Indian Termination Policy Summary

In chapter five Ansel Deon mentions the terms “Termination” and “Relocation”. What Deon was referring to was The Indian Termination Policy of 1953 and The Indian Relocation Act of 1956. These two pieces of legislation changed the lives of many Native Americans and The American Indian Center became a place of refuge for Native American families and most importantly their culture.
The Indian Termination Policy of 1953 was the government’s answer to fix Indian conditions on the reservations; in 1943, the government surveyed the living conditions of the Indians on reservations and found them to be living in poverty (“The American Indian Movement”). Alison Owings explains to readers that the Indians were living in poverty as a direct and indirect result of previous laws and policies, such as the 1887 Dawes Act where greater than ninety million acres of tribal land was stripped from Indians and sold to non-natives (

Khan Academy; Owens).

It was also the idea that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) mismanaged the tribes that contributed to Indians living in poverty (“The American Indian Movement”). Owings states, “ . . . rather than help build an infrastructure, encourage tribal enterprises, or fulfill the financial obligations of treaties, the federal government suggested terminating tribes . . .” (xxiii). The government believed the Indians would have a greater sense of independence by becoming U. S. citizens, at which would reduce their dependency on the BIA and force them to assimilate into mainstream American society by getting rid of Indian reservations, by terminating all treaty obligations, and by terminating all government programs intended to aid Indians (Ojibwa). The actual reasoning behind the Termination Act was not concerned with the welfare of the Indians, Owings explains it stemmed from a mixture of paternalism, fear, communism, money, and land greed (xxiii). It would be

cheaper for the United States to terminate all treaty rights and agreements; termination of reservations also meant the land could be sold and subject to property tax. After World War II, there was a massive housing boom at which consequently, led to an increasing demand for natural resources. Coincidently, the reservations that were selected had valuable mineral resources (Ojibwa).
Termination had devasting effects on Indians tribes, none of them improved finically, in fact, it actually increased poverty among Indians. Another form of legislation was brought into action that Owings refers to as the “twin” of termination is The Indian Relocation Act of 1956 (xxiii). This law was intended to encourage Indians to leave reservations and move to more urban cities, acquire vocational skills, and assimilate into the mainstream American culture. The BIA painted the idea that the city life would offer high-paying jobs, nice homes, and good schools. In reality, the Indians arrived in the cities found no help, no training, no housing, and no good paying jobs (Ojibwa).
Termination and Relocation were means of destroying tribal identity. In many cities such as Los Angeles, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Chicago “ . . . relocation created new Indian ghettos filled with Indians from many dissimilar tribes. With this melting pot from many different tribes, many began to identify ethnically as ‘Indian’ rather than as their tribal affiliation. The urbanization of Indians began to create a sense of pan-Indian identity leading to the creation of urban Indian centers . . .” (Ojibwa). The American Indian Center in Chicago where Deon worked was created to help Indians transition from reservation to urban life while still retaining their Indian cultural heritage (American Indian Center).