Understanding Indian Rights @ Institute for American Indian Studies

 The relationship between the United States Federal Government and Native American Tribes is complicated. It has been burdened by a variety of factors from removal to resettlement, treaties made and broken, and, most recently, allotment and assimilation. Today, complications proliferate with Native Americans being sovereign within their territory but having no say in other matters.

 These complex issues will be discussed on Saturday, May 18 at 1 p.m. with Professor Stephen Prevar, who will be unraveling the intricacies of this topic. The discussion will highlight his groundbreaking book, now in its 5^th edition, The Rights of Indian Tribes. This is both an in-person lecture at the Institute For American Indian Studies on 38 Curtis Road in Washington and a virtual program.

 

Stephen Pevar, retired Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU and current professor of Advanced Federal Indian Law at Yale Law School, will take participants through seven key Supreme Court decisions that have shaped this complex legal landscape in a lecture called “Indian Rights: 7 Game-Changing Decisions.” It will be an enlightening discussion, and participants will leave with a better understanding of the complex nature of these issues. After this lecture, there will be time for questions and answers and a book signing for those wishing to purchase a copy of Pevar’s book.

This special lecture is the first in a series commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the Indian Citizen Act passed on June 2, 1924, that granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the U.S. This lecture series strives to navigate this complex history and current legal status of Native American citizenship and rights.

 

If attending in person, preregistration is requested by clicking here. If attendance is virtual, visit http://www.iaismuseum.org or https://iaismuseum.charityproud.org/EventRegistration/Index/16177 to register and receive a Zoom link. The price of attending this lecture, in person or virtually is $5 for Non-Members and free for Members of the Institute.

Medicinal Monday...Yellow Pine

The yellow pine tree is not only an important tree for timber in the deep South, but many Native American tribes found medicinal uses for this evergreen tree that can grow up to 100 feet tall. The wood of this tree is pale yellow, finely grained, and contains less resin than other pine trees. The wood is used for a variety of purposes today including lumber, plywood, and wood pulp used in making paper.

About Yellow Pine

The Yellow Pine is found in the Southeastern United States. This evergreen tree has scaly dark bark when it is young and as it matures the bark develops flat scales that have a yellow tinge to them, which is how it got one of its most common names. The blue-green needles of this tree are slender and flexible, grow in clusters of two or three, and are up to five inches in length. The tree produces a male pale purple cone and a pale pink female cone.

Medicinal and Practical Uses

Many Native American communities used the wood of this tree for lumber. They also used the wood for carving and to make long canoes of up to forty feet. 

Medicinally the most common traditional use was to use the resin as a rub and steam bath in the treatment of sore muscles and swellings. A tea was made from the buds to induce vomiting and the pitch from the trunk was used as a laxative. The Choctaw made a cold infusion of the buds and drank the mixture to treat worms. The Nanticoke used the resin pellets as a poultice to treat sore muscles. The Rappahannock made a decoction from the upper branches of the tree and used it as a wash to treat sore muscles and swellings, they also grated the bark and made tea from it to induce vomiting. One of the more unusual uses of this tree was to feed a compound of dried bark to make dogs with distemper vomit.

photo credit  David J. Stang

Did You Know...

Other common names for this tree are old field pine, rosemary pine, and short-leaf pine,

Oleoresins are extracted to make turpentine.

This species of pine tree supports Imperial Moths.

Squirrels and other small mammals eat the seeds.

The genus name Pinus comes from Latin and is the name for pines. Echinata means spiny and refers to the prickle-tipped scales on the outsides of the cones that it produces.

If the top of the tree catches on fire, the lower trunk sends up new shoots, making it somewhat fire-resistant. 

Medicinal Monday - Crinkleroot

Crinkleroot or Cardamine diphylla is an attractive wildflower that can be found in the forests of Connecticut and in much of New England. It is a spring perennial herb in the Brassicaceae family that has been used by many indigenous people of North America for food and medicine for centuries.

photo Doug McGrady

About Crinkleroot

This perennial grows up to one foot tall and is a hermaphrodite because it has both male and female organs. It is native to much of the U.S. and Eastern Canada and typically grows in moist woodland environments, although it cannot grow in deep shade. It spreads via rhizomes and is in the mustard family. The leaves are coarsely toothed and the stem has two leaf stalks that grow opposite of each other giving the plant its moniker of "two-leaved." The flowers that appear in late April or early May are white or pink. The blooms mature into pods about five weeks after the flowers die off. Mature pods release seeds. The seeds take up to four years before they bloom. Although similar to Cut-leaved toothwort, it is different because its leaves don't grow in a whorl.

Medicinal Uses

Many Native American communities made a poultice from the roots to treat headaches, colds, and fevers and to relieve stomach problems and venereal disease. Traditionally, the Cherokee and the Malecite chewed the roots to soothe sore throats and to treat colds and fevers. The Deleware used the roots as a stomach medicine and to treat venereal disease. The Iroquois chewed raw roots for stomach gas and made a poultice of the roots to bring down swellings. They also made tea from the roots and took it as a love medicine. The Malecite made an infusion of the roots and gave it to children as a tonic. The Micmac made tea from the roots and drank it as a sedative. The Iroquois believed that the roots had magical powers and used them to counteract all types of poison. They also used smashed roots to find someone who practiced witchcraft.

Laval University

Many Native American communities used the roots of this plant for food. They would eat it raw or cooked. It was prized for its peppery taste. Specifically, the Abnaki used the roots as a condiment and put it in sauces and relishes. The Algonquin ground the root and mixed it with vinegar for use as a relish. The Cherokee boiled the leaves and stems and ate them like a vegetable, they also used the leaves in salads. The Iroquois ate salted roots raw. The Ojibwa ground the roots and mixed them with salt, sugar, and vinegar and used it as a relish.

Did You Know...

The name Cardamine is derived from the Greek word Kardamon and refers to its association with the mustard family. 

The species name, diphylla is also Greek and refers to another name for this plant, "two-leaved." 

The West Virginia butterfly uses the plant to lay its eggs.

Special bees known as Andrena arabis collect pollen from Cardamines.

In folklore, the root was used to treat toothaches.

This plant was discovered by Andre Michaux, a French botanist who went on many expeditions in the U.S. to collect plants.