Content Standard 2.7
In this section you will explore the impact of the Dawes Act which resulted in the loss of tribal communal lands and the redistribution of lands by various means including land runs as typified by the Unassigned Lands and the Cherokee Outlet, lotteries, and tribal allotments.
In this section you will explore the impact of the Dawes Act which resulted in the loss of tribal communal lands and the redistribution of lands by various means including land runs as typified by the Unassigned Lands and the Cherokee Outlet, lotteries, and tribal allotments.
The Dawes Act of 1887 authorized the President of the United States to survey American Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Indians.
The Dawes Act "was the culmination of American attempts to destroy tribes and their governments and to open Indian communal lands to settlement by non-Indians and to development by railroads."
Land run, sometimes "land rush", usually refers to a event in which previously restricted land of the United States was opened to homestead on a first arrival basis.
The Unassigned Lands in Oklahoma were in the center of the lands ceded to the United States by the Creek (Muskogee) and Seminole Indians following the Civil War and on which no other tribes had been settled
The Cherokee Outlet was a section of land in Northwestern Oklahoma that was used by settlers to safely hunt and settle in the West.
Sometimes, land in Oklahoma was allocated through a lottery.
In Oklahoma, some tribes were allotted under the General Allotment Act of 1887, others were allotted through treaty or tribe-, state-, or reservation-specific legislation.
Seven land runs in all took place in Oklahoma:
Unassigned Lands, April 22, 1889
Iowa, September 22, 1891
Sac and Fox, September 22, 1891
Pottawatomie and Shawnee, September 22, 1891
Cheyenne & Arapaho, April 19, 1892
Cherokee Outlet, September 16, 1893
Kickapoo, May 23, 1895
Unassigned Lands, April 22, 1889
Iowa, September 22, 1891
Sac and Fox, September 22, 1891
Pottawatomie and Shawnee, September 22, 1891
Cheyenne & Arapaho, April 19, 1892
Cherokee Outlet, September 16, 1893
Kickapoo, May 23, 1895