Reimagining Indian Country: Native American Migration and Identity in Twentieth-Century Los Angeles

Contents

Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction Reimagining Indian Country 1 Chapter 1 Settling into the City 11 American Indian Migration and Urbanization, 1900–1945 Chapter 2 Representing Indians 31 American Indian Performance and Activism in Urban America Chapter 3 From Americanization to 49 Self-Determination The Federal Urban Relocation Program Chapter 4 Postindustrial Urban Indians 75 Life and Work in the Postwar City Chapter 5 Being Indian in the City 103 American Indian Urban Organizations Chapter 6 Grassroots Indian Activism 129 The Red Power Movement in Urban Areas Conclusion Indian Country, Reimagined 155 Cities, Towns, and Indian Reservations into the Twenty-First Century Notes 169 Bibliography 203 Index 227 Illustrations & Tables Illustrations Richard Davis Thunderbird in a publicity photo 32 taken in the Santa Monica Mountains, ca. 1945 Thunderbird at home in Pasadena, Calif., ca. 1945 41 Thunderbird and friends waiting for a 47 streetcar in Pasadena, Calif., ca. 1945 Graduates of the BIA’s Intermountain Boarding School 57 prepare to leave for jobs in Los Angeles, March 1956 Luke Notah, a Navajo man, is pictured in his Los Angeles 58 residence a year after his arrival, in this 1955 BIA publicity photo The Dodges, a Navajo family, arrive at the BIA’s 59 Los Angeles Field Relocation Office and are greeted by employee Virginia Gomez, ca. 1955 Joseph F. Tafoya Jr. at work on aircraft parts, 93 AiResearch Manufacturing Co., Torrance, Calif., 1958 The Tafoya family in tribal regalia, ca. 1961 96 The Tafoya family having dinner at Clifton’s Cafeteria 97 in downtown Los Angeles, ca. 1956 Los Angeles Indian Centers, Inc., council members, ca. 1964 126 Tables 1. Percentage of Select U.S. Census–Defined Racial 78 Groups Residing in Urban Areas, 1950–1980 2. American Indian and Alaska Native Population 79 of Select U.S. Urbanized Areas, 1960–1980 3. American Indian and Alaska Native Population 158 of Select U.S. Urbanized Areas, 1980–2000 ...