Throughout the 1925-1975 period, the Native American population of the United States has faced many obstacles. Just a few years before, they had been suppressed by the federal governments Anti-Long Hair policy for all Native American males. This would set the stage for future cultural restraint on the Indians. However, they continued to fight for equality. All through this time period, the experience of the Native American culture has been a struggle for equality in their homeland. A major struggle for the Native population was that of land. This is a primary issue for several reasons. First of all, the Europeans invaded their land in the 16th century and though not officially, the Indians were essentially kicked out of all settled areas. Secondly, they were forced to settle in government provided lands west of the Mississippi River through the Indian Removal Act in 1830. This led to the well-known Trail of Tears. As more threats to their land arose, it was essential to the Native Americans to retain what little land they had left. The Indian Reorganization Act allowed for tribal ownership of lands after its passage in 1934, thus reversing the allotment policy which put forth the idea of dividing Indian lands into individual holdings to promote assimilation by deliberately destroying tribal relations as viewed by the Native Americans. In 1968 the Supreme Court case Menominee v. US aided the cause in ruling that states could not interfere with hunting and fishing rights on the Indians land which had been secured in previous treaties. In addition, settlements were made in the 1970s that paid damages to tribes whose land had been illegally seized by whites. However, there were still other issues that needed to be solved during this time. The most important issues were those of social rights, self-autonomy, and cultural freedom. These were, however, more difficult tasks. Congress played the primary role in these situa...
