Introduction
The Chippewa Indians were native Americans who were North of Mexico, that lived on the shores of Lake Superior and Huron, Minnesota Turtle Mountains, and North Dakota. This paper provides a brief discussion of this tribe of Indians and examines the cultural diversity of the group.
About the Chippewa Indians
The Chippewa Indians were also known by other names such as Chippeway, Ojibwe, Ojibway, Anishinabek, and Anishinaabe. They belonged to the Algonquian Indians that were made of different groups of Native Americans who spoke similar languages. The Chippewas were closely related to the Ottawa Indians and Potawatomi Indians. They excelled in making canoes and cultivating wild rice. These habits indicate that they were a pastoral group that took up fishing, hunting, and growing wild rice (Hurt. 1996).
Discrimination and racial prejudice against the Chippewa Indians need to be understood with reference to certain historical treaties that took place between the Indians who wanted to preserve their land and habitat and the whites who wanted the lands for their expansion. As a matter of suppression, the whites practiced mass slaughter and killings of innocent Chippewa Indians as well as the warriors who frequently got into skirmishes with the white soldiers. The whites, with their superior forces, guns, and canons, overcame them and forced a number of treaties on the hapless people (Ricky, 1998).
The whites also imposed a number of harsh conditions “Three chiefs, one from among the Wyandot, and two from among the Delaware nations, shall be delivered up to the Commissioners of the United States, to be by them retained till all the prisoners, white and black, taken by the said nations, or any of them, shall be restored” (Wyandot. January 21, 1785).
Kappler (1904), who archived various treaties with the Chippewa Indians, has provided details of various rules and clauses that were heavily loaded in favor of the white man. There were overt attempts to racially segregate the Indians in a successively smaller area, and the Indians were ultimately left to the mercy of the US government. “The said Chippewa Indians surrender to the United States the right of fishing at the falls of St. Mary’s and of the encampment, convenient to the fishing ground, secured to them by the treaty of June 16, 1820.” (Kappler, 1904).
The Chippewa Indians, in their turn, practiced their discrimination and segregation among members of their own tribes who were regarded as ‘half breeds’ or ‘mixed blood.’ The half breeds were people who were born with a father who was either white, Mexican, and even an African American. Again there was an overt form of racial discrimination practiced among the Chippewa Indians, and while half breeds with white parents were higher in the society, people with Mexican blood were lower while people with African American blood were considered as social outcasts and not allowed into the rituals and other ceremonies (Pego, 2003).
Watts (1870) has pointed out that the mixed-blood people were literally thrown out of the reservations and the designated areas and denied all rights to the benefits from various treaties that were made by the US government. They were ex-communicated from the pure Chippewa Indians, and pure blood Indians were asked to have any social interactions with them. It was only after the US government made special efforts to trace out the mixed-blood people that justice was done. The half breeds were given their share in the society, managed to obtain hunting and fishing rights, managed to obtain the grants and funds from the US government. These half-breeds also angered the pureblood Chippewa Indians as they converted to Christianity, attended church, and enrolled their children in various schools and colleges that were run by the white missionaries. In the long run, these mixed-blood people fared much better than others since they had education, could read and write, and could take up work outside their reservations. Watts (1870) had also pointed out many frauds that were perpetrated on the natives in the form of the land deal when vast tracts of land were purchased for very low values of about two dollars.
According to the reports by the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ, 2007), there was widespread discrimination by various industries and even the US government, which spread pollution and dumped hazardous and toxic wastes in the lands owned by the Chippewa Indians. The report suggests that many industries such as Celtor Chemical, General Motors, Central Foundry, Bunker Hill Smelter, and others routinely dumped chemicals and toxic wastes in the regions that were regarded as Indian reservation areas. In many cases, the ignorant Indians signed contracts with companies to allow their wetlands to be used as landfills for toxic wastes, thus leading to immense environmental hazards. The US government has recently woken up to this disaster, yet nothing substantial has been done to detoxify the lands.
Conclusion
The paper has examined the origins and cultural diversity of the Chippewa Indians and discussed various issues that affected them, including segregation and racial discrimination. While the US government imposed severe treaties on the Indians, the Indians, in turn, practiced segregation and discrimination among their own people, some of whom were of mixed blood. Various environmental issues that affected the Indians have also been discussed.
References
CCA. 2007. Native Americans: Environmental Issues. Web.
Hurt, R. Douglas. 1996. The Ohio Frontier: Crucible of the Old Northwest, 1720-1830. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Kappler Charles J. 1904. Treaty with the Chippewa of Sault Ste. Marie, 1855. Web.
Pego, David. 2003. Can’t Blame Anyone Else for My Problems. The American Indian Quarterly – Volume 27, Number 1&2. pp. 365-368
Ricky, Donald B. 1998. ed. Encyclopedia of Ohio Indians. St. Clair Shores, MI: Somerset Publishers, Inc.
Watts William. 1870. Chippewa Halfbreed Scrip. Web.
Wyandot. 1785. Treaty With The Wyandot, Etc. Web.