LAD/Blog #25: The Dawes Act

The Dawes Act greatly improved the land distribution among Indians in the US. Prior to 1887 Indian Reservations were held in a trust set up by the US government, and the Indians were allowed to live there, but not to own the land. However, with the Dawes Act this land was given to individual tribesmen based on age, gender, and status. While it was better than the situation before, this act was not without its faults. It still preserved the US government's right to build infrastructure on these lands that were not their's. It excluded the 5 civilized tribes, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole. Also, it encourage the Indians to sell their land to American settlers. Despite this it was still a step up because now the Indians owned the land. They were also given a path to citizenship with this act, where 25 years after owning land, they would be able to reap the benefits to citizenship such as education and legal protection. With that said, many Indians did not like it because it forced them to live away from their tribe and homelands should they accept the land.

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Homestead Act:

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LAD/Blog #35: Home was a Horse Stall

Executive order 9066 was essentially a racist program that excluded Japanese Americans from everyday life in America due to the actions of their former nation. They were banned from the west coast and forced into internment camps where they essentially lived under oppressive, racist marshal law. This was especially painful for first generation immigrants as they had a personal connection with both nations. Many of them did not want to see their two home nations fighting, and held some allegiance to both, but most were more prone to defending the United States.This was also hard on Japanese children, as they were ripped away from their friends, lives, and schools and taken to internment camps. One example of this is Sox, and her difficult upbringing during this time. She is taken away from her home and placed in a new one. That home is a horse stall. This stall was in a small, crowded internment camp which Sox was forced to grow up in. Her experience illustrates how poorly the Japanese ...

LAD #37: FDR’s Executive Order 9066

On February 19th, 1942, FDR proposed executive order 9066, the order that gave the Secretary of War the ability to create designated areas for specific people to stay during wartime that could pose a threat to the US military. In WWII these areas became known as internment camps, and the people put in them were Japanese-American citizens. This allowed for the rampant mistreatment of these people with cramped living conditions and improper education. While FDR did say these areas were to be provided adequate food, shelter, and transportation, the word "adequate" is very subjective, and allowed for very poor conditions. One example of this is the story "Home was a Horse Stall", where a young girl, Sox, and her family were forced to live in a horse stall and had very little rights and no access to programs many citizens would such as a good education. I, personally, think this is a horribly executed order. While it was FDR's intention to avoid the influence of spie...

LAD #39: Brown V. Board of Education

This case marks the beginning of the civil rights movements of the late 1950s to even present day. In Brown v. Board the supreme court unanimously ruled that schools can no longer be racially segregated. This contradicted the previous ruling of 1896, in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, that stated all publicly funded buildings could be separate but equal. This previous case had been deemed ineffective because all to often these separated facilities were not equal, with facilities that were dedicated to African Americans being significantly lower quality. This case was brought up originally because of Linda Brown, a girl barred from an all white school, and only given access to black schools which did not provide an equal education. Her defendants cited the 14th amendment, stressing that the State could not deny any person the equal right to protection of the laws, specifically the equal treatment under those laws which Linda Brown was not receiving. The Kansas District Court acknowledge...

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