Seeking Recognition

M. Beck David R.

Description

In 1855 the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw tribes of Oregon signed the Empire Treaty with the United States, which would have provided them rights as federally acknowledged tribes with formal relationships with the U.S. government. The treaty, however, was never ratified by Congress; in fact, the federal government lost the document. Tribal leaders spent the next century battling to overcome their quasi-recognized status, receiving some federal services for Indians but no compensation for the land and resources they lost. In 1956 the U.S. government officially terminated their tribal status as part of a national effort to eliminate the government’s relationship with Indian tribes. These tribes vehemently opposed termination yet were not consulted in this action.

 

In Seeking Recognition, David R. M. Beck examines the termination and eventual restoration of the Confederated Tribes at Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw some thirty years later, in 1984. Within this historical context, the termination and restoration of the tribes take on new significance. These actions did not take place in a historical vacuum but were directly connected with the history of the tribe’s efforts to gain U.S. government recognition from the very beginning of their relations.

Sujets

• Histoire
• USA
• United States of America
• América del Norte
• Local history
• Indigenous peoples
• North America
• History of the Americas
• États-Unis

Informations

• Publié par: Nebraska
• Date de parution: 01 novembre 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780803226906
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 8 Mo

Extrait

Seeking Recognition

Seeking Recognition

david r. m. beck

The Termination and Restoration of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians, 1855–1984

University of Nebraska Press Lincoln & London

Portions of this manuscript were previously published as “‘Standing Out Here in the Surf’: The Termination and Restoration of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians of Western Oregon, 1954–1984” inOregon Historical Quarterly110:1(Spring2009).

©2009by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America

∞

Library of Congress Cataloging inPublication Data Beck, David,1956– Seeking recognition: the termina tion and restoration of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians,1855–1984/ David R. M. Beck. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn9780803225176(cloth: alk. paper) 1. Coos Indians—Government relations.2. Umpqua Indians— Government relations.3. Siuslaw Indians—Government relations. 4. Indian termination policy— Oregon.5. Coos Indians—Claims. 6. Umpqua Indians—Claims. 7. Siuslaw Indians—Claims.8. Self determination, National—Oregon. 9. Oregon—Race relations. I. Or egon historical quarterly. II. Title. e99.c874b43 2009 323.1197'410795—dc22 2009018698

Set in Sabon by Bob Reitz.

I dedicate this work to those Indian people and their allies who have worked to reverse the impact of the federal policy of termination.

c o n t e n t s

 List of Illustrations viii  Preface and Acknowledgments  List of Abbreviations xxii

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x

1. Before the Treaty1  2. The1855Treaty and the Beginning  of Quasi Recognition17  3. Removals and Resistance41  4. Old Homelands, New Lives68  5. Amalgamation, Confederation,  and the Claims Cases96  6. Termination Proposed115  7. Termination Compelled137  8. Hard Times165  9. Restoration182 10. The Achievement and Meaning of  True Recognition207

 Notes219  Bibliography  Index301

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i l l u s t r a t i o n s

Photographs Following p.164 Chief Daloose Jackson “Princess Lottie Evanoff” Howard Barrett Sr. Henry Hudson Barrett Henry Hudson Barrett and the beach stage Howard Barrett Sr. driving the beach stage The Barrett Family Tom Jackson’s son, with Logan Barrett, Blaine Barrett, Tom Jackson, and Billie Dick Clay Barrett and Frank Drew Bill Brainard Edgar Bowen showing Ekoo and Abaki Beck the waterfront in Charleston. The author with Edgar Bowen outside the tribal hall Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Tribal Hall sign in Empire The ocean at Sunset Bay beach

Map The Oregon Coast

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p r e fa c e a n d a c k n ow l e d g m e n t s

The idea for this project developed in the early1990s when I served as an advisor to LaDonna Harris’s Americans for Indian Opportunity (aio), where Coos Elder Chief Edgar Bowen served on the board of directors. In1993,aiohad initiated its American Indian Ambassadors Program in which young American Indian leaders from across the United States gather together to learn ways to strengthen their work in and for their home communities. As we traveled together to tribal com munities across the United States and Latin America, Ed told me more than once that the young people he met through the Ambassadors Program gave him renewed confidence that the future of Indian country might be positive. His generation had nearly lost hope at times. As we thought about and planned for the future, we often discussed the past. At the time, I was working on a threeandahalfcentury, twovolume history of the Menominee Indians of Wisconsin. The Menominee are one of the most highprofile tribes both to suffer the1950s federal policy of termination—a congressional attempt to end the U.S. federal relationship with tribes—and subsequently to undergo the reversal of that policy, regaining recognition under a process known as restoration. It turns out that Chief Bowen’s people, the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians, are among the most lowprofile tribes both to suffer the1950s federal policy of termination and to regain recognition. The Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw, along with some fifty seven other Oregon coastal tribes, fell victim to termination under a single piece of legislation passed by Congress the same day as the betterknown Klamath termination bill. The Coos,