Cleveland Indigenous activism
Indigenous activists in Cleveland, Ohio, have advocated Indigenous issues and rights since the early 1900s.
After the removal of the last Native Americans from their traditional territory in Ohio in 1842, Cleveland, and the greater Cuyahoga County, had an almost nonexistent Indigenous population. However, in the early 1900s, an Osaukee man named Chief Thunderwater engaged in activism, protesting the displacement of the Erie Street Cemetery and creating the Supreme Council of Indian Nations, which advocated for Indigenous peoples' right to cross the United States–Canada border in the Supreme Court case of McCandless v. United States.
Later in the century, the Indian Relocation Act of 1956 moved a variety of Native Americans from their different reservations in the West into Ohio, specifically metropolitan areas like Cleveland. With the resurgent population came a wave of activism, as the Cleveland American Indian center was created and the national American Indian Movement established a chapter in the city in 1970.
Annual mascot protests in Cleveland began in 1972, with local groups AIM and the Committee of 500 Years of Dignity and Resistance participating. An important Ohio Supreme Court case, Bellecourt v. City of Cleveland, protected protestors first amendment rights in court. The Cleveland Indians ended the use of their old mascot, Chief Wahoo, in 2019 and in 2020 announced that they would consider changing their team name, in response to ongoing protests. In July 2021, the Cleveland baseball team announced their new name: The Cleveland Guardians. Mascot protests also extend to local schools in the Cleveland area, where the Oberlin School District ended their use of Indians as their mascot.
History of Indigenous people in Cleveland
One of the first Indigenous peoples to live in what is now known as Cleveland were the Erie people. The Erie inhabited most of the southern shore of Lake Erie, and they were wiped out by a war with the Iroquois Confederacy in 1656. Erie survivors assimilated into neighboring tribes, especially the Seneca. After the Erie people, northeastern Ohio remained sparsely populated until Lenape from Delaware migrated into the area in the mid 1700s. The first settlement in present-day Cleveland was Pilgerruh or Pilgrim's Run, founded in 1786 by Moravian missionaries and Christian Lenape on the bank of the Cuyahoga River.The Northwest Indian War between the newly formed United States military and the Native American tribes living in the Northwest Territory resulted in the first of many official land cessions. The Treaty of Greenville in 1795 formally ceded any Native American claims to land east of the Cuyahoga River and all of southern Ohio. A series of treaties continued to cede land to the United States until the Treaty of St. Mary's signed away the last Native American land claims in the state of Ohio. Further treaties forcibly removed Indigenous tribes from their reservations within Ohio to new land in the West. The 1842 Treaty with the Wyandot moved the last Indigenous peoples in Ohio, the Wyandot, from their land in the Upper Sandusky Reservation to land west of the Mississippi River. It is documented by Bill Moose Crowfoot that 12 Wyandot families chose to stay behind. Crowfoot was the last full blood Wyandot to die in Ohio, in Upper Arlington in 1937, and according to the Draper manuscripts there were a few Lenape, Shawnee, and Mingo who did as well.
After forced removal of Native people from their traditional lands, there were not many Indigenous people living in Cleveland. In 1900 there were only 2 Native American residents in Cuyahoga County, and in 1940 the population only increased to 47. The Indian Relocation Act of 1956 changed federal policy toward American Indians from reservations toward relocations. The Bureau of Indian Affairs chose Cleveland as one of 8 destination cities, dramatically increasing the Native population in following decades. By 1990, the population of American Indians in Cleveland reached 2,706.
Chief Thunderwater
Chief Thunderwater, from the Osaukee tribe, was born named Oghema Niagara in the Tuscaroras Indian reservation in New York. He moved to Cleveland in the early 1900s as a businessman selling herbal medicines. While in Cleveland, Chief Thunderwater became involved in American Indian activism.Erie Street Cemetery
The Erie Street Cemetery is a cemetery in downtown Cleveland, first opened in 1826. In the early 1900s the city government started plans to reinter the bodies buried in Erie Street and use the land for the Lorain–Carnegie bridge. The Pioneers Memorial Association was founded in 1914 to advocate for preservation of the cemetery. Buried at the Erie Street Cemetery is Joc-O-Sot, a Meskwaki warrior who fought in the Black Hawk War. Joc-O-Sot was returning from a trip to Washington D.C. to advocate for American Indian rights, when he fell ill with tuberculosis, ultimately dying in Cleveland in 1844. Chief Thunderwater became involved with the Pioneers Memorial Association to protest disruption of Joc-O-Sot's grave. He famously prophesied that Cleveland would suffer a horrible catastrophe if anyone moved Joc-O-Sot's grave. The movement was ultimately successful in 1925 when the city decided to alter the plans for the bridge.Supreme Council of Indian Nations
In 1917, Chief Thunderwater created the Supreme Council of Indian Nations, a restoration of the Iroquois Confederacy. Chief Thunderwater served as leader of the council from 1917 until his death in 1950, during which he spearheaded the Thunderwater movement. The Thunderwater movement called for a pan-Indigenous, united American Indian nation that united tribes in both the United States and Canada. The Council called for education, temperance, and healthy lifestyles among Native Americans, especially in reservations. Chief Thunderwater and the Supreme Council also advocated for American Indian legal rights, for example a case disputing the United States–Canada border.In 1928, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals decision of McCandless v. United States affirmed that Indigenous peoples whose traditional territory existed in both the United States and Canada could legally cross the border. Paul Diabo, an Iroquois man born in Canada who moved back and forth between countries, was arrested and ordered to be deported for illegal entry into the United States in 1925. Chief Thunderwater and the Supreme Council were heavily involved in advocacy for Diabo's case. The decision in favor of Diabo reaffirmed Native American's rights to cross the border, citing the Jay Treaty that originally established the border between the United States and Canada. Jay's Treaty stated that Indigenous peoples could freely cross the border, and the litigation decided that Jay's Treaty still applied to them, when it was effectively abolished after the War of 1812.
Cleveland American Indian Center
The Cleveland American Indian Center was founded by Oglala activist Russel Means in 1969 in the basement of the St. John's Episcopal Church. The goal of the center was to help relocated Native Americans adapt to their new lives off of the reservation. Programs included cultural preservation, tutoring, and job training, among others. The center consulted with the Cleveland Public School District to revise their curriculum regarding American Indians and helped the Cleveland Public Library improve its collection on Native American history. Another program the center started was a reverse relocation program for Indigenous peoples relocated to Cleveland who wished to return to reservation life.For Cleveland's super sesquicentennial celebration in 1971, the local government put together a reenactment of the settlement of the city. The organizers called the Cleveland American Indian Center to show up to the reenactment in traditional garb and welcome the settlers. Instead, Means and fellow representatives of the center staged a protest at the ceremony, only letting up when the city government agreed to address Native American issues.
In 1995, the Cleveland American Indian Center closed, and was replaced by the American Indian Education Center.
American Indian Movement
The American Indian Movement was founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota by a collective of Native American activists. The group was founded in response to racist treatment from federal policy and to fight for Indigenous rights. Famous protests organized by AIM include the occupation of Alcatraz, the Trail of Broken Treaties, and the Wounded Knee incident. Representatives from Cleveland participated in these nationwide protests. In 1970, AIM launched a multi-city sit in protest at the Bureau of Indian Affairs offices, calling for the abolishment of the BIA. Led by Means, the sit in at the Cleveland BIA office resulted in the arrest of 8 protestors. Other cities involved in the 1970 BIA sit ins included Littleton, Chicago, Alameda, Philadelphia, Dallas, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Albuquerque. Means also led the 1973 protest at Wounded Knee, which ended in violence after 71 days of occupation.The Cleveland chapter of AIM was founded in 1970 also by Russel Means, the second chapter after Minneapolis. The Cleveland chapter is a member of the American Indian Movement International Confederation of Autonomous Chapters based in Denver, rather than the American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council based in Minneapolis. The schism in AIM was led by Means and occurred in 1993 after he accused AIM leadership of criminal activity. Autonomous chapters, such as Cleveland's, operate under decentralized leadership and instead focus on local activism.