Page 223 - Contribution To Phenomenology

216 STANFORD M. LYMAN & LESTER EMBREE

But these 'nations* occupied a different status than that of European
nationalities? Exactly, and that was because the key term "domestic"
modified the word "nation." Whereas the Indians had wanted to be
treated in the same diplomatic manner as a European state, that was
the one thing that was not going to be allowed. They were, the Supreme
Court opinion went on to say, "in a ward-like relationship" to the
Federal Government, and, because of their unique status, in "pupilage."
Those words have resulted, by the way, in a separate body of law, i.e.,
forty volumes or so, of American Indian law, in which only some lawyers
are specialists.* The original compiler of that jurisprudential tradition is
the late Felix Cohen (1907-1953), son of the philosopher Morris Cohen
(1880-1947).
The American Blacks are in a still different position, but it also
modifies the plurahst-assimilationist debate. Periodically, from the 18th
Century on, various forms of secessionist movements arose among Blacks
in America. Some took the form of back-to-Africa movements, e.g., one
in 1714, another in 1817, another in 1859, another from 1896 to 1915,
and, in the 1920s, Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement
Association and its movement. In other cases, secessionists looked not to
Africa, but rather to some place outside the United States where Blacks
might live freely—e.g., various islands, Canada, and such like. A third
case occurred only once to my knowledge, in the late 1800s. Some Blacks
proposed that the New Mexico and Arizona territories be set aside as
locally autonomous Negro states inside the United States.
Was that on the model of Oklahoma as Indian Territory? Not quite.
The declaration of certain territories as "Indian Territories" was made by
the United States independent of the wishes of the Indians. The
Oklahoma territory resulted from the "trail of tears" followed by the
Cherokees driven out of Georgia in 1829-1831. There were also proposals
to deport Blacks to Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America. The
American Colonization Society, started by President James Monroe,
founded Liberia and peopled it with manumitted slaves. President Lincoln
also proposed more than one deportation plan.
Looked at over the long haul, such secessionist movements seem to
arise when Blacks despair of ever becoming full-fledged citizens, come

* For a summary, see Stephen L. Pevar, The Rights of Indians and Tribes: The
Basic ACLU Guide to Indian and Tribal Rights (Carbondale: Southern Illinois
University Press, 1992).