The Impact Of Carlos Montezuema On The Native American Reservation System

In 1492 when Christopher Columbis set sail on the Atlantic Ocean, many people would not have assumed the discriminations and horrors brought to the Natives living in the Americas. Many of these Eurpeans would come over and continuously steal land, food, and culture from the native people. Ever since then people have constantly hampered their process to gain rights in lands they resided in before the white people. However during the Progressive Era many of these actions were called into question. Native American rights were severely affecting the Native population in the US. Activists sought to question the way of life in the US. One of which was a native american himself, Montezuma. His three main ideas contained: creating outrage about reservation

Carlos Montezuema a Native American activist, impacted the way people view Native American rights however did not succeed in his fight to gain rights for his native people until after his death.
The reservation system has severely impacted the Native American livelihood in the early 20th century. This system allotted land to Native tribes with designated boundaries in the west, beginning in the 1850s and ending with the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887. The U.S. government encouraged and sometimes violently coerced Native Americans to stay on the reservations at all times. Carlos, a founder of the Society of American Indians, called for an immediate end to the practice of this system. From 1916 to 1922 he published his journal called “Wassaja” in which he relentlessly assailed anyone who was for the system. He called for an end to this system as it halted Native “progress” throughout the US. “Colonization, segregation and reservation are the most damnable creations of men,” Montezuma declared (cscum.edu, 4). His work on reservations as a physician also allowed him to see the terrible living conditions Native

As a key leader and member of the group Carlos fought to address the problems facing Native Americans, such as ways to improve health, education, civil rights, and local government. Moreover the Society of American Indians was the first to spread the ideal of pan-Indian organization in the U.S. during the Progressive Era. Pan-Indianism is the philosophical and political approach promoting unity, and some cultural homogenization, among different Indigenous groups in the Americas regardless of tribal distinctions and cultural differences. This led to the Society publicizing Native Americans’ aspirations and urged their assimilation into society when the Dawes Act forced assimilation, which caused Native Americans to give up their tribal ownership of land, in favor of private ownership. The Indian Citizenship Law, signed on June 2, 1924, was the greatest achievement for the Society and Carlos himself. Montezuema also continued his own pursuit of these rights by lecturing people with the help of Reverend Sherman Coolidge. In 1908 Dr. Carlos Montezuma and Coolidge went to the Ohio State campus to deliver a series of lectures on "several phases of the Indian problem in a course which he was offering on "The Indian” (Nicholson, 61-62). The university lectures were well received, and they were covered by the local press, which helped the spread of ideas gain more traction. The well-known