Pueblo Indians—are collected and reproduced in
the 21st Annual Report of the Bureau of American
Ethnology. The images were commissioned from
four Hopi men in the 1890s by anthropologist Jesse
Walter Fewkes.
Intended only for ethnographic research, the
works show carefully detailed figures against a blank
background. They will have a great influence on the
“Traditional Indian Style,” a style of painting that will
be adopted by Indian artists in the 1930s and become
popular with non-Indian art collectors throughout
the 20th century (see entry for SEPTEMBER 1932).
Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock establishes that
Congress can abrogate Indian treaties.
Following the allotment of their reservation, the
Kiowa Indians challenge the U.S. government’s right
to sell tribal lands left over after all allotments were
assigned. In the lawsuit Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock, they
cite the provisions of the Treaty of Medicine Lodge
Creek (see entry for OCTOBER 21 TO 28, 1867),
which stipulated that the reservation the Kiowa share
with the Comanche could not be reduced without
the approval of three-fourths of the reservation’s
male population. Because this vote was never taken,
the Kiowa’s reason that the sale of surplus reserva-
tion land is in direct violation of the treaty.
The Supreme Court, however, disagrees. It rules
that Congress has “the power to abrogate the provi-
sions of an Indian treaty.” This ruling thereby gives
Congress unlimited authority to ignore treaty agree-
ments if it deems that by doing so it is acting “in the
interest of the country and the Indians themselves.”
May 12
The Cupeño are removed to the reservation
at Pala.
After a protracted legal battle, the California Su-
preme Court finds that the small Cupeño tribe has
no claim to its ancestral territory in present-day
San Diego County. Over Cupeño opposition and
public protest, the court orders the approximately
100 surviving tribe members to leave their village
of Cupa and relocate to the Pala Reservation in Lu-
iseño territory, 40 miles to the northwest. As most
of the Cupeño pack their belongings in preparation
for leaving their homeland forever, some elders re-
fuse to make the move. One vows to stay “even if
the Coyotes eat me.”1904An Indian lawyer argues before the Supreme
Court.
Working on behalf of his people, Omaha Indian
Thomas L. Sloan becomes the first Indian lawyer to
present a case to the Supreme Court of the United
States. A graduate of Yale Law School, Sloan will
later help found the Society of American Indians
(see entry for OCTOBER 12, 1911) and offer advice
on Indian affairs to the Harding administration as
a member of the Committee of One Hundred (see
entry for 1923).March 11Congress passes the Pipelines Act.
After oil is discovered in Oklahoma Territory, tribal
leaders of neighboring Indian Territory resist the
construction of pipelines to carry the oil through
their lands. With the Pipelines Act, Congress sub-
verts their authority by granting oil companies the
right to build pipelines on reservation land without
their residents’ permission.April to NovemberThe St. Louis World’s Fair features an
Indian exhibit.
A celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the
Louisiana Purchase (see entry for APRIL 3, 1803),
the World’s Fair in St. Louis touts displays of
“strange animals and stranger peoples.” Among the
“stranger peoples” are representatives of more than
60 tribes. The massive Indian exhibit features repli-
cas of Indian villages and buildings, where artisans
offer baskets, beadwork, and other crafts for sale
to non-Indian tourists. The star attraction is the