One Hundred Years Later...

On April 26, 1906, the US Congress passed the "Five Civillized Tribes Act," which unilaterally and in violation of numerous treaties dissolved the tribal governments of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole Nations. Under the Dawes Act, tribal lands were broken up and "allotted," supposedly to individual Indians. The "surplus" was opened up to white settlement, to pave the way for Oklahoma statehood. Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts and others through these actions sought to destroy the tribes, robbing Native Americans of their land and identity and forcing them to "assimilate," in order words, "become white." In this, ultimately, they failed. Yes, they caused suffering and hardship. And yes, through the pernicious racism of the Dawes Act and other federal legislation caused divisions that still persist among members of the targeted tribes. But the so-called "civillized" tribes survived civillization and still exist today, still proud, determined and resolute. A-yv-wi-ya ne-ho.