The Indian Rights Association (IRA) was a social activist group dedicated to the well being and acculturation of
American Indians. Founded by non-Indians in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
in 1882, the group was highly influential in American Indian policy through the 1930s and remained involved as an organization until 1994. The organization's initial stated objective was to "bring about the complete civilization of the Indians and their admission to citizenship."
The organization was founded in 1883 by
Herbert Welsh and
Henry Spackman Pancoast after they travelled with an Episcopal mission to the
Dakota Territory
The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of N ...
in 1882 and spent four weeks with the Sioux agencies.
In 1884 they opened an additional office in
Washington, D.C.
)
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, to act as a legislative lobby and liaison with the
Board of Indian Commissioners and the
Board of Indian Affairs. The IRA also opened an early office in
Boston, Massachusetts. The management of early Indian Rights Association's programs fell almost entirely to five men, all of whom had lengthy careers with the IRA:
Herbert Welsh,
Matthew Sniffen, and
Lawrence E. Lindley, active in Philadelphia; and
Charles C. Painter and
Samuel M. Brosius, agents and lobbyists in Washington, D.C.
In addition to efforts on policy development and congressional lobbying, the Indian Rights Association monitored the actions of
Bureau of Indian Affairs agents and observed Native American living conditions and health care needs through correspondence and trips to reservations and settlements. They also sponsored speaking tours for activists and Indian representatives as a means of informing the public about native issues. The
Unitarian minister and journalist
Jonathan Baxter Harrison
Jonathan Baxter Harrison (April 5, 1835 – June 17, 1907), was a Unitarian minister and journalist who was involved in many of the social causes of his day: abolitionism, Indian rights, forest preservation, and the cultural improvement of ...
was an especially influential observer, publishing several books and articles detailing his findings in the late 1880s.
Publications
*Harrison, Jonathan Baxter. ''The latest studies on Indian reservations'', Philadelphia: The Indian Rights Association 1887.
*Harrison, Jonathan Baxter. ''The colleges and the Indians, and the Indian Rights Association'', Philadelphia: The Indian Rights Association 1888.
*Pancoast, Henry Spackman. ''The Indian Before the Law'', Philadelphia: The Indian Rights Association 1884.
*Welsh, Herbert.
The Action of the Interior Department in Forcing the Standing Rock Indians to Lease Their Lands to Cattle Syndicates', Philadelphia: The Indian Rights Association 1902.
References
{{Reflist
Further reading
by William T. Hagan, Univerdity of Arizona Press (1985)
External links
*Th
Indian Rights Association Records including correspondence, organizational records, photographs and other printed materials, are available for research use at the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a long-established research facility, based in Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chronicles, maps, press reports and v ...
.
1882 establishments in Pennsylvania
1994 disestablishments in Pennsylvania
Native American rights organizations
Organizations disestablished in 1994
Organizations established in 1882