Chronology of American Indian History

P

Indian Actors’ Workshop at the Los Angeles In-
dian Center. The workshop calls for more accurate
portrayals of Indians in television and film, and it
advocates the casting of Indians in Indian roles.

April 27

Oneida Indian Robert Bennett becomes
commissioner of Indian affairs.
Stating that “the time has come to put the first
Americans first on our agenda,” President Lyndon
B. Johnson swears in Robert Bennett, the first In-
dian chosen to head the Bureau of Indian Affairs
(BIA) in nearly a century. (Ely S. Parker, a Seneca,
had earlier served as commissioner of Indian affairs;
see entries for 1869 and 1871.) To increase Indian
representation in the BIA, Indians will be selected
to hold the agency’s top position throughout the
rest of the 20th century.

Spring

The Rough Rock Demonstration School is
established.
Headed by educator Ned Hatathi, the non-profit
organization Demonstration in Navajo Education
(DINE) founds the Rough Rock Demonstration

“I am glad our children are learn-

ing to read and write English, but

I’m also very glad they’re learn-

ing about the Navajo culture

and the Navajo way. We want

our children to be proud they

are Navajo and this is what our

school is doing.”

—Navajo school board member

Ada Singer on the Rough Rock

Demonstration School

School, the first American Indian school com-

pletely controlled by Indians. The institution is

funded through a contract with the Bureau of In-

dian Affairs (BIA) and the Office of Educational

Opportunity. With a curriculum shaped by Navajo

(Dineh) traditions and classes taught in Navajo and

English, Rough Rock encourages the Navajo com-

munity to participate in making decisions affecting

the school. A great success, the school will inspire

Indian tribes across the country to negotiate with

the BIA to found their own contract schools.

October

The Alaska Federation of Natives

is formed.

After joining the Union, Alaska was authorized by

the U.S. government to select 108 million acres of

territory for its own use (see entry for JANUARY 3,

1958). Native Alaskans, however, still claimed all the

land appropriated by the state. To bring attention to

these land claims and halt further appropriations,

the Natives of Alaska join together to establish the

Alaska Federation of Natives. Its lobbying efforts

will lead to the passage of the Alaska Native Claims

Settlement Act (see entry for DECEMBER 18, 1971).

October

The Canadian government issues the

Hawthorne Report.

In 1963, the Canadian government appointed an-

thropologist Harry B. Hawthorne to investigate

the social, economic, and educational conditions

of the country’s Indian population. His findings are

published as The Survey of the Contemporary Indi-

ans of Canada, popularly known as the Hawthorne

Report.

The Hawthorne Report states that Canadian

Indians are in general much worse off than non-

Indian citizens. In opposition to Canada’s long-held

policy of Assimilation, the document also main-

tains that the economic condition of Indians is not

likely to be improved by forcing them to “acquire

those values of the major society [they do] not hold