Urban Indians are American Indians and

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

peoples who live in urban areas. Urban Indians represent a growing proportion of the Native population in the United States. The National Urban Indian Family Coalition (NUIFC) considers the term to apply to "individuals of American Indian and Alaska Native ancestry who may or may not have direct and/or active ties with a particular tribe, but who identify with and are at least somewhat active in the Native community in their urban area." As defined by NUIFC, urban Indians may variously be ''permanent residents'' including ''long term residents'', ''forced residents'', or ''medium and short term visitors''. Long-term residents are those who have been in a city for multiple generations. Some are descendants of the people who traditionally owned land that has been developed as an urban center. Forced residents are those who were forced to relocate to urban centers by government policy or by the need to access specialized health or other services. Medium and short-term visitors are in a city to visit family or friends, to pursue an education, etc. The term "forced residents" is a contested term.

Brief history of the urbanization of Native Americans

The number of American Indians living in urban settings accelerated in the 1950s and 1960s because of the

Indian termination policy Indian termination is a phrase describing United States policies relating to Native Americans from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s. It was shaped by a series of laws and practices with the intent of assimilating Native Americans into mainstream ...

of that era, which encouraged Native people to leave their reservations. During that period, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) also developed a "relocation" program that encouraged American Indians to move to urban areas. While Native people were not "forced" to move, the BIA has been criticized for promoting unduly optimistic portrayals of life in urban areas. Many Native people were simply unprepared for the challenges of city life, they often encountered discrimination and had difficulty getting jobs and housing, and many returned to their reservations. The program was abolished in the 1970s. Since that era, however, many American Indians have moved to urban areas by their own choice and without any assistance from the BIA. The 2000 US Census indicated that 67% of Native Americans lived in urban areas, and by the 2010 Census the percentage of urban Native people had grown to 71%. Much of the scholarly literature of the 1970s and 1980s focused on the great hardships that Native Americans encountered in urban areas, and especially the failure and abuses of the BIA's Relocation Program. But, more recent scholarship has demonstrated that Native people were resourceful and able to adapt to the demands of urban living just as poor European immigrants had done in the 19th century. This scholarship is represented by Douglas K. Miller's ''Indians on the Move,'' James LaGrand's ''Indian Metropolis'', Joan Weibel-Orlando's ''Indian Country, L.A.'', and

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

Sac and Fox The Sac and Fox Nation ( ''Mesquakie'' language: ''Othâkîwaki / Thakiwaki'' or ''Sa ki wa ki'') is the largest of three federally recognized tribes of Sauk and Meskwaki (Fox) Indian peoples. Originally from the Lake Huron and Lake Michigan ...

Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, an ...

Muscogee Creek The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsDonald Fixico's ''Urban Indian Experience in America.'' Regarding prior negative stereotypes about adjustment, Native scholar Fixico has stated,

"This downtrodden image does not accurately portray urban Indians, particularly in the 1990s when at least three generations have survived the relocation years of the 1950s and 1960s. The early image misrepresents the urban Indian population to an unfortunate degree, since many Indian citizens in cities hold professional positions and are members of the middle class in America." (p. 27).

Charles Wilkinson, a legal scholar and author of ''Blood Struggle'', has stated:

"Relocation fell into disfavor because of the coercion and ineffectiveness, but one bright light began to shine years later. Although relocation provided few benefits to the people it directly served, many of their children, having grown up in the cities, helped build the Indian professional middle class, which played a central role in revitalizing Indian life in the latter part of the twentieth century." (p. 85)

Wilma Mankiller Wilma Pearl Mankiller ( chr, ᎠᏥᎳᏍᎩ ᎠᏍᎦᏯᏗᎯ, Atsilasgi Asgayadihi; November 18, 1945April 6, 2010) was a Native American (Cherokee Nation) activist, social worker, community developer and the first woman elected to serve a ...

, former

Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation Principal Chief is today the title of the chief executives of the Cherokee Nation, of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, the three federally recognized tribes of Cherokee. In the eighteent ...

, is a good example of the Indian professional middle class raised in an urban area. Mankiller relocated with her parents in the 1950s to the San Francisco Bay Area. She states in her autobiography, "We were not forced to do anything . . . our poverty had prompted the move. In 1955, my father first started talking to the Bureau of Indian Affairs officials about the various forms of assistance for Cherokees. Relocation was a possibility." (p. 68-69) Relocation was difficult for the young Wilma, but she later attended San Francisco State College and learned techniques of community organization in the political climate of the Bay Area in the 1970s. She took these skills back to the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma and has assisted with revitalization there. Anthropologist James Clifford has argued that, although many Native Americans and other

Indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

s live in urban settings away from their ancestral homelands, this does not necessarily mean that their connection to those lands are severed. He points out that many Native Americans travel back and forth between cities and rural communities, and maintain active ties to their ancestral lands even while not occupying them full times. Clifford argues that this suggests that even for urban indigenous populations, the relations to ancestral homelands may be highly significant. This relation may take on a different meaning for them than for the people who inhabit their homelands continuously.

Future of Indian urbanization

Cherokee scholar Russell Thornton, a demographer and professor at UCLA, has pointed out that Native Americans tend to intermarry with non-Indians at an increasing rate. He attributes this, partially, to the increased

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...

of the Native American population. "Continued urbanization is likely not only to result in increased intermarriage as more and more Native Americans come in contact with non-Native peoples, but also to diminish further the identity of Native Americans as distinctive tribal peoples tied to specific geographical areas." Although there are issues facing urban Indigenous communities such as intergenerational expressions of violence against women or manifestations of marginalization in the form of substance abuse, urban Indigenous communities are not severed from their histories or cultures but rather finding new ways to revitalize what was lost and stand up to centuries of policies aimed at erasure.

Statistical measurements of health and quality of life

It is difficult to get a reliable number for the urban Indian population. In 1999,

Kenneth Prewitt Kenneth Prewitt (born March 16, 1936) is the Carnegie Professor of Social Affairs at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, where he is also director of the Scholarly Knowledge Project. He was Director of the United Stat ...

, director of the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

estimated that the US Census undercounted American Indians and Alaska Natives by just over 12 percent. The census relies on self-reporting of ethnic identity by those who respond, so there are also critics who believed that the indigenous American census numbers are inflated as more people claim Native American ancestry. Therefore, all numbers should be viewed with some caution. The number of urban Indians is increasing. The 1970 census showed 62 percent of people who identified as American Indians or Alaska Natives living on Indian reservations or other Native lands; the 2000 census showed that number down to 39 percent. The highest concentration of Urban Indians is believed to be in Anchorage, Alaska, where over 10 percent of the population identify in the Census as having some Native ancestry, with 7.3 percent identifying that as their only ancestry. UIFC 2008 p. 10. Urban Indians suffer from many of the same health problems as Natives on reservations. Rates of prenatal care are lower than on reservations, and rates of infant mortality are higher. Compared to the general population, urban Indians have: * 38 percent higher rates of accidental deaths * 54 percent higher rates of

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

* 126 percent higher rates of

liver The liver is a major Organ (anatomy), organ only found in vertebrates which performs many essential biological functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the Protein biosynthesis, synthesis of proteins and biochemicals necessary for ...

disease and

cirrhosis Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease, is the impaired liver function caused by the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis due to damage caused by liver disease. Damage causes tissue rep ...

* 178 percent higher rates of alcohol-related deaths. UIFC 2008 p. 11. Social indicators show a similar pattern. * A poverty rate of 20.3 percent, compared to a general urban poverty rate of 12.7 percent. * An unemployment rate 1.7 times higher than the general urban population. * Homeownership less than 46 percent, compared to 62 percent for non-Indians. * Their homes (owned or rented) are significantly more likely to lack plumbing facilities (1.8 times more likely than non-Indian urban residents), kitchen facilities (2 times more likely) and telephone service (more than 3 times more likely). * 1.7 times less likely to have a high school diploma than non-Indians. * Three times more likely to be homeless than non-Indians. * A higher rate of child abuse and neglect (5.7 cases per 1,000 children per year, ''vs.'' 4.2 for the total U.S. population).

Brief history of the urbanization of Native Americans

Future of Indian urbanization

Statistical measurements of health and quality of life

See also

Notes

Further reading