during which buttons of the peyote cactus are ingested sacramentally. Incor-
porated in Oklahoma in 1918, the Native American Church has long fought
against efforts to ban peyote as an illegal hallucinogenic.
pan-Indianism The phenomenon of Indians of different tribal groups
banding together to work toward common goals. In the 19th century, pan-
Indianism generally took the form of military alliances, such as those led by
Tecumseh and Pontiac, dedicated to protecting Indian land from white en-
croachment. In the 20th century, Indians of varied backgrounds formed
lobbying organizations (e.g., the Society of American Indians and the National
Congress of American Indians) and activist groups (e.g., the Indians of All
Tribes and the American Indian Movement).
Peace Policy A policy developed by President Ulysses S. Grant designed to
end violence between Indians and whites in the West. By employing clergy-
men and lay people active in Protestant churches, the Peace Policy sought to
assimilate Indians by teaching them Christian values and encouraging them to
live as settled farmers. It failed in its objectives, because most Indians refused
to give up hunting as a way of life and because the government provided those
few who did with such poor land that they could not survive by farming.
potlatch A ceremony held by the Kwakiutl, Haida, and other tribes of the
Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. A host family sponsors a feast during
which valuable gifts are distributed to the guests. The more lavish the gift-
giving, the higher the hosts are esteemed by others in the village. Deemed as
a threat to non-Indian concepts of private property, the ceremony was out-
lawed by Canada in the late 19th century and by the United States in the early
20th.
Proclamation Line A boundary along the crest of the Appalachian Moun-
tains established by George III in 1763 to separate lands open to settlement by
English colonists from those reserved for Indian use. The Proclamation Line
was meant to assure Indians to the west of the English colonies that their lands
would remain undisturbed by whites, but the colonists freely ignored the edict,
leading to a series of white-Indian conflicts on the frontier.
Red Power Movement The burst of Indian activism during the late 1960s
and early 1970s. The slogan Red Power evoked Black Power, a term employed
by the militant wing of the African-American civil rights movement. Using
similarly aggressive tactics, Red Power groups such as the American Indian
Movement used dramatic protests, covered heavily in the media, to draw at-
tention to Indian issues.
Relocation Federal Indian policy of the late 1940s and 1950s intended to
encourage Indians on rural reservations to move to urban areas. Relocation
Glossary