, \ i Documents Department/ Oklahoma State Univeisity \Library THE INDIAN, OUR FELLOW CITIZEN.AND BROTHER The Indian is a citizen .of our United States. Seventy or eighty .year s ago Indians were treated as "wards .of the Goveril.Illent" -confined ;.to their.reservations by Army troops and furnished with Government rations. In 1924, however, citizenship·was conferred on all Iridians by act of Congress; today they enjoy the same rights as other citizens. The great majority of the more than 250 tribes in the United States now live. on 5::, 000, 000 acres of reservation lands end other Indian holdings located chiefly in the western States. About 40,000,000 acres of these lands are tribal and belong to all the.members of a particular_tribe. The other 13,000,-000 acres are "allottedu lands. These are tracts which were allotted (in most.cases many years ago) to individual tribal members. Today, as a result of inheritance, rrLBlly of them are owned jointly by a large number of individual Indians. The Government s~rves ,as trustee for.both tribal and allotted lands. It · is a mistake to talk about the needs of the Indians in · broad general terms. Each tribe should be considered separately because each is different from all others. Some tribes--such as the Klamaths of Oregon and the Menominees of Wisconsin--are compa..ratively well endowed with resources and genez-al.Iy self-sufficient. Others, including many in the Southwest, are quite poor and will probably need governmental guidance and help for some time to come. Because of the protective role which the Government has played as trustee for so many years, many of the Indians have become dependent and have not developed the qualities of self-reliance which are needed· in competitive American life. Today the Gover'nment; is trying to build up such qualities 'among the Tndf.ans and encouraging them to assume fuller responsibilities. · However, this must be a gradua,l process keyed in with the basic abilities of each tribe and the amount of progress it has already achieved. 'To remove the Federal 'trusteesh1.p .abruptly or without regard for the individual tribal situation would be extremely bad. Today the Bureau of Indian Affairs is stressing three pri.ma.ry aims "in an·_ ef:fort to prepare the Indians for the day when trusteeship will be reL:i.oved and they will · take over ·full management of their own affairs. ~ese aims are (1) better health protection, (2) educat:)n.al opportunities f'or all, and (3) fuller opportunities for economic advancement. A program of preventive medicine, designed to bring the benefits of modern sanitation into Indian homes and communities, was launched in the spring of 1954 · and has been carried forward on most On July 1, 1955 the United States Public Health Service .tion of this program. .... f '-l:-- _ __,,,,,. ·~ In. educat.I on .the most impressive z-esu.lt.a have been achieved on the Navajo ~eserva.tion in Arf.z o; .. a, ·New Mexico, and Ut sh , In December 1.953, about ha.lf of the 28,000 Navajo children of school / age at ~hat time were growing up illiterate because there Wf~re not enough schoolhou~es withi~. reasonable distance of their homes, Since then, through an in.tensive program, schco'Li.ng has been made avat Lab Le bot.h on and off the reservation for several thousand more Navajo children.. than were enrolled. in 1953. NaYaj o enrollment is still mcreas tng at a greater rate than the n.ati.onal aver-age, but the Navajo schoo.l-rage population also .has increns,ed substantially since 1953. Today over 28,000 Navajo children, .of e.-11 ages, are enrolled in school. While the number of' Nava.jo youngs tez s not enrolled has decreased allllually at au 'ericouraging rate, the problem.still mer-i ts, and receives, thoughtful at tent.Lon and careful planning. I Good progress has al.so been made in getting Indian youngsters, into the regular public schools. Dur Ing fiscal. yes:r 1958, of 129,000 Indian children enrolled in all schools, 61 percent attended public schoo.ts as compared ·with 30 percent in Federal schools and 9 percent in mission.and othe+ :private schools. Public school enrollment increa.sed by an estimated 1,900 students s.s a result of the Bureau's stepped-up eff' arts to transfer c.lassea and schools from ]federcu jurisdiction· to the public achoo.Ls wheneve1" conditions are f'avorable. Because some tribes live in remote localities where public schools are net easily ecceasfb Le, it may take quite a few years to accomplish the goal of public schooling for all Indian children. Better economic oppor-tunt.t.Lea have been provided for_ many Indians through the Bureau's relocation program. This involves guidance and some financial help :for Indians who wish to leave the reservatioI+ts and establish new homes in communities where jobs are more plentiful. The Bureau pays the costs ot: transportation t:or the Illdie..n worker and his dependents and provides a cash grant to tide him over until the: first paycheck comes in. Pl.ans are also being shaped up :for greater economf.c development in and around the re:se.rvatio:ns. 'lhe first step contemplated is a series of ecdri.omic surveys to appr¥se both 'the hidden.and visible resources and bring out the f'ull possibilities of growth. A nonprofit corporation has been .formedl'outside the Gover:n.m.ent to receive grants t:or the financing of such surveys and to make arrangements t:or having them 'conducted by expert research engineering organizations. Although this su.rv-ey program has not yet been activated, it should eventually contribute greatly to the economic welfare of the Indians and to their adva..'1.cement toward the goal of full independence, -2- 41728 ....... ' -...~ -.(........_.., ,,