Indians on the Move: Native American Mobility and Urbanization in the Twentieth Century

Critical Indigeneities

by Douglas K. Miller

In 1972, the Bureau of Indian Affairs terminated its twenty-year-old Voluntary Relocation Program, which encouraged the mass migration of roughly 100,000 Native American people from rural to urban areas. At the time the program ended, many groups--from government leaders to Red Power activists--had already classified it as a failure, and scholars have subsequently positioned the program as evidence of America's enduring settler-colonial project. But Douglas K. Miller here argues that a richer story should be told--one that recognizes Indigenous mobility in terms of its benefits and not merely its costs. In their collective refusal to accept marginality and destitution on reservations, Native Americans used the urban relocation program to take greater control of their socioeconomic circumstances. Indigenous migrants also used the financial, educational, and cultural resources they found in cities to feed new expressions of Indigenous sovereignty both off and on the reservation.

The dynamic histories of everyday people at the heart of this book shed new light on the adaptability of mobile Native American communities. In the end, this is a story of shared experience across tribal lines, through which Indigenous people incorporated urban life into their ideas for Indigenous futures.

272 pages, Paperback

Published April 22, 2019

Reviews

[Sherri · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a month to finish this, it's written in an academic style complete with notes. However it is an overlooked subject that is only getting attention now.

Using sources such as the official, from the Dept of Interior, BIA and other documents to newspapers and interviews Miller covers the period of Relocation from 1952 to 1972.

I admit a personal interest, my grandmother went "on Relocation" to California in the 50's. Also being from a non-reservation background, reading about the perceived conflicts and realities of rez Indians versus city Indians was eye-opening. The pictures of Relocatees, from government files, shook me as well since most looked like they could belong to my family photo albums, they looked like people I knew.

I knew very little about the period of Relocation and this taught me a great deal. I didn't know the program lasted until the 1970's. I didn't know Indians (the term used in this period) relocated to and from cities based on seasons with little fanfare. The patronizing and often cringe inducing attitudes of the BIA, that wasn't exactly news. I'd recommend this for someone doing research or very interested in the Relocation period. As the author states, Native relocation began well before the 1950's and continues without government assistance or pressure.

[Annie Meek · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5 (simply because not my normal style of book that I would seek out - read for a history class)

I really loved and appreciated the continued thesis that Native Americans were active in every stage of relocation. They are active players in their own lives and the making of their identities, be it in urban settings or on the reservations.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dry and academic but a fantastic work that upends a lot of 20th century conventional wisdom about the relationship between government and Indian tribes. Focusing on the post-war BIA relocation program the book shows how Indians in many ways preceded government efforts at relocation and tried to use the government assistance program to their own ends, despite being misunderstood by program administrators. What emerges is a strong picture of Indian tribes using whatever tools available to them not to assimilate or vanish from the reservations as the government wished, but to strengthen the tribe and increase opportunities on their reservations. Highly recommended!

[NCHS Library]

From Follett: In 1972, the Bureau of Indian Affairs terminated its twenty-year-old Voluntary Relocation Program, which encouraged the mass migration of roughly 100,000 Native American people from rural to urban areas. At the time the program ended, many groups--from government leaders to Red Power activists--had already classified it as a failure, and scholars have subsequently positioned the program as evidence of America's enduring settler-colonial project. But Douglas K. Miller here argues that a richer story should be told--one that recognizes Indigenous mobility in terms of its benefits and not merely its costs. In their collective refusal to accept marginality and destitution on reservations, Native Americans used the urban relocation program to take greater control of their socioeconomic circumstances. Indigenous migrants also used the financial, educational, and cultural resources they found in cities to feed new expressions of Indigenous sovereignty both off and on the reservation.

[Axell · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 but bumped to 5.0 because it coincidentally may have provided me w context for my micro-history

[Lorraine]

Read for history class 👍

[syd · Rating 3 out of 5]

another week another monograph