1 CHAPTER 1: AMERICAN INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND ...

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established bureaucrats and politicians and allow the poor themselves meaningful input into the development and implementation of anti-poverty initiatives. Promoting "maximum feasible participation" of the poor was consistent with the opportunity model because it would (presumably) change the poor by discouraging dependency and fostering empowerment. 72 The Community Action model and the War on Poverty have been and remain controversial. Nevertheless, antipoverty policies dramatically impacted Native Americans. The War on Poverty's emphasis on opportunity and self-help, and the CAPs' emphasis on local involvement, meant that the poor would be expected to act on their own behalf. Hence, the War on Poverty gave American Indian nations the opportunity to develop and administer their own policies and programs. At least, that was the possibility in early-to-mid 1964 if the Economic Opportunity Act and the OEO took Indians and their situation into account. Native American inclusion in the War on Poverty did seem likely for three reasons. First, 72 Katz, Undeserving Poor, 97-101, 112-123; Alice O'Connor, Poverty Knowledge: Social Science, Social Policy, and the Poor in Twentieth-Century U.S. History (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2001), 124-136, 168- 173; James T. Patterson, America's Struggle Against Poverty in the Twentieth Century (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000), 133-136, 144-149. For an excellent case study of a Native American-oriented CAP, see Daniel M. Cobb, "'Us Indians Understand the Basics': Oklahoma Indians and the Politics of Community Action, 1964-1970," Western Historical Quarterly 33:1 (Spring 2002): 41-66. 34
the economic and social conditions in Indian Country made Indians a natural target for an antipoverty campaign. 73 Native American communities commonly experienced double-digit unemployment rates: 14 percent for the Eastern Cherokees of North Carolina and 43 percent for the Rosebud Sioux in South Dakota in 1963, for example. 74 Disease and ill-health were ubiquitous as well. In 1963, the average age of death was forty-two for Indians and thirty for Alaska Natives, as compared to sixty-two for the general population. These figures were a consequence of an Indian infant mortality rate that was about twice as great as that of non-Indians. In fact, 21 percent of all Indian deaths in a given year were infant deaths; for the general population, the figure was 6 percent. 75 Such figures were disturbing but not entirely surprising given that 75 percent of all Indians lived in sub- 73 William T. Hagan, "Tribalism Rejuvenated: The Native American Since the Era of Termination," Western Historical Quarterly XII (January 1981): 5-16. 74 Unemployment figures are for Indians aged eighteen to fifty-five. Congress, House, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Indian Unemployment Survey, pt. 1, Questionnaire Returns, 88th Cong., 1st sess., 1963, 3, 34, 567. 75 "Report of Field Visit, Follow Up of White House Conference on Children and Youth," 17-20 May 1961, 6-7, "071.33-White House Conference," Albuquerque Area, 8NN-075- 88-077, Box 1/1, BIA, RG 75, NARMR. Congress, House, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Subcommittee on Indian Affairs, A Review of the Indian Health Program: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Indian Affairs, 88th Cong., 1st sess., 23 May 1963, 6, 24-25. 35
Page 1 and 2: CHAPTER 1: AMERICAN INDIAN SELF-DET
Page 3 and 4: Anthropologists Sol Tax and Nancy L
Page 5 and 6: Nevertheless, the Declaration ident
Page 7 and 8: Such sovereignty was often recogniz
Page 9 and 10: While tribes possessed an inherent
Page 11 and 12: in exchange for Indians ceding thei
Page 13 and 14: fashion. Instead of working with In
Page 15 and 16: cultures was necessary for tribal g
Page 17 and 18: produced intratribal conflict. Neve
Page 19 and 20: communities on trust lands were not
Page 21 and 22: new Commissioner favored the eventu
Page 23 and 24: By the late 1950s and during the 19
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Page 29 and 30: constituted an important part of Pr
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Page 33: chance to participate in the econom
Page 37 and 38: address by Hubert H. Humphrey, a De
Page 39 and 40: through states to access funds and
Page 41 and 42: fight against termination in the 19
Page 43 and 44: Access to and control over such fun
Page 45: y moving the government in the dire

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