OPA

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett reported today that 119 Indian children were placed for adoption during 1967 through the Indian Adoption Project. The program is sponsored by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Child Welfare League of America.

The number of children placed in 1967 almost doubled that of the previous year and compares with a total of 400 children placed during the nine years of the cooperative project program.

"Because of the isolation of Indian reservations, there previously had been long delays in finding the proper home for Indian children,” said Bennett. Nationwide Indian Adoption Project contacts have cut the time" children have had to face in prolonged care in foster homes or institutions, and provided permanent homes much sooner. “

Children placed through IAP came mostly from 12 states, with the leaders being Arizona 41, South Dakota 24, Washington 13, California 12, and Wisconsin 10.

These children were placed in adoptive homes in 25 states. Massachusetts led in total placement with 16, followed by Indiana with 14, Illinois and New York with 13 each, New Jersey 11, and Pennsylvania 10.

According to Bennett, the success of the Project has encouraged the New York-based Child Welfare League of America to establish a new agency, the Adoption Resource Exchange of North America (ARENA).

This agency will serve both Indian and non-Indian children and prospective adoptive families in Canada as well as the United States. Children for whom adoptive families are not available in their home states, and families who want to adopt these children, will be referred to the wider area that ARENA embraces.

The Indian Adoption Project will continue to function in this country as part of ARENA.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett will be the United States delegate to the Sixth Interamerican Indian Congress in Pátzcuaro, Michoacan, Mexico, April 15 through 21, the Department of the Interior announced today.

Commissioner Bennett will be accompanied by Indian leaders and other advisers.

The Congress meets quadrennial under provisions of a treaty to which most Latin American countries are signatories, for the purpose of exchanging information, views and experiences.

Four Indian tribal leaders will be in the delegation: Wendell Chino, President of the National Congress of American Indians and President of the Mescalero Apache Tribal Council, Mescalero, N. Mo; Cato Valandra, Chairman of the Rosebud Tribal Council, St. Francis, S. Do; Roger Jourdain, Chairman of the Red Lake Tribal Council, Red Lake, Minn.; and Vernon Jackson, general manager, Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation, Warm Springs, Ore.

Another adviser will be Mrs. LaDonna Harris, a Comanche active in Indian affairs and wife of Senator Fred Ro Harris of Oklahoma.

Arrow, Inc., an Indian betterment organization, and the Association on American Indian Affairs are participating in financing the attendance of the individual Indian advisers.

The United States delegation is to meet in Mexico City on April 14.

Sessions of the Congress will be held at Pátzcuaro beginning Monday morning, April 15, and will continue through Sunday, April 21.

Commissioner Bennett will report at the opening session on developments in Indian affairs in the United States since the Fifth Interamerican Indian Congress was held in Quito, Ecuador, in October 1964. He is a member of the Oneida Indian tribe of Wisconsin and is the first Indian to serve as United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs since 1871 and the second Indian ever to hold the position. He took office April 27, 1966.

Fourteen final awards totaling almost $33 million were granted 11 American Indian groups by judgments of the Indian/Claims Commission during 1967, the Bureau of Indian Affairs reported today.

In addition, six other Indian groups were given awards in 1965 and 1967 totaling another $21,363,355.33, but these have not become final because of appeal or other legal actions.

Congress has appropriated funds for $15.3 million of the total granted. The appropriated funds earn interest for the tribes involved, while awaiting Congressional action and final disbursement.

The Indian Claims Commission was established in 1946 as an independent tribunal by Act of Congress. It hears and determines the claims of tribes, bands and other identifiable groups of American Indians living in the United States. In 1967 its membership was expanded from three to five.

Veteran members of the Commission are William M. Holt and T. Harold Scott. In December 1967, three vacancies were filled with the appointment of John T. Vance, Richard W. Yarborough, and Jerome K. Kuykendall.

As of January 1, 1968, the Commission had granted 100 awards totaling more than $225,420,000. Of a total of 586 dockets filed, approximately 242 or two-fifths, have been completed.

Most of the Indian claims filed with the Commission are for fair value of Indian lands ceded to the United States or taken by the Government in the past. Increasingly the funds received through judgments are now being invested by the tribes for projects to improve the social and economic conditions of the Indian people.

Typical projects include: Scholarships for the education of Indian youth; social services for reservation dwellers; construction of community centers and funding of community development projects; and tribal enterprises including recreational tourism development, industrial parks and other projects calculated to bring new sources of income and employment to the tribe.

Awards granted in 1965 by the Indian Claims Commission and regarded as final included:

Awards granted during 1965 and 1967 but not final pending appeal or other action:

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced today that a special scroll will be presented Mrs. Frank Stranahan of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in recognition of her many accomplishments in bettering Seminole Indian relations.

Secretary Udall said the press of government business will prevent both him and Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett from being present when Mrs. Stranahan is honored during the Drake College Commencement on February 18, 1968.

Therefore, he has asked that Superintendent Eugene W. Barrett of the Seminole Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Dania, Fla., present the scroll.

Mrs. Stranahan was the first white teacher of the Seminole Indians in the Broward County area. She instilled in the Indians a love of country and was untiring in her efforts for more than 30 years to bring the three R's to Seminole children and through them to their parents.

Howard F. Johnson, 54, a veteran of more than 32 years Federal service, has been appointed Special Liaison Representative to the Seneca Nation of Indians, it was announced today by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett.

Bennett also announced that John L. Pappan, 40, now superintendent of the Fort Hall Agency, Fort Hall, Idaho, will succeed Johnson as superintendent of the Osage Agency, Pawhuska, Okla.

Johnson's transfer from Pawhuska to Salamanca, N. Y., will be effective March 10. The position of special liaison representative has been vacant since the transfer of Sidney M. Carney last year to be Area Director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Anadarko, Okla.

The position of special liaison representative was established to assist the Senecas of New York with a rehabilitation program after one-third of one of their reservations was taken for the Kinzua Dam Reservoir. Congress voted approximately $15 million to recompense the tribe for the land taken and to finance the rehabilitation program.

Johnson was born at Gravity, Iowa, on September 21, 1913. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree from Colorado State College in 1935 and in September of that year entered Federal service with the Department of Agriculture. He transferred to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1940 as an assistant soil technologist at the Navajo Agency. He has held progressively responsible positions since, including service as Superintendent of the Blackfeet Agency, Browning, Mont., from 1957 to February 1964, and Superintendent of Osage since the latter date.

Pappan, of Kaw Indian descent, was born at Newkirk, Okla., on March 8, 1927. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree from Oklahoma A & M College in 1950 and later joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs staff at the Colorado River Agency as a soil conservationist. He served in progressively responsible positions until his appointment in July 1946 as superintendent at Fort Hall.

Superintendent Pappan will report at Pawhuska after winding up his affairs at Fort Hall.

For those who equate reservations 'with tar-paper shacks and abject poverty, the first sight of the Seneca Indian Nation's Allegany Reservation in southwestern New York State is an impressive surprise. The story behind these new homes and the hopes that go with them is equally impressive.

It is a story of men who turned adversity into triumph. Most of these men are Senecas led by their forceful and articulate President, Martin Seneca. But one, a prime mover, is a Choctaw from Oklahoma -- Sidney Carney.

Carney is in the employ of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The story of Carney and the Senecas could be said to have its beginnings in 1794.

The Seneca Nation was among the Six Nations who signed a treaty with the young United States in 1794 which guaranteed them the right to certain areas of New York. Some of the lands were later sold by the Indians. The remaining Seneca holdings comprise two reservations -- the Allegany and the Cattaraugus. The Allegany stretches in a narrow band for 40 miles along the Allegheny River. A strip of 10,000 riverfront acres was designated several years ago by the Army Corps of Engineers for a reservoir site as part of the Ohio River Basin development. The water will be backed up by the Kinzua Dam, 20 miles downstream.

When the Corps of Engineers' announced its plans to dispossess 133 Seneca families, a total of 830 people, a nationwide protest ensued as the Senecas fought a losing battle through the courts to retain their land.

The Government and the Seneca Nation eventually came to an agreement whereby the Senecas would receive approximately $3 million for the seized lands and another $12 million for a program of rehabilitation for the distressed community.

The money was appropriated by Congress in 19164. Today, two years later, the transformation of the area is evident to the most casual visitor. Where a scattering of shanties and shacks had dotted the verdant countryside, there is now a vast reservoir to hoard the river waters. And on the highlands above are ramblers and ranch houses where 133 dispossessed families have started life anew.

Sid Carney proved to be a powerful catalyst in the rehabilitation of the Senecas, as the tribe set about developing comprehensive plans, including guidelines for investment, education and industrial development.

Carney brought a stream of consultants to the reservation to measure its potential for industrial and tourist development. Meanwhile, the Community Facilities Administration, the Public Housing Administration, the Area Redevelopment Administration, the Accelerated Public Works Program, the Manpower Development and Training Program, the National Park Service, and the Forest Service were also rung in on the planning.

The Quakers, friends of the Senecas since before the Treaty of 1794, sent a representative to give further assistance to the Tribe.

The first challenge was the relocation of the 133 families. Two new town sites -- Cold Spring and Jimerson town (named for a prominent Seneca family) were selected. Both are at the northern end of the reservation.

In these towns, modern homes, -- both ranch style and split level -- have been constructed on lots ranging from one to three acres, some of them beautifully wooded. The homes have all utilities and many luxuries -- wood paneling, fireplaces, extra bathrooms. The tribe figures their average worth at $12,000, excluding land, in an extremely conservative estimation. It is easy to see that most families intend to stay put. Shrubs have been planted and the struggle to grow grass on the rocky soil has begun. From outside, the scene is typical of suburbia anywhere.

From the inside there is a difference. The decor of these homes is strongly Indian. Pictures, paintings, pottery, baskets and countless other artifacts are in evidence as a reminder of the heritage these people share.

While many husbands work in a nearby Salamanca, N.Y., furniture factory, or for the Erie Railroad, most wives still cling to tradition at home. Weaving and basket making are part of the tradition.

Although most Senecas are Christian and few still fluent in Iroquois, the traditional "Longhouse," site of ancient religious ceremonies and traditional dances, was rebuilt on higher ground. Several Christian churches of very modern design are under construction in the new villages.

Even the dead share a new environment. From individual family plots scattered over the reservation 3,800 graves were relocated in two cemeteries in beautiful settings on the hillsides above the two new communities.

Although the relocation has been painful, the Senecas are not dwelling in the past. They fully expect to provide, on their own terms, all the benefits of modern society for the members of the tribe.

Tribal rolls contain 4,132 names. Roughly one-third lives on each of the reservations, with one-third living off the reservation. The Cattaraugus Reservation is the larger of the two and is made up largely of level lands equally suitable for agriculture or industrial sites. It is there that the second phase of the Seneca's improvement program can be seen.

The walls are already rising for a $400,000 manufacturing plant, the first building on what will be a 66-acie industrial park. The factory is owned by the First Seneca Corp., an organization principally financed by the tribe. The plant will be run under contract by the U.S. Pillow Corp. and will employ more than 100 Indians.

The industrial park is but one project that the Tribal Council and Carney have devised.

On the banks high above what soon will be a reservoir 29 miles long, the tribe plans to construct "Seneca Overlook," a motel - pool - golf course facility for travelers on New York State's Southern Tier Throughway, now under construction across the southern part of the reservation.

On the waterfront, downstream, will be built "State-Line Run," a complete water-based recreation and camping facility, set in beautiful wooded hills and mountains within a day's drive for millions of recreation seeking Americans.

The Council wants a feasibility study on its plans to build "Iroquoia." This would be a $9 million re-creation of several Indian villages as they were at the height of the Six Nations' power. The purpose, aside from financial gain, is to portray the role the Indians played in the development of America.

Indicative of the progress already made by the tribe are the two modern community buildings, one on each reservation) from which the Council directs operations and plans for the future. They are ultra-modern in design and furnishing -- down to touch-tone telephones-- and in addition to offices contain libraries, kitchens, gymnasiums, and craft rooms.

The lettering on the office doors includes SNEF (Seneca Nation Educational Foundation), SNHE (Seneca Nation Housing Enterprises), and SNICC (Seneca Nation of Indians Cemetery Commission).

Of these, the first holds the key to the success of the Seneca story, and as a result has received $1.8 million of the award money. The tribal Educational Foundation will assist Senecas of all ages to obtain the education necessary to compete in modern America. It is already providing transportation to remedial reading classes in nearby public schools; it has received numerous applications for its college assistance program; it has joined with the Ford Foundation and the local school district for a thorough study of Indian educational problems; and it is supporting a management training program to ready Indians for supervisory positions in the new pillow factory.

In addition, the Foundation has been providing financial assistance to 53 students enrolled at schools ranging from colleges, through business schools to vocational schools. It has hired two part-time guidance counselors who meet with Senecas of all ages who have questions about improving their education. Last summer it sponsored a Neighborhood Youth Corps program which employed 95 young people, between 16 and 21, with support from the Office of Economic Opportunity.

The President of the Foundation is an attractive and knowledgeable Seneca widow, Mrs. Maribel Printup, who, as Carney‘s secretary, is the only other Bureau of Indian Affairs employee on the reservation.

The Senecas know that if they are to sustain this growth and improvement, they must have a continuing reserve of trained and educated people who can provide the leadership and the skills to operate these new enterprises. In 20 years, they believe, the Educational Foundation can provide the tribe with its own Sid Carney to maintain the progress that he helped begin.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett today hailed the amendment to the Adult Vocational Training Act as one of the most helpful pieces of legislation ever approved to assist the Indian people.

The amendment increases the authorization for annual appropriations from $15 million to $25 million o President Johnson announced February 5 that he had signed the legislation.

"When President Johnson signed the bill," said Bennett, "he noted that many Indian people and families have been able to learn a saleable skill through this program. It has helped them become self-sufficient and no longer dependent upon the Federal Government."

The Bureau helped find off-reservation jobs for 2,649 Indians during fiscal year 1967. In the same period, 4,785 Indians began adult vocational training. The increased funds, when voted by the Congress, will finance a substantially larger training program.

With the proposed additional AVT funds, a backlog of requests for help would be eliminated and additional on-the-job training opportunities could be offered.

Indians have participated in AVT programs in 23 Western States in 408 schools. Over 1,000 vocational courses are offered to them, representing more than 100 different occupations.

"As a result of this training, over 80 percent of those persons who have completed training under the program and who desire employment are now employed," said Bennett.

"With this increased authorization, the Bureau of Indian Affairs can expand its training, particularly for the younger adult generation, which has become enthusiastic about the success stories of Indians who have 'made it' outside Indian land areas." Each year, there has been an increase in the. Demand for Adult Vocational Training services, particularly by the younger people, and approximately 25 percent of those who have applied have had to accept a delay in entering training. The higher authorization is expected to meet the current demand.

New industrial development opportunities for the 16 largest Indian land areas should result from a recent Labor Department ruling, on their eligibility for Federal contracts, Robert L. Bennett, commissioner of Indian Affairs, Department f of the Interior, said today.

Bennett said the Labor Department's Bureau of Employment Security has designated the 16 areas eligible for the first preference in Federal procurement contracts as the result of negotiations conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Branch of Commercial and Industrial Development.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall endorsed the Branch's proposal to Secretary of Labor Willard W. Wirtz as another means of aiding Indians.

The 16 Indian areas now classified as sections of concentrated unemployment Jr underemployment are: Fort Apache, Hopi, Gila River, Papago and San Carlos, all in Arizona; Navajo in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah; Blackfeet, Crow-Northern Cheyenne and Fort Peck in Montana; Acoma-Laguna-Canoncito-Isleta and Zuni in New Mexico; Cherokee in North Carolina; Standing Rock-Cheyenne River in North Dakota and South Dakota; Turtle Mountain in North Dakota; and Pine Ridge and Rosebud in South Dakota.

"This action means that industrial plants located in or near these Indian areas are now eligible for first preference in the award of certain Federal procurement contracts if the firms have an approved plan for employing a portion of the Indian work force on the contract," Commissioner Bennett said.

"This should assist in stabilizing operations of such plants and possibly lead to expansions.

"The possibility is also opened for establishment of new industries in or near these Indian areas if the plants can be established so as to produce the required materials within the contract terms," Bennett added.

The Labor Department announcement explained that employers wishing to establish individual eligibility for their plants must obtain a certificate through the state or local employment offices.

Bennett said this recognition of the need for employment by Indians is another in an increasing list of cooperative actions by Federal agencies to extend more fully to Indians the benefits afforded generally by Federal programs.

Sarah Ann Johnson, Miss Indian America XIV, will visit Washington March 3 through 7 for a round of meetings with Congressmen, Department of the Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs officials, and Indian leaders.

She will fly to New York March 7 for radio and TV appearances, to attend a coffee Friday morning given by the Girl Scouts of America Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett and Indian leaders will be a guest at a luncheon Friday given by industrialists who have plants on or near Indian lands.

Miss Johnson, 19, and a full-blood Navajo, was selected Miss Indian America during the annual "All American Indian Days" Pow-Wow held in Sheridan, Wyo., in August.

Indians from tribes all over the country go to Sheridan for four days of dances and displays of arts and crafts, with the pow-wow culminating each year in the selection of Miss Indian America.

Sarah Ann is typical of many of today's young Indians, steeped in the ways of her tribe and honoring its customs, while at the same time taking part in the non-Indian world around her. Born in Pinon, Ariz., she has eight brothers and sisters, and recently graduated from Winslow, Ariz., High School. She was the first Indian girl varsity cheerleader, vice president of Nurses of Tomorrow, and secretary of the Girls Athletic Association.

Between appearances at numerous conventions, fairs and pow-wows a Miss Indian America is expected to attend, she has been employed as a secretary in the tribal land investigation department at Window Rock, Ariz., the Navajo tribal headquarters.

The selection of Miss Johnson as Miss Indian America this year has special significance for the Navajo Tribe as this is the Centennial Year of the tribe's treaty with the United States.

Miss Johnson plans to continue college education after her reign, and eventually become a teacher and possibly teach in the same classrooms where she began her education.

The New York luncheon will have as honor guests Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall, and Commissioner Bennett.

William W. Keeler, president of Phillips Petroleum Co., and principal chief of the Cherokee tribe, will be master of ceremonies.

The luncheon is being given by executives whose firms are established on Indian lands, to acquaint invited representatives of other interested companies of Indian workers' potential.

Miss Johnson will leave New York over the weekend to make appearances in Chicago and Cleveland during travel shows there.

The National Council on Indian Opportunity will hold its first meeting Tuesday afternoon in Washington.

Vice President Hubert HQ Humphrey, Chairman of the Council established by executive order of President Johnson on March 6, announced today plans for the meeting. Establishment of the Council was announced in the President's unprecedented message to the Congress regarding Indian Americans. The Council was to have held its first meeting on June 5 in Albuquerque but the plans were cancelled due to the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

The Council will assemble in the Treaty Room of the Executive Office Building at 2 p.m. July 16. The Council consists of five Indian leaders and one Alaska Native appointed by President Johnson, six members of the cabinet, and the Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity.

The Indian and Alaska members are: Wendell Chino, President of the National Congress of American Indians and Chairman of the Mescalero Apache Tribal Council, Mescalero, N.M; Cato Valandra, Treasurer of the National Congress of American Indians and President of the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Council, Rosebud, S.D.; Roger Jourdain, Chairman of the State Indian Affairs Commission for the State of Minnesota and Chairman of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Red Lake, Minn.; Raymond Nakai, Chairman of the Navajo Tribal Council, Window Rock, Arizona; Mrs. LaDonna Harris, an Oklahoma Comanche, first president of Oklahomans for Indian Opportunity and director of the Indian Peace Corps training program and William Hensley, an Eskimo member of the Alaska Legislature, Kotzebue, Alaska.

The cabinet members serving on the council are Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall, Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman, Secretary of Commerce Cyrus RQ Smith, Secretary of Labor W. Willard Wirtz, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Wilbur R. Cohen, and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Robert CQ Weaver and Acting Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity Bertrand M. Harding.