Center for Research on Native American Issues

The Morrill Act of 1862 established agricultural and mechanical arts colleges by granting public lands to states to promote the liberal and practical education of (white, male, Christian) U.S. citizens of average means. In this paper, I use Charles Mills’ (1997) Racial Contract framework and Patrick Wolfe’s (2007) concept of corpus nullius to situate the Morrill Act in a white supremacist political system that intimately entwined settler-colonial expansion, agricultural knowledge production, and the founding of U.S. public higher education through creation of the land-grant universities.

The nationwide system of postsecondary education in the United States was launched in 1862 when the Morrill Act provided each state with “public” lands to sell in order to raise funds to establish universities. The landgrant university movement is lauded as the first major federal funding for higher education and for making liberal and practical education accessible to Americans of average means. However, hidden beneath the ofttold land-grant narrative is the land itself: the nearly 11 million acres of land sold through the Morrill Act was expropriated from tribal nations. Due to the California Land Act of 1851, which served to dissolve pre-statehood land claims, the failure of the federal government to ratify 18 treaties made with California Indians, and other systematic acts of genocidal violence and dispossession carried out in the second half of the 19th century, the Morrill Act had particularly dire consequences for California Indians. 

The intent of this report is to motivate the University of California to take action regarding accountability to California Indians stemming from the University’s founding as a land-grant institution through Morrill Act land sales and from the ongoing benefits that UC receives from both returns on the original endowment and continued occupation of California Indian territories via current UC land holdings. The report provides background on the settler-colonial context of Indigenous land expropriation via the Morrill Act, situates the University of California’s unique history, and details the proceedings of a forum on the topic that was held in 2020.

The Morrill Act of 1862 established agricultural and mechanical arts colleges by granting public lands to states to promote the liberal and practical education of U.S. citizens of average means. The resulting land-grant university movement brought liberal ideals to (white, male, Christian) Americans by reducing geographic and class barriers to education, while also serving settler colonial interests via redistribution of Indigenous lands and institutionalization of agricultural knowledge production that has entrenched white supremacy. In this paper, I draw on recent scholarship by Lee and Ahtone (2020) to look at the question of land itself in relation to the Indigenous communities who were dispossessed, with a focus on the University of California. I explore the possibilities and limitations of data on the University of California’s specific land dispossessions, and how they might serve existing efforts by California Indian communities to rematriate land, obtain reparations from the state, and decolonize the university.

In this thesis, I will assess the various factors that are believed to have a significant impact on economic conditions on American Indian reservations. Drawing upon literature related to the lingering effects of colonialism, social fragmentation and ineffective government institutions experienced by American Indian tribes and Native Alaskan villages, this study hypothesizes that the rate of poverty and the rate of unemployment on designated American Indian Areas (AIAs) is directly related to measures of dependency on the federal government, social cohesion on the reservation, and strength of governance institutions. In order to test these predictions I have analyzed a data set containing information on 352 American Indian tribes and Alaskan Native villages in the United States. I will measure these factors with the use of ordinary least squares regression (OLS) techniques. I am interested in answering the general questions: What are the factors and conditions that contribute to economic prosperity on reservations? Exactly why are some tribes economically prosperous, while other tribes struggle? In order to answer these questions, I examine a set of frameworks relating to measures of dependency on the federal government, social cohesion, and strength of governance.

This report presents findings from a recently completed pilot project that examined fatality and injury rates involving pedestrians and motorists on main thoroughfares in or near Indian country in Humboldt County, California.  Every year thousands of motorists die and millions more are injured on the nation’s roadways.  But while the number of fatal crashes nationally has declined by 2% over the past 25 years, the number of vehicle-related fatalities in or near Indian country has increased over 50%.  In order to understand the reasons for this increase and to begin developing safety countermeasures, we need better data documenting the problem.  This pilot study combined analysis of CHP’s Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) database and other sources of crash data with GIS mapping to document the areas in or near Indian country in Humboldt County with the highest rates of vehicle related injuries and fatalities over the past five years.  The report includes analysis ofrates of traffic collisions involving fatalities in or near Indian Country over a five-year period (2004-2009) in Humboldt County; the number of these collisions involving youth, pedestrians, alcohol, and DUI; and the effect of a new casino on the rate of collisions involving fatalities and severe injuries. The report concludes with recommendations for next steps that might be taken to improve traffic safety in Indian country, including identifying hotspots, working with tribal police to document all traffic injuries, andworking with tribal members to assess risk conditions and evaluate safety efforts. The results of the analysis will be used to help Native nations document the dangers associated with roadways that, while they run through Indian country, are the responsibility of the state to ensure safe passage.