|
|
 The
'20s had its effects on Native people as well. Nearly 100 years had
passed since the removal of the Five Civilized Tribes from the eastern
United States. Other Native people had been confined to reservations
since the late 1800s. By the time of the Bunion Derby the Dawes Act
of the previous century, known as the Indian Allotment Act, had stripped
Native people of their land bases all across the country. This act
called for Native people to enroll in their respective tribes and
claim their blood quantum for the purpose
of allotting each adult a parcel of land, generally 160 acres. Most
tribes considered the Mother Earth sacred and didn’t believe
in individual ownership. The tribe as a whole was responsible for
her care. Under the Dawes Act, the land held in common was divided
among the individual tribal members and the “surplus”
was opened up for settlement or for sale to non-Indians.
It also made it easier for the unscrupulous to cheat individual Native
landowners out of their land. Border towns sprang up next to Indian
reservations, where the local trading post owner would gladly let
landowners run up a credit account. When they couldn’t pay in
cash the owner took title to their land instead.
The oil boom in the 1920s in Oklahoma made it much worse for the individual
Native landowner. A common practice was, once the land was allotted,
that local judges would assign a white guardian to the Indians who
were of more blood quantum, and therefore
considered unable to make their own decisions regarding their land.
That guardian could turn around and sell that land for his own profit
and the Native landowner never saw a dime. Some folks would identify
oil rich Indians and request to be appointed as their guardian in
order to cheat the rightful owner of his or her land. Even worse,
these guardians would murder their Native ward (in some cases wife)
then claim ownership or mineral rights to the land. |
|
