the Urban Native era in Seattle
relocation and termination
Between the late 1940s and 1950s, the U.S. federal government passed a series of resolutions and acts which enabled them to terminate federal aid, services, and protections for hundreds of tribes and dissolve their reservations. In practice, this was a coordinated effort to undermine Native sovereignty and assimilation into Western American culture.
Alongside Termination, the BIA started a voluntary Relocation program which would move thousands of Natives off their reservations and into cities. As terminated tribes were cut off from federal resources, this program promised better jobs, housing, and educational opportunities in urban areas than what was available on reservations. These promises proved to be false when Natives arrived in cities, unable to find work due to scarcity and discrimination.
The Indian Center finds a new home, Seattle, 1963. Indian Center News, American Indian Women's Service League. Courtesy of University of Washington Libraries Special Collections
THE URBAN NATIVE ERA
Ad for the first annual American Indian Handcraft exhibition, run by the American Indian Women's Service League, Seattle, 1963. Indian Center News. Courtesy of University of Washington Libraries Special Collections
The Native population in Seattle grew considerably in the 50s and 60s as a result of Termination and Relocation. With no support from the local or federal government, few educational and job opportunities, and inadequate healthcare, an overwhelming number of Urban Natives found themselves in deep poverty. By 1957, the volunteer-run American Indian Women's Service League (AIWSL), directed by Pearl Warren (Makah tribe), was the only social service in Seattle that addressed the problems Urban Natives faced, providing food, clothing, and housing assistance.
AIWSL and the newly formed collective Kinatechitapi (Blackfoot for “All Indians”) led two petitions for the city to create a Native community center that would support Seattle’s Urban Native community: one utilizing the City’s recently acquired land on Fort Lawton, and another requesting to use a vacant lot in South Lake Union. The city of Seattle denied both.
Sources
1953 to 1969: Policy of termination and relocation. (n.d.). Stanford Medicine Ethnogeriatrics. Retrieved November 30, 2022, from https://geriatrics.stanford.edu/ethnomed/american_indian/learning_activities/learning_1/termination_relocation.html
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Congress seeks to abolish tribes, relocate american indians—Timeline—Native voices. (n.d.). National Library of Medicine. Retrieved November 30, 2022, from https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/488.html
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American indian urban relocation. (2016, August 15). National Archives. https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/indian-relocation.html
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By right of discovery: United indians of all tribes retakes fort lawton, 1970—Seattle civil rights and labor history project. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2022, from https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/FtLawton_takeover.htm
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American indian women’s service league: Raising the cause of urban indians, 1958-71—Seattle civil rights and labor history project. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2022, from https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/AIWSL.htm
Landback. (n.d.). LANDBACK. Retrieved January 12, 2023, from https://landback.org/