History & Demography of Native North America
OS215 Contemporary Native American IssuesThursday, January 12, 2012
Historical Context
• About 15 million Native Americans pre-contact (estimated 12 million within present-day U.S.)
• Spanish exploration and European colonization
• Discovery Doctrine
Historical Context
• Population decline
Historical Context
• Destruction of tribal life ways
Historical Context
• Forced relocation (“Trail of Tears”)
Historical Context
• Extermination (“Wounded Knee”)
Historical Context
• Assimilation
Affects on Contemporary Native Life
• Look at contemporary Native American experience and issues through a lens of over 500 years of Western colonial intrusion and accelerated change
• Conflicting concepts of territory, political power and community organization
• Cultural interrelations, religious conversion, language loss, western values and concepts
Survival and Re-awakening
• Many Native American communities are seeking to retain cultures and communities despite colonization
• Borrowing Western ideas and concepts
• Reclaiming traditional concepts
• Change and negotiation
U.S. Census Data (2000)
• National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) Policy Resource Center:
• http://www.ncaiprc.org/census-information-center
• 4.5 million people (1.5% of U.S. population) reported American Indian or Alaska Native ethnicity.
• 71% (compared to 80% of total U.S. population) had at least a high school education.
• 2/3 (66%) of Native Americans live in Urban areas (not represented within NCAI, will explore more next week with Identity,
• About 700,000 (of 1.7 million) live on or near Indian Reservations