Why Indians celebrate July 4th

A Native American Take on Independence

By Krissy Clark"Kill the Indian to save the man"--that oppressive motto led to restrictions on his tribe's native language and native customs. The federal government forced Indian children to go to churches and boarding schools where they were re-educated and stripped of their cultural traditions.

So it makes sense that, growing up, the Fourth of July would be a dark day for Hudson, a sad tribute to the country that tried and tried again to exterminate its native people and their culture. But it wasn't--for Hudson, the Fourth meant "summertime, family, fireworks. You can't wait for the fireworks. As a kid you look forward to that celebration."

Hudson was not alone. Across the Fort Berthold Reservation--what was left of it--people partied on the Fourth of July. Sno Cones and barbecues, weaved together with older, indigenous traditions like powwows that would last deep into the night.

At the center of the festivities was the drum. "The beat of the drum means everything in the powwow," Hudson says. "It signifies the heart beat of a people. There are different types of dances, ceremonies, give-aways, acknowledgements."

So why were they celebrating?

"You know, this is the classic case of making something positive out of really desperate situations," says Matthew Dennis, a professor of U.S. history who studies the way Americans celebrate national holidays. He says we can learn a lot about ourselves as a country by looking at how the Fourth is celebrated on reservations like Fort Berthold.

"It is those who have struggled the most, and who've been forced to be the most creative, that have the most to teach us," Dennis says. "Forgiveness without forgetting, incredible creativity and resilience."

To understand what Dennis means, we need to go back to the late 19th and early 20th century, when reservations like Fort Berthold were under severe federal rule. At one point, the reservation's white superintendent issued a declaration that read like this: "Dancing, exchanging of presents, traveling from one dance to another, and dancing feasts are not to be carried to excess."

The superintendent decreed that permission for all traditional dances must be obtained in writing--but, Dennis says, there was a kicker: He didn't object to gatherings that were on the Fourth of July.

The Fourth of July, after all, was the time to teach Indians how to become good Americans. Some Indian children were even reassigned new birthdays to coincide with the Fourth.

So the Mandan and Hidatsa people who lived at Fort Berthold decided that if the Fourth of July was one of the few occasions when they could celebrate their native customs, then why not celebrate the Fourth of July? By the early 1900s, the Fourth had become a big day on the reservation, Dennis says, starting at dawn and lasting well in to the evening with traditional dances and ceremonies.

"All kinds of singing and dancing, exchanging of gifts," he says. "They would visit friends, initiate people into societies and do all the sorts of things that they were ordinarily prevented from doing, under the cover of this patriotic celebration."Reason There Are a Lot of 4th of July Powwows

By Dennis ZotighIn 1883 the Indian Religious Crimes Code (Prucha, 'Documents' p. 160-161) was developed by Secretary of the Interior Henry Teller as a means to prohibit Native American ceremonial activity under pain of imprisonment. Teller's general guidelines to all Indian agents ordered them to discontinue dances and feasts. Enforced in reservations as Department of Interior, Office of Indian Affairs policy, Indian ceremonies were banned, religious practices disrupted, and sacred objects destroyed or confiscated.

Indian ceremonial activities were prohibited under threats of imprisonment and/or withholding of rations. The Secretary of the Interior issued this Code of Regulations in 1884, 1894 and 1904 through Indian Affairs Commissioner's circulars and Indian agent directives. In turn, Indian superintendents and agents implemented the code until 1936. In this 50 year period, Indian spiritual ceremonies such as the Sun Dance and Ghost Dance were held in secret or ceased to exist.

Some tribes continued their ceremonials during the 4th of July under the disguise of telling their agents they were celebrating American Independence Day. Usually the American flag was displayed in a prominent position to support this claim. Otherwise many of these tribal ceremonies would have also ceased to exist.

Sad, huh?Comment:  For another reason Indians celebrate July 4th, see July 4th Means Fireworks. For more on the subject, see Tribes Celebrate July 4th.