the
Bureau, was elected Secretary-Treasurer. This contributed to suspicion
among Indians of white control of the Society. Society leaders debated
whether the Bureau of Indian Affairs and federal reservation system
should be abolished and whether employees of the Bureau holding offices
could be loyal to the "race" and the Society. Dr. Carlos Montezuma and Father Philip B. Gordon
believed it was not possible for a member in the employment of the
government to be at the same time loyal to the Society, while Rev.
Coolidge, Marie Baldwin and Gertrude Bonnin maintained it was possible
an employee of the Indian Service to be an equally loyal to his race and
to his government.
Montezuma detested the Bureau of Indian Affairs and reservation life,
and soon became convinced the Society was a puppet of the Bureau. At the fifth annual conference in Lawrence, Kansas,
September 28–October 3, 1915, Rev. Coolidge was re-elected president
and Arthur C. Parker as secretary, and Daganett was replaced as first
vice-president by William A. Durant. Afterwards, Daganett and Rosa B. Laflesche, the assistant secretary in the Washington office, withdrew from Society affairs.
The Bureau was a major employer of American Indians and the
debate regarding "race loyalty" virtually eliminated one of the
Society's major constituencies. Sloan, a candidate for the position of
U.S. Indian Commissioner urged prudence, "The Indian Bureau has grown to
be a necessity for a great many employees in United States government.
In case the reservations were destroyed, jobs would have to be sought
for by a great many people who are now in the Indian service, and this
seems that that cannot be done at one stroke."
Most of the leadership believed that the reservation system should go
and the Indian Bureau abolished. But as much as they resented the
Bureau, could not reconcile themselves to a policy which would deliver
older Indians into the hands of rapacious enemies and destroy forever
the possibility protecting the Indian land base.
McKenzie's role
Fayette Avery McKenzie
was the first American sociologist to specialize in Indian affairs.
McKenzie criticized the government's Indian policy and was well
connected to the political establishment in Washington, D.C. Arthur C. Parker, Secretary of the Society from 1911–1915, regarded McKenzie as the "father of the movement."
McKenzie respected the Society's mantra of "for Indians and by
Indians" and understood Indians' distrust of Whites. McKenzie
downplayed his role as "Local Representative" for the Society and worked
behind the scenes. He wrote to Parker, "Whatever I may say is subject
to two suspicions: First that my race prevents me understanding the
situation. Second, that I may have some ulterior motive." "I am always
embarrassed by doubt in my mind as to whether I shall act and speak, or
whether I shall contribute most by silence. Everyone who says anything
to me tells me to proceed and that the Indians have confidence in me and
I am glad and believe that is so, even though doubtful as to what
extent that confidence involves action." While Parker was determined
that the Society should be run by Indians, it did not diminish his
desire for McKenzie's counsel and assistance in managing the
organization. In short time, Parker was overwhelmed with the volume of
Society work and contemplated resigning. McKenzie exhorted him to stay
with the Society, noting "it is not impossible that you are the only man
who can save the situation and that you may have to do it by constant
correspondence, keeping all in touch one with the other, and keeping all
satisfied that equal justice is being arranged for."
Parker teamed with McKenzie to manage the Society and navigate
politics. Responsibilities included publications, planning conferences,
drafting and lobbying legislation and membership services.
McKenzie's organizational principles were to ensure harmony and unity
within the Society, work cooperatively with the white establishment and
uphold standards of quality and achievement for Indians.
He wrote, "No issue, no bill, no policy is comparable in importance
with a demonstration that Indians can maintain unity and cordial
feelings even at times of difference upon specific points."
McKenzie was well connected to the political establishment in
Washington, D.C., and by 1914, he solicited over 400 Non-native
associate memberships from influential academicians, politicians and
Progressive organizations.
Parker noted, "I am sure that we all wish you to secure for us as many
members as you can and win for us the right kind of friends." Parker
was deeply grateful for McKenzie's support and assistance through the
Society's most productive years, and in 1913 nominated McKenzie for
Commissioner of Indian Affairs to Franklin K. Lane,
then U.S. Secretary of the Interior. Writing without McKenzie's
knowledge, Parker cited "his friend's broad experience, special
knowledge of the Indian, rare understanding of the legal and social
status of our native wards. I know of no fitter person for the difficult
task that falls upon the Office of the Indian Commissioner." McKenzie and Parker collaborated until 1915, when McKenzie departed
Ohio State University and his friends in Columbus to assume the
Presidency of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. Parker and McKenzie remained lifelong friends and colleagues.
Journals and publications
The
Society's Quarterly Journal was the first twentieth-century forum for
professional American Indian writers and one of the Society's most
enduring testimonials. The new "American Indian literature" covered a
wide array of topics editorial comments on national and local
reservation problems. Distinguished American Indian editors and writers
for the Quarterly Journal included: Arthur Parker, Rev. Sherman Coolidge, Henry Roe Cloud, John M. Oskison, Gertrude Bonnin, Carlos Montezuma and Dennison Wheelock. Luther Standing Bear, Dr. Charles Eastman and Gertrude Simmons Bonnin
who were born and raised in the oral traditions American Indian culture
and educated in Euro-American customs, wrote significant historic
accounts of their people and history in English.
The first issue of the Quarterly Journal, authorized in
Columbus, was published on April 15, 1913. The journal masthead carried
on one side the Society's emblem, the American Eagle, and on the other a
lighted torch. Underneath was the legend, taken from the Society
statement of purposes: "The honor of the race and the good of the
country shall be paramount." Arthur C. Parker, was the editor-general,
while contributing editors included Sherman Coolidge, Henry Roe Cloud,
Howard Gansworth, Carlos Montezuma and John M. Oskison. An editorial in
the first issue proclaimed that the publication marked "a new departure
in the history of the race."
"Never before has an attempt been made on the part of a national
Indian organization to publish a periodical devoted to the interest of
the entire race. That heretofore this has not been done, points to
reasons beyond the mere conservatism of the race and the drawback of
hundreds of native dialects. This venture is therefore more or less an
experiment based upon the faith of the Society in its own integrity and
the essential pride of the race in its position as the native race of
America. " The role of the Society and the problems confronting it were discussed
at length in several editorials. "The open plan is to develop race
leaders. These leaders will not come from those so merged in American
life that they have forgotten they are Indians or from those so bound by
the lack of education or reservation environment that their vision is
narrow, but from the small company of Indians abroad vision." Thereafter, the Society published a scholarly journal for seven years, the Quarterly Journal of the American Indian (1913–1915), and renamed the American Indian Magazine (1916–1920).
Early achievements
The Society of American Indians, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1914
In 1913, the Society was flourishing and active membership increased to more 230 individuals representing almost 30 tribes. Associate membership had grown to over 400, including men women from the American Indian Defense Association,
missionaries, businessman, anthropologists and other academics. A
number the white Indian Bureau employees and educators from Indian
schools also joined and the future of the organization seemed bright.
The Society was similar to the white reform organizations and the
developing black movements of the Progressive Era. Middle class,
well-educated, they preached self-help, race pride, and responsibility.
The
Society of American Indians, 3rd Annual Conference, A group of members
on excursion at Wildcat Point, near Denver, Colorado, October 15, 1913
Denver platform
Society of American Indians, Washington, D.C., 1914
Hon. Charles D. Carter
The conference in Denver, Colorado,
October 14–20, 1913, was probably the most representative and the most
amicable in the history of Society. Rev. Sherman Coolidge and Arthur C.
Parker were reelected as president and secretary, and William J. Kershaw
became first-vice president replacing Thomas L. Sloan. Charles E.
Dagenett was elected second vice president. In later years, Parker often
referred to the "Denver Platform" as the ideal statement of the
organizations goals. In 1914, the Society established a headquarters in
Washington D.C. across the street from the Indian Office, and lobbied
for the passage of "two great objects of immense importance to the
Indians and to the nation", the "Carter Bill" and the "Stephens Bill",
The Carter Bill, introduced by Oklahoma Congressman Charles D. Carter,
(Chickasaw and Cherokee), Chairman of the House Indian Committee,
codified the laws relating to Indian citizenship, and provided "that
every Indian born within the territorial limits of the United States is
hereby declared to be a citizen of the United States, entitled to all
the rights, privileges, and immunities of such citizens." The Stephens Bill called for opening to Indian tribes the United States Court of Claims
to facilitate settlement of long neglected Indian land claims. Treaty
based tribal claims against the government were treated like those of
foreign nations, and a special act of Congress was required before an
Indian claim could be presented to the court. McKenzie and Parker
believed that the legislation would provide Indians peace of mind and
assurance that "no unnecessary expense on the one side, or cruel
exploitation on the other, shall longer be associated with the
attainment of justice for the Indian."
On February 14, 1914, in the flush of enthusiasm following the Denver conference, the Executive Committee held its meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in a more elaborate fashion than usual the session and included a banquet. In October 1914, Dennison Wheelock hosted the Society's annual October convention in Madison, Wisconsin.
In December 1914, the Society met in Washington, D.C. and received a
first-class reception from the federal government. Commissioner Cato Sells welcomed them to the nation's capital where they toured the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and visited the White House to meet with President Woodrow Wilson.
After shaking hands with the president, Wheelock presented the
Society's petition in support of the Carter Bill and Stephens Bill.
Wheelock spoke, "We believe that you feel, with the progressive members
of your race, that it is anomalous permanently to conserve within the
nation groups of people whose civic condition by legislation is
different from the normal standard of American life." While President
Wilson was impressed, both bills garnered little political traction in
Washington. Arthur C. Parker noted the political aversion to Indian
rights legislation when he observed that "one senator wrote me that
there was a great deal of prejudice in considering Indian matters and
reluctance to take them up."
American Indian Day
Red Fox James at White House, 1915
The Society of American Indians, 5th Annual Conference, Engineering Hall, Kansas University, October 1, 1915
The Society of American Indians was one of the first proponents of an
"American Indian Day" in recognition for the significant contributions
the first Americans made to the establishment and growth of the U.S. In
1915, Dr. Arthur C. Parker, a Seneca, and Director of the Rochester Museum and Science Center in Rochester, New York, persuaded the Boy Scouts of America
to set aside a day for the "First Americans", and for three years they
adopted such a day. In September 1915, the Society formally approved a
plan concerning American Indian Day at the annual conference in Lawrence, Kansas,
and Society President Rev. Sherman Coolidge appealed for recognition of
American Indians as citizens and called upon the country to observe a
national "American Indian Day." In response, the President issued a
proclamation on September 28, 1915, which declared the second Saturday
of each May as American Indian Day.
In 1916, the Governor Charles S. Whitman
of New York declared the first official state American Indian Day on
the second Saturday in May. The year before this proclamation was
issued, Red Fox James (Blackfoot), a Society member, rode horseback from state to state seeking approval for a day to honor Indians.
On December 14, 1915, he presented the endorsements of 24 state
governments at the White House. There is no record, however, of such a
national day being proclaimed. Today, several states celebrate the
fourth Friday in September. In Illinois, for example, legislators
enacted such a day in 1919. Presently, several states have designated
Columbus Day as Native American Day, but it is observed without any
recognition as a national legal holiday. In 1990. President George H. W. Bush
approved a joint resolution designating November 1990 "National
American Indian Heritage Month." Similar proclamations have been issued
each year since 1994.
Impact of World War I
Wassaja, April 1916
As the threat of American involvement in a European war grew more
ominous, the Indian reform movement was ebbing and the Society was
racked by internal conflicts.
In 1917, a controversy arose within the Society over a government
proposal for a separate American Indian U.S. Army regiment. Supporters
included Francis LaFlesche, Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, Carlos Montezuma,
Father Gordon and Red Fox St. James. However, Parker and the editors of
the journal opposed it, concluding Indians should not be segregated from
other Americans. They noted that much of the clamor for a spectacular
Indian regiment or battalion arose from the showman's brand of Indian as
seen in Wild west shows.
Debate continued on the abolition of reservation and the Bureau of
Indian affairs, and the prohibition of the use of peyote in Indian
religious ceremonies. From 1916 to 1922, Carlos Montezuma published his own monthly newsletter, Wassaja, for the "radical" reformist viewpoint. Arthur Parker, constantly attacked in Montezuma's Wassaja, sought to distance the journal from the Society and build a new organization. In response, Parker published the first issue of the American Indian Magazine
in 1916, replacing Montezuma and Dennis Wheelock as contributing
editors with Grace Wetherbee Coolidge, Rev. Sherman Coolidge's wife, and
Mrs. S.A.R. Brown, both of whom were white. For the first time the
direction of the Society's publication was not in Indian hands. Parker attacked "the peyote poison" and defenders Thomas L. Sloan, who represented peyote users in court, and anthropologists James Mooney and Francis LaFlesche.
He also called upon Congress to dissolve tribes as legal entities and
stressed the patriotism, loyalty and numbers of American Indians serving
with the allies. The final issue of the American Indian Magazine
for 1917 was a special edition on the Sioux people, attributed to
Gertrude Simmons Bonnin's Sioux patriotism and her effort to enlist the
renewed interest of Charles Eastman in the Society. As Parker devoted
less time to the Society, Bonnin gave more. The American Indian Magazine was published for another three years, and the last issue was August 1920. The American Indian Tepee,
started in 1920 by Red Fox St. James' Tepee Order, became for a time an
unofficial organ of the Society. It staunchly but unsuccessfully
supported Society President Thomas L. Sloan for the post of U.S. Indian Commissioner and reported Society news, including the St. Louis conference.
Peyote religion
Peyote ceremony tipi
Francis La Flesche, first Native American anthropologist, Smithsonian Institution
Peyotism
was topic of constant and divisive debate within the Society. In the
1870s, a new religion based on the ritual consumption of peyote formed
on the reservations of southwestern Indian Territory, present Oklahoma.
Peyotism drew upon earlier ceremonies from northern Mexico and
traditional theologies from the southern Plains cultures.
In the early 1880s, the ceremony, ritual instruments and core doctrine
of the modern peyote religion became more uniform and the religion
spread to other tribes throughout Indian Territory. By 1907 statehood,
Peyotism's spread to the majority of Oklahoma tribes had been greatly
facilitated by established patterns of intertribal visiting and
intermarriage.
In February and March 1918, prominent Society leaders argued both
sides of the peyote issue before the U.S. Congress House Subcommittee
on Indian Affairs on the "Hayden Bill", legislation proposed by
Congressman Carl Hayden
from Arizona to suppress liquor and peyote among Indians. Testimony
against the use of peyote was given by Gertrude Simmons Bonnin and
Charles Eastman, while supporters the peyote religion included Thomas L.
Sloan, Francis LaFlesche, Cleaver Warden and Paul Boynton.
In response to the Congressional hearings on the Hayden Bill,
Carlisle Indian School alumni and other progressive leaders founded the Native American Church of Oklahoma in October 1918. Society lawyers Thomas L. Sloan and Hiram Chase
asserted that the peyote religion was an "Indian religion" or the
"Indian version of Christianity" and entitled to the Constitutional
right to religious freedom. The Native American Church combined Indian
and Christian elements, and was popular among the best-educated and most
acculturated men among the Winnebago, Omaha and other tribes. Henry Roe Cloud,
a Winnebago, acknowledged the peyote religion attracted the
best-educated and ablest men in his tribe, but personally opposed the
use.
Oliver Lemere, a former Carlisle student who served as treasurer of the
Church, was attracted to the religion because of its mixture of
Christianity and Winnebago customs, and that its adherents came from the
progressive wing of the tribe.
By 1934, the Native American Church of Oklahoma was the most important
Pan-Indian religious movement in the United States, and church
leadership founded affiliated churches in other states.
The 1918 and the 1934 charters had the same incorporators, evidencing
a continuity of Carlisle alumni leadership in Pan-Indianism. In 1945, the Native American Church in Oklahoma was incorporated as "The Native American Church of United States."
Last Society meeting – 1923
In
1923, the organization met in Chicago. By this time, the Society was
almost completely inactive and differences regarding the Bureau of
Indian Affairs and the Peyote religion had alienated most of the
leadership.
The invitation to meet in that city was issued by Carlos Montezuma, but
by the time it was necessary to begin planning, Montezuma was mortally
ill and decided to go back to the reservation to die. He and his wife
left Chicago shortly thereafter for the Fort McDowell Yavapai Reservation
in Arizona, where he died on January 31, 1923, in a primitive hut on
the reservation. After so many years of asserting he would not "go
back," he did indeed "go back." Montezuma was deeply committed to
Pan-Indianism, but he chose to die a Yavapai. Thomas L. Sloan, accompanied by Society colleagues, visited Chicago Bar Association
and tempted to drum up interest in Indian affairs. But the meeting in
Chicago was overshadowed by the Indian encampment held in connection
with the conference in the forest preserve near the city. Thousands of
Chicagoans journeyed to the camp to see the Indians "informal gala" and
watch Indian dances and ceremonials. The public was much more interested
in the exotic Indian past than the reality of the Indian present.
William Madison, a Minnesota Chippewa who was treasurer of the Society,
"expressed his regrets that it is only when he exhibits Indian war
dances in ancient ceremonies that the public evinces any interest in the
Indian."
At the conclusion of the inauspicious meeting, after years of
diminished participation, the Society disbanded with little fanfare
after an thirteenth convention was held in Chicago.
While the Society lacked the internal consensus necessary to fulfill
its visionary role, former Society leaders would assume influential
roles in the American Indian Defense Association, the Committee of One Hundred and the Meriam Report.
Society leadership in Indian affairs
President Calvin Coolidge presented with a book written by G. E. E. Linquist titled "The Red Man In The United States" (1919). Ruth Muskrat Bronson
(center) making the presentation on behalf of "The Committee of One
Hundred" with Rev. Sherman Coolidge (right), December, 1923.
While the Society disbanded in the Fall of 1923, the leadership
continued to influence Indian affairs. In May 1923, Society leaders
joined with reformer John Collier and founded the American Indian Defense Association in response to the injustices forced upon the Pueblos of New Mexico by the Bursum Bill (1921) and the Dance Order (1923). In 1921, Senator Holm O. Bursum of New Mexico introduced a bill whose effect would have been to divest the Pueblos of large portions of their lands in favor of squatters. By 1922, Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall strongly supported the "Bursum Bill." By 1923, the plight of Pueblos in New Mexico evoked widespread public
sympathy emerged as the symbol of the injustices forced upon American
Indian. The Pueblos of New Mexico maintained a strong internal cohesion
as self-governing societies for hundreds of years. Each Pueblo owned
lands communally and unconditionally under grants from the King of Spain later confirmed by the United States Congress. Also in 1923, Commissioner Charles H. Burke
of Indian Affairs issued a "Dance Order", also known as the "Leavitt
Bill", directing superintendents to discourage the "giveaways" which
were part of the ceremonials of a number of tribes, as well as to any
dances the agent deemed immoral, indecent or dangerous. The Dance Order
was issued in response to lobbying by the Indian Rights Association
and missionaries who were opposed to the growing influence of the
Peyote religion, and threatened to remove the right of Pueblo Indians to
perform their traditional dances and ceremonies in New Mexico. The
American Indian Defense Association became a powerful new lobby in
Washington and successfully challenged government confiscation of
communal Indian lands and restriction of religious freedom, and the
Bursum Bill was defeated and the Dance Order withdrawn.
In 1923, in the wake of the American Indian Defense Association's momentum to check and reverse the policy of the Dawes Act, Secretary of the Interior Hubert Work
invited an eminent group of Americans to form the "Advisory Council on
Indian Affairs", which became known as the "Committee of One Hundred",
to review and advise on Indian policy. The group consisted of some of
the most distinguished men and women in public life including Bernard M. Baruch, Nicholas Murray Butler, William Jennings Bryan, David Starr Jordan, Gen. John J. Pershing, Mark Sullivan, Roy Lyman Wilbur, William Allen White and Oswald Garrison Villard. Also included were John Collier of the American Indian Defense Association and M.K. Sniffen of the Indian Rights Association.
On December 12 and 13, 1923, the Committee of One-Hundred met in
Washington, D.C. Former Society leadership was well represented by Rev. Sherman Coolidge, Arthur C. Parker, Dennison Wheelock, Charles Eastman, Thomas L. Sloan, Father Philip Gordon, Henry Roe Cloud J.N.B. Hewitt and Fayette Avery McKenzie.
Parker and McKenzie and teamed once again, and Parker was selected to
preside over the Committee sessions and McKenzie chairman of the
resolutions subcommittee.
McKenzie observed, "It would be interesting to compare the platform of
this conference with the positions taken in earlier years by the
Society. In general it was a summarization of those positions, but in
more general terms."
In 1926, recommendations by the committee prompted the Coolidge administration to commission Lewis M. Meriam and the Brookings Institution
to conduct a two-year study of the overall condition of Indians in the
United States. Henry Roe Cloud and Fayette McKenzie were significant
contributors to the Brookings Institution study. In February 1928, findings and recommendations of "The Problem of Indian Administration", known as the Meriam Report,
were published. The Meriam Report documented the failures of federal
Indian policies and how they had contributed to severe problems with
Indian education, health and poverty. The Meriam Report marked an
ideological shift in American Indian policy and laid the foundation for
the Indian New Deal under the leadership of John Collier as Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs during the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Legacy
Carlisle alumni, founding conference of the National Congress of American Indians, 1944.
The Society of American Indians was the first national American
Indian rights organization run by and for American Indians and pioneered
twentieth century Pan-Indianism.
The Society was a twentieth century forum for a new generation of
American Indian leaders. The Society's Denver Platform of 1914 called
for Indian citizenship and opening the United States Court of Claims to
all tribes and bands in United States. Former Society leaders continued to influence Indian affairs serving with the American Indian Defense Association, the Committee of One Hundred and authoring the Meriam Report of 1928. The Society was the forerunner of modern American Indian organizations.
In 1944, the founding conference of the National Congress of American Indians
much resembled the founding conference of the Society of American
Indians in 1911. Members of the Congress were prominent educated
professionals and intellectuals from the fields of medicine, nursing,
law, government, education, anthropology and clergy. Many had attended
the Carlisle Indian School or Haskell Institute and were college
graduates. The first president was Judge Napoleon B. Johnson of
Oklahoma, a college graduate and a Freemason. The first secretary, Dan
M. Madrano, was educated at Carlisle as well as the Wharton School of Business and the National Law School, and a Freemason. The council included the anthropologist D'Arcy McNickle, a field representative from the Indian Office. Arthur C. Parker and Henry Standing Bear made brief appearances as elder statesman.
As within the Society, the Congress debated whether Indian Bureau
employees could hold elective or appointive office in the organization
and decided they could. The Congress dealt with long-familiar subjects,
legal aid, legislative action, education and establishing a publication.
The Congress "would confine itself to the broad problems confronting
the total Indian population or large segments of it. "Like the Society,
the new organization hoped to avoid involvement in partisan or local
squabbles and the consequent dilution of its broad representative
character."
Initially, membership of the Congress was restricted to persons "of
Indian ancestry" and was both individual and group, with appropriate
safeguards reminiscent of the Society's. Later the familiar pattern of
nonvoting non-Indian associates emerged with the provision for
individual and organizational affiliation.
Today, the Congress continues to be the most important Pan-Indian
reform group, and non-natives continue to be drawn from the same groups
as the Society; church groups, progressives and social scientists.
Society's 100th Year Symposium at Ohio State University
In 2011, the American Indian Studies Program (AIS) of the Ohio State University
celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Society of
American Indians. Scholars from around the country attended Columbus Day
weekend. Keynote addresses were delivered prominent American Indian scholars Philip J. Deloria (University of Michigan), K. Tsianina Lomawaima (University of Arizona) and Robert Warrior (University of Illinois) In keeping with the tradition of the Society's first national meeting, the symposium included a trip to the Newark Earthworks in Newark and Heath, Ohio.
Built by the indigenous people of the Americas, the Newark Earthworks
is 2,000 years old and served as a place of ceremony, astronomical
observation, social gathering, trade and worship.
