Boston Indian Citizen Committee

Boston Indian Citizenship Committee. An association for the protection of the rights of Indians; organized in 1879 on the occasion of the forcible removal of the Ponca. The tribe returned to their old home in South Dakota from the reservation in Indian Territory. Chief Standing Bear, released on a Writ of habeas corpus, went to Boston, and, on the plea that most of the signatures in favor of removal were fraudulent, enlisted the sympathy of Hon. John D. Long, then governor of Massachusetts, and other organizers of this committee, who finally secured the rescission of the edict and the restoration of the Dakota reservation. The committee undertook next to secure citizenship for Indians on the basis of the payment of taxes, a principle that was finally denied by the United States Supreme Court. When the Dawes bill granting land in severalty and citizenship was enacted, the committee devoted its attention to securing honest allotment. Since the organization of the Indian Rights Association in Philadelphia the Boston committee has confined itself to securing fair allotments of fertile lands, with adequate water supply, protecting homesteads, and especially to defending and generally promoting the interests of the more progressive bands of tribes that were backward in taking allotments. To safeguard the rights of such and prevent the sale or lease of the best Indian lands to whites at nominal prices, the committee has sought to obtain the dismissal of corrupt Government agents and inspectors whenever such were detected. Joshua W. Davis is chairman and J. S. Lock wood secretary (P. O. Box 131, Boston, Mass.)

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Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, Frederick Webb Hodge, 1906