Conditions on Wisconsin Indian reservations, 1909-1910

Condition of Indian affairs in Wisconsin: hearings before the Committee on Indian Affairs, United States Senate, on Senate resolution no. 263.

Starting in 1887, tribal lands were broken up and sold to individuals under a U.S. Indian policy known as "allotment" (see the Dictionary of Wisconsin History for more details). In Wisconsin, allotment resulted in the loss of 174,785 acres of land formerly held by the tribes. In 1909, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs authorized an investigation led by Wisconsin Sen. Robert La Follette that held a series of hearings around the state in 1909 and 1910. The hearings called on Indians, Indian agents, state officials, and other concerned citizens to testify on the distribution of land and money. They offer considerable insight into conditions on Indian reservations as well as relations between Indians, the government, and white communities. They also preserve the actual words of many Wisconsin Indians as they described living conditions in the early 20th century.

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