Almost Invisible: The Brotherhood of North American Indians (1911) and the League of North American Indians (1935) by Steven Crum. ISBN 978-0-8032-3364-5

• intertribal/pan-Indian organizations in the 1900s
  • 1911: Society of American Indians
  • 1911: Brotherhood of North American Indians
  • 1934: American Indian Federation
  • 1935: The League of North American Indians / League of Nations—Pan-American Indians
  • 1944: National Congress of American Indians
  • 1961: National Indian Youth Council
  • 1968: American Indian Movement
• both led by controversial figures in the public eye; based on BIA document

brotherhood of north american indians

• December 5, 1911, DC: constitution promoting “friendship, brotherhood, and good citizenship, perpetuate ancient traditions, and collect records”
  • further outline: fulfill treaty obligations/claims; release trusteeship money for allotments and land improvement; Indian qualification and public schools; suffrage; represseentation and presence in Congress
    • presence: Delaware Treaty of 1778
• Richard C. Adams, Delaware
• local chapters → DC conventions
• 20 national chiefs and council officers including Great Sachem, Chief Historian, and Great Chaplain
• anyone of indian blood could become member, and married non-Indians, presidents, BIA commissioner, and public officials were honorary members
• publicized through OK senator keynote address and OK Senator bills to incorporatee/integrate; attempt to construct hq in DC, Carnegie
• one of the earliest orgs to advocate for ideas later addresseed by federal govt: suffrage, Indian preference, presing claims, public schools, and National Museum of American Indian Act (1989) → NM of AI in 2004
  • Brotherhood did not first advocate, but pushed for most of these; Indian prefeerence was original idea
• judged by Society of American Indians (threatened by organization)
  • abolishment vs. preservation of reservation system
  • well education and urban off-reservation lives vs poor, limited, reservation
  • 1911: favor for Americanized education and for self-independence
  • criticized from Dec. 1911–March 1913: “unscrupulous”, “offset”, “rival”, “notorious”
    • corruption before Brotherhood: land speculation, allotment and surrendering; Adams schemes
    • Perry Kennerly
    • ignored good people in Brotherhood (George Waters of Yakima, WWN)
• disliked by BIA before formation: rejected contract by Adams and Flathead Tribe (and Harve Phipps) in October
  • “Indians ‘have failed to learn and appreciate the value of property and money’”
• opposed by IRA: alliance with many SAI members
  • fear of secrecy; organization held no official record of meetings
    -disliked by Washington Post, esp. representation
  • The editors of the Washington Post also opposed the Brotherhood, especially the idea that the Indians should have representation in Congress. If the American government allowed Indians to have this kind of political power, the Post surmised, then other groups--including the German-Americans, the Irish-Americans, and the Italian-Americans-would also want their own political representation.
• Louis Mann and Yakima tribal meembers
  • Adams-Phipps contracts
• 9/30/1912: greater use of calims money
• 12/15/1912: questioned BIA; used Harry Preacher as represent for Basin Shosones
• collapsed in ~1913
• many Shoshones worked in a loose brotherhood and publicized unkept treaties

League of North American Indians

• LONAI
• 35-year
• Lawrence Twoaxe: Mohawk, Chaughnawaga Reservation, Quebec
• 1935
• four objectives: protect land base, prevent exploitation, “perpetuate and preserve Indian sovereignity”, unite and empower Indians
• inspired by IRA of 1934: all Indians, urban and reservation, join forces
• emerged in 1935–1940: plans for 10 regional chiefs and 1 principal engaged in larger conventions; run functinos through different committees
  • 1937: 5 regional (2 Canada, 3 US)
  • 1938: 9: 2 Canada, 7 US
  • no representation south of Rio Grande due to physical distance, but some leaders South expressed interest
• unknown due to
  • weak function as org: few sponsors
  • low gathering
  • large memberbase of working-class Indians hard to unite
• headquarters in Kansas
• Frank Tom-Pee-Saw
  • publicize injustice; rectify through monetary representation; “self-styled attorney”/diplomat
    • support claims acts
    • argument for postwar funddss following rehabilitation loans
  • push for rep in UN (est. in 1945)
    • favoring Seminole spokesperson: never militarily defeated
  • push against termination policies and domestic policies
    • led to sponsorship of Kansas convention
    • 1949 investigations to defend reservation Indianss from BIA and IRAct
  • push for reservation changes and against corruption
• Emporia, Kansas: 12/3/1949–12/4
  • 35 tribes meeting
  • condemned BIA, “dictator”
    • disliked William Zimmerman due to termination and Wilkinson authorization
    • reform, not abolition for BIA
  • favored replacement/Indian rep for BIA
  • named new president to replace Twoaxe (Chief Swimming Eel)
  • changed name to League of Nations, Pan American Indians
    • popularized in 50s/60s
• Tom-Pee-Saw outspoken acts led to League viewed as controversial and negative
  • McCarthy/conformist 1950s: “dissident” status
  • discredited by BIA; “bogus” status and manipulation
• full-blood endorsement and officiating of League: George Wesaw, Wilson Jack, Howard La Hurreau in large positions
• Lawrence Twoaxe
  • favored qualification in 1943
  • opposed government termination
  • acknowledgement of League weaknesses in 1945
  • died in 1949
• W.C. Foster
  • draft exemption in 1950 (peace treaty from Cherokee)
• Federated Eastern Indian League for eastern gatherings
• 1950s–1960s
  • less presence from Tom-Pee-Saw
  • William Rickard and John “Rolling Thunder” Pope
    • Rickard died in 1964; Alfred Gagne president
  • large protests in DC, criticism of BIA and land-claims andd NCAI
  • Indian treaties
  • Indian Views newsletter
• abrupt end in 1970 with Gagne: no leaders folloed
  • possible explanations: low interest from youth committee (NIYC), fascination with young and charismatic leaders vs. old, controversies, and distance from league, travel issues
  • Canadian Indians created their own organizations
• Custer Died for Your Sins (1969)
  • no mention in many others: Hertzberg, Potin
  • 1997: Jack Forbes, American Indian Activism collection
  • 2003: Vine Deloria, Jr.
• 2004+: UN representation as sovereigns
• western hemispheric brotherhoodd: 1990s+ (Chiapsas of 1994)
• reorganized and accepted eastern Indians in 20th century