Title: Homogenization, Protests & Outright Rebellion: 1950s: Native Americans Move to the City—The Urban Relocation Program | Picture This
Headings: Homogenization, Protests & Outright Rebellion: 1950s:
Native Americans Move to the City—The Urban Relocation Program

Homogenization, Protests & Outright Rebellion: 1950s: Native Americans Move to the City—The Urban Relocation Program
Content: Of the 35,000 participants, about 30% returned to their reservations. Many who remained in the program lived in urban poverty, poor health, with substance abuse, emotional suffering, and a terrible loss of tribal connection and cultural identity. Their common heritage of small community and rural culture values, and dependence of the BIA did not prepare them for the strains of urban living. Nonetheless, over time, Indian communities in relocation centers around the nation became multi-tribal, made up of relocated families and their descendents. So many came to California because they believed that it was the land of new beginnings. Los Angeles and the Bay Area Indian communities both grew way beyond the California indigenous populations. Many intertribal marriages produced descendants identified as urban Indians by non Native Americans rather than by specific tribal identification. They established Native American cultural centers, held powwows, and provided what community support they could. Tribal identity, although not lost, was certainly weakened and no longer the overriding recognition point for non Native Americans. For Native Americans living in California cities, however, identity continued to be a central issue in their lives.