Dreams from the Land

My research will be about how the characters in There, There by Tommy Orange portray, the survival and American Dream of Urban Natives. This topic is important because There, There shows a representation of Natives who reside in cities like Oakland, California. Many Natives reside in urban areas around the United States, hinting at a history of government policy, displacement, and the pursuit of the American Dream. The history and experiences of urban Natives are important because they bridge the gap between Native American history and modern-day America, and show how Indigenous values and lives can fit in it and the American Dream. 

The experiences of urban Natives and urban relocation are complex, with many different experiences as the result of the Termination and Relocation policy in 1953. I grew up on the KCA reservation in Southwest Oklahoma, and have strong ties to the land I resided in, especially after moving to an urban area like Norman for education. I used to have a hard time understanding why one would leave their hometown and feel hurt by the people who left town. Within reservations and the Native community, there is a stigma towards urban Natives about their connectedness to their traditional culture and knowledge. This may be extremely invalidating toward the identities of urban Natives, whether it may be true or not within their individual experiences. After moving away, I quickly realized that leaving my hometown is not an easy sacrifice to make, and many others have done this to pursue other opportunities they could not find at home. I also realized how easily one can forget about their traditional values, and get lost within a culture that is not one’s own. This can lead to narrow-mindedness and isolation. I often sympathize with the dream to find more, much like the one that many Indigenous families had during the 1950s when moving to urban areas for the American Dream. I have ancestors in my family who have taken the opportunity for the American Dream during the Relocation policy. I have been told stories about their experience, and their need to come back to the reservation after a few years of pursuit and hardship. The relocation policy and experiences of the urbanization of Natives are important because it is a history that may preceded many negative and positive experiences in Native families. I aim to research their experiences while analyzing and comparing the experiences of the fictional characters of There, There

The extent of my knowledge of urban Natives goes as far as the Termination and Relocation Policy of 1953 and the fictional (but realistic) experiences of There, There characters. As a whole, many There, There characters experience a disconnection from their Cheyenne culture and it may be the result of further displacement of Native American communities during the Relocation program, which sought to separate Native families from their tribal reservation. The policy was enacted to systematically disband the tribes and sell the land they resided on. Many natives, almost a million migrated to urban cities in hopes of achieving the American Dream. Many sacrificed their ties to their cultures, while many stayed with their culture. 

A course reading that provoked my interest in this topic is Killers of the Flower Moon, a book documenting the conspiracy and multiple murders of the Osage people, for White families to gain head rights. The reading helped me to understand the times that preceded the Relocation policy, the climate of Native-nonnative relations, and the beginnings of the urbanization of the Osage people after reservations were established. 

I have narrowed my research to the American Dream, urbanization of Natives, Relocation policy, and other topics to get a better understanding of the situation in urban Native experiences. To narrow my research further, I believe I will need to add Tommy Orange and There, There analyses to my search key terms and questions. 

To finish my annotating bibliography, I will continue to data mine, and make sure that the sources I gathered have the information necessary to research my topic. Additionally, I will reread There, There to find any quotations or descriptions of the characters’ experience and survival as an urban Native.

Here is the link to the trailer for my research topic.

When thinking about the American Dream of Native peoples, and my own, I cannot start without remembering the dreams of my ancestors. In those dreams lay a direct story in which resilience is nurtured and determination thrives to carry on our traditions. I would be remiss not to include these stories, for I am the product of them – I am my ancestor’s American Dream. I am taking this space to speak on my great-grandfather, John Bates, a true man of resilience, determination, and opportunity. His American Dream was rooted in the thriving of his family, community, and adaptability.

John Bates was born on March 12th, 1910 in Anadarko, Oklahoma, and grew up around southwest Oklahoma. He was Wichita and Kiowa and a product of a boarding school child. His mother went to Rainy Mountain Boarding School, south of Gotebo at the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache (KCA) Reservation. Indian boarding schools have a history of pain due to the assimilation and abuse that Native American children endured, which has played a role in creating a strong hold of generational trauma. This is the case for many families, including my own. John went to school up until 6th grade, when he left school to make a living and take care of his family. He went through much adversity throughout his life. At an early point in life, he and his father became homeless. They hopped from train to train for shelter and to travel around Southwest Oklahoma, around Anadarko. Although he did not have a stable home in which to grow up, he was determined to make an earning for himself and his family. So he became a car mechanic, settled in Anadarko, and worked on cars for families in town. He also became a plane mechanic and worked in Los Angeles, California later in 1943. 

By the time John arrived in LA, he was married and had 2 children. He moved his family over there because the Government promised that he could be trained and earn a job if he moved. This was only a few years before the Urban Relocation policies was enacted in the late 1940s and 1950s to encourage Natives to move out of reservations and into urban areas such as LA. In the pursuit of his American Dream, John trained with Douglas Aircraft Company and worked on planes for World War II. Since then, the facility has turned into an Air Force base. Eventually, he and his family moved back to Anadarko due to his mother-in-law’s passing, which required him to go back to working on cars. He rerooted his family in his hometown, even securing a car garage for his mechanic business. This was a big achievement because he found being his boss important – his wife was an exception.

John ensured that moving back home meant that he could serve his community again. Everyone knew him in town because he fixed everyone’s cars, even if he knew they didn’t have the means to pay him. One story highlighting John’s commitment to his community inspired many of his descendants, including my mother and I. John and his family had the only television in Anadarko at this time, so everyone came to watch TV at his home. When it became too crowded for the house, he put chairs outside and placed a glass substrate screen that would somehow magnify the TV so that it was big enough for everyone to watch. This was before plasma TVs existed, which shows how much knowledge and ingenuity he held. 

John Bates, although modest about his achievements and stories, is known in Anadarko to this day for his service to the community. Although his formal education was cut short, he was extremely intelligent and took much enjoyment in reading. He loved building toys for his children, hyper-focusing on random experiments, and going to church. His story shows that one does not need to have a formal education or wealth to achieve the American Dream. I believe he succeeded in his dream because not only did he succeed in making a name for himself, but he helped his people start to make one for themselves too.

While millions of Americans search for ways to bring their American Dream to fruition, some forget the people who paved the path for them to thrive. When I came to the University of Oklahoma, I came in recognizing the many others who came before me and paved the way for my education. Dr. George Henderson, a distinguished author, and recipient of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence Medal for the Outstanding College and University Professor in 2000, comes from a modest background. Dr. Henderson was born in Hurtsboro, Alabama on June 18, 1932. His family were sharecroppers, however they fled to Indiana at the death threat of Ku Klux Klan members and the other racism his family experienced in rural Alabama. 

Henderson’s parents had a seventh-grade level education, which made it difficult to get a well-paying job. Henderson and his family grew up in poverty–he recounts in his book, Race and the University, the time he taped cardboard to the bottom of the inside of his shoe because there was a hole in it, and he could not afford to buy another pair of shoes. There were many nights when he went to bed hungry as a child. However, he was still a happy child with the ability to dream, and so he did. 

His mother instilled the importance of higher education, which later became a major aspect of his life. Dr. George Henderson attended Michigan State on a track scholarship as a first-generation student– however, his education was interrupted by the Korean conflict when he was drafted. He served for two years in the Air Force before receiving an honorable discharge. He finished his degrees up to PhD and built a family of 9. In 1967, Dr. Henderson came to the University of Oklahoma as its first African-American professor, only the third black faculty member out of 500 that made up the university. This was where he took hold of opportunity and advocacy to make a lasting legacy. 

Dr. George Henderson became the fist Black property owners in Norman and not long after he arrived he created OU’s Black Student Union. He, along with the Civil Rights movement, sparked the fight for social justice and equality within his students. He also advised them through achieving equity and representation for Black students at OU. However, living in Norman and OU did not come easy. After all, this was a time of major racism, discrimination and xenophobia. 

In the 1960s, Norman, Oklahoma was still a ‘sundown town’. During this time, an all-white town did not welcome Black people, especially after sunset. At Henderson’s initial move in with his family he faced oppression from others, calling them racial slurs in passing and trashing his yard. However, he did not let this discourage him from pursuing his American dream of achieving equality, representation, and opportunity for himself, his family, and his students. He continued to be an integral part in progressing the town of Norman and the University of Oklahoma.

Dr. Henderson’s legacy matters to me because not only did he created a path for his Black students, but the creation of OU BSU played an influential role in the creation of diverse student organizations at OU. To honor Dr. Henderson’s legacy of opportunity, representation, and community service, a building was established in his name, the Henderson-Tolson Cultural Center. A scholarship program at OU was established in his name, the Henderson Scholars Program.

One of the reasons I came to OU was because I was offered this scholarship, and I knew this is the path I was meant to take. Dr. George Henderson, along with many others, family members, ancestors, and predecessors paved this path for me and others to succeed in our own American dream. Dr. Henderson and his living legacy, the Henderson Scholars Program, has taught me about community care, mentorship, and my favorite motto, “with great opportunity comes great responsibility.” I am forever indebted to his cause, his love, and his legacy, and will use his story to provide the opportunity for others to achieve their own American dream.

A few years ago in 2022, I spoke about my experiences with being poor, having low wages, and food insecurity at the March on Washington Poor People’s Campaign in DC with my mother. This is the transcribed version of my speech. I wanted to include it in this blog because it is a time I felt empowered to use my voice about my experience growing up in a poor household. The way I grew up influences how I look at the American Dream, the American government, and its involvement in welfare. 

My Transcript

Hatso, I am Kateri Daffron from Oklahoma. I’ve experienced and lived in an impoverished community all my life. I grew up in Anadarko, Oklahoma where there are jobs that lack the guarantee of living wages. This caused my family to experience food insecurity, job instability, and poverty. In one of the most successful countries in the world, we are barely getting by. Although I have moved away, I am still in poverty. I can’t leave poverty. I am 17, a child, and yet the country has already failed me. This is wrong. I a child, shouldn’t have to worry about whether or not my family is going to be able to pay the rent this month. I shouldn’t have to worry about whether the SNAP benefits will be enough to feed me and my family. I am not old enough to vote, yet I am one of the many teenagers experiencing this justice. I shouldn’t be the one to have to carry this burden. How do you expect me to contribute to your American Dream when I don’t even know if I will have a home next week? I don’t want handouts. I want a fair and equal shot and until then, we won’t be silenced anymore. 

Although I felt vulnerable delivering this speech in front of thousands of strangers, I felt empowered and heard on that stage, because I knew many people could relate to my experience. At this point, I had not had many public speaking experiences outside of clubs and school. I believed that the American Dream was a collective dream, a standard of how average Americans are expected to live. Additionally, I wanted to use my voice about poverty to call for economic equity. My experiences shapes how I think about the American Dream, that not everyone achieves the American Dream due to systemic equality and history of oppression of groups of people. I intend to keep using my voice about economic inequality and the importance of equity and justice as the solution by learning about the American Dream and how others fit into it.

There, There by Tommy Orange, is a book about the stories of multiple Cheyenne characters residing in Oakland, Oklahoma: Opal, Dene, Tony, Jacquie, Edwin, Calvin, Orvil, Octavio, and Daniel. These characters’ stories, unbeknownst to them, are all interconnected by the upcoming Oakland powwow they all prepare to attend. However, it is important to note that many characters are just learning about their culture and traditional dance styles while others have yet to learn about their traditional ways.

These characters have a disconnection from their Cheyenne culture and the earth itself as a result of the displacement of many Indigenous communities across the United States. The displacement highlighted in this book is a by-product of removal, assimilation, and the relocation program for the American Dream. To further understand removal and relocation, let’s look at the Cheyenne tribe and their ancestral homelands, where they were removed, and the location of many modern Cheyenne people.

As Tommy Orange mentions, the Cheyenne people are historically a part of the Algonquian language family and are closely related to the Arapaho tribe, hence the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes becoming a united tribal government. The Cheyenne originally resided in the lands known as present-day Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska. After enduring one of the most significant atrocities, the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864, the Cheyenne and Arapaho people were forced to move to present-day Oklahoma by 1869, and now their tribal government headquarters reside in Concho, Oklahoma.

If the Cheyenne and Arapaho people were moved to Oklahoma, why do these characters reside in Oakland, California? This is the result of the “termination” federal policy enacted in 1953, where Indigenous tribes would be disbanded and their land would be sold. The BIA, Bureau of Indian Affairs, launched a program called the Urban Relocation Program to move Natives off of their reservations and into Urban cities, with the intent to break down tribal ties. 

According to an article about Native American relocation, an estimated 750,000 natives migrated to urban cities between 1950 and the 80s in hopes of achieving self-determination and success of the American Dream (American Indian Displacement and Relocation). However, when most Indigenous communities arrived at urban cities, the program did not follow up on the development of their new lives. Additionally, American society and Government officials wanted the Indigenous populations to give up their culture and assimilate for the American Dream. Subsequently, many could not realize the American Dream, resulting in either coming back to the reservations or living in poverty in these urban cities. This is the case for many Cheyenne people in Oakland, California.

The result of the Termination and Relocation Program is the lives of these characters in There, There. None of these characters live out the expectation of the American Dream, and almost all are in identity crises and living in poverty, which contributes to the criminal activity that goes on in the book. In the end, it is a sad but realistic side of the lives of many modern Indigenous communities especially in Urban populations as a result of the false sense of the American Dream.

I highly recommend this book if you are interested in modern Indigenous stories of the American Dream, Urbanized life, and the disconnect of their culture. There should be some at the local or OU library, at bookstores, or online.

Works Cited

“American Indian Displacement and Relocation – Health Is a Human Right.” Health Is a Human Right, exhibits.library.gsu.edu/health-is-a-human-right/displacement/american-indian-displacement-and-relocation/#:~:text=In%201953%2C%20Congress%20passed%20a%20resolution%20to%20begin. Accessed 13 Mar. 2024.