Montana became a state in 1889 and by 1924, there were 12 reservations in the state. Briefly described below are some of the American Indian events in Montana in 1924.
Five Year Industrial Program
In 1924, the Indian agent for the Blackfeet Indian Reservation held a conference to explain his Five-Year Industrial Program (FYIP) to representatives from 14 reservations from both Montana and neighboring states and 2 Canadian reserves.
According to historian Paul Rosier, in his book Rebirth of the Blackfeet Nation, 1912-1954:
“The coercive pressure exerted on Indians to conform to the program reflects the tenacity with which white reformers clung to the Dawes model of Indian citizenship as a panacea for all tribal problems.”
[Note on terminology: the official name of the reservation is Blackfeet, but many elders and traditionalists use Blackfoot. Both terms are used interchangeably.]
Voting rights
When Montana became a state in 1889, Montana made sure that Indians would be unable to vote by specifically excluding from voting “Indians not taxed.” While Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924, this did not give Montana Indians the right to vote. In 1911, the Montana legislature had declared that anyone who was living on an Indian reservation who had not previously acquired Montana residency in a Montana county prior to moving to the reservation would not be regarded as a Montana resident. Thus, most Indian citizens in the state were not eligible to vote.
Hunting Rights
In 1895, the United States had met with 35 hand-selected Blackfoot “leaders” and purchased from them the land which would later become Glacier National Park. The land, known as the “mineral strip,” was sought by the Americans because of rumors of gold in the area. If there were minerals in the area, the Americans believed, then the area must be thrown open to development.
The mountainous area involved in the sale was an area in which the Blackfoot traditionally hunted, fished, gathered plants, cut timber, and conducted religious ceremonies. Because Indian religions were illegal, the Blackfoot kept quiet about the spiritual use of the mountains, but they insisted that they must maintain all non-mineral rights to the area.
In 1924. Peter Oscar Little Chief began to circulate a petition among the Blackfoot calling for a recognition of their hunting rights in Glacier National Park. He claimed that the Blackfoot retained these rights in their 1895 treaty:
“We sold to the U.S. Government nothing but rocks only. We still control timber, grass, water, and all big or small game or all the animals living in this [sic] mountains.”
He submitted his petition to the Bureau of Indian affairs but received no response.
Boarding School
In 1924, the total enrollment at the Fort Peck Boarding school was 24 and about half of the students were either Turtle Mountain Chippewa or some other tribal affiliation other than the Sioux and Assiniboine of the Fort Peck Reservation.
Ordination
In 1924, a Crow delegation, including Nellie Stewart, traveled to Los Angeles to learn directly from Pentecostal evangelist Aimee McPherson (1890-1944). McPherson founded the Foursquare Church and at this time was one of the most publicized Protestant evangelists in the country. In his University of Montana M.A. Thesis, Akbaatashee: The Oilers Pentecostalism Among the Crow Indians, Timothy McCleary reports:
“After three weeks Aimee McPherson gave Nellie a white dress and baptized her in the main chapel of Angelus Temple. With this ordination, McPherson told Nellie to return to her people and establish a church.”
Upon returning to the Crow reservation, Nellie Stewart gathered a core group of followers in the Black Lodge District. Timothy McCleary reports:
“Nellie blended traditional core beliefs and practices with her Pentecostalism.”
This included fasting in the mountains and the use of songs revealed to her during the fasts. In Crow fashion, she maintained ownership of the songs. Many others also had dream songs which were used.
Sacred Pipe
Medicine bundles are important to many of the Northern Plains tribes. The sacred contents of the bundle are symbols of power: they are not the spiritual power itself. The Gros Ventres have two tribal medicine bundles which are symbols of creation and of their place in the universe.
The oldest of the Gros Ventre tribal bundles is the Flat Pipe which was given to them by Earthmaker, who taught them the ceremonies and songs associated with the Flat Pipe and taught them how to plant tobacco. The Flat Pipe ceremonies– traditionally three seasonal ceremonies – provided the Gros Ventres with help for hunting and for obtaining horses. They also provided help in battle and in obtaining wealth. In their chapter on the Gros Ventres in the Handbook of North American Indians, Loretta Fowler and Regina Flannery report:
“The Flat Pipe bundle was made up of a sacred pipe, turtle shell, duck (or grebe) pelt, native tobacco, and other ritual articles all enclosed in many wrappings and contained in an elk skin outer cover tied with three thongs. The pipe was carved of one piece of wood with a low, round flaring bowl and a tapered stem with a ring carved round the middle to which is attached a string ornament, and its proximal end carved in the shape of a duck’s bill.”
In 1924, Horse Capture, the keeper of the Gros Ventre Flat Pipe bundle, died. The bundle was left alone and was virtually abandoned.
More Twentieth-Century American Indian Histories
Indians 201: The Hoover Commission Report on American Indians
Indians 201: Suppressing Indian religions, 1921-1922
Indians 101: Suppressing Indian religions in Montana, 1900-1934
Indians 101: the 1923 Posey's War in Utah
Indians 101: The Grand Coulee Dam and the Colville Indians
Indians 101: The American Indian Citizenship Act of 1924
Indians 101: American Indian reservations 100 years ago, 1924
Indians 101: The U.S. Government replaces the Navajo Council in 1923