“We have kept our shares of the treaties, and we are here to ask that you keep yours. The little amount of calico [the treaty cloth] for which the money is appropriated each year by this Congress doesn’t amount to very much per person, but it is the significance of that calico which means something to all of us.” Alice Lee Jemison, 1948 Senate Hearings

Alice Lee Jemison

Alice is on the lower left corner.

We tend to forget how we arrive at the places we do. Most of the time we arrive at our current stations through the actions of others. This can be good or bad... depends on how you consider all of the variables involved. I read a lot about New York Indians, New York-Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) relations, biographies, and so on. I am always amazed by how much the Iroquois have influenced Native thought, social consciousness, and related legislation across the globe. This list of Iroquois input is difficult to compile for readers. Instead, periodically we will highlight significant moments and contributions to our current discussions on indigeneity, race, history, politics, and social movements.

Recently, I read about the Seneca journalist and activist, Alice Lee Jemison. Laurence Hauptman’s slim chapter on her life painted an interesting portrait of this astonishing person. Reading her biography I became interested in how indigenous women redefined their role in the American social landscape. Throughout most of recorded North American history indigenous women have resided on the backburner of history. Even though, most indigenous people are aware that all members in a community have a role in the direction of the community-based decisions. Unfortunately, women, elders, young people, third genders, and adopted members are usually ignored or downplayed by historians. This is why I became interested in Alice, because she reminded me of those who occupy liminal spaces in contemporary history were not necessarily powerless during their respective times.

Alice was born in 1901 at Silver Creek, New York near the Seneca Cattaraugus Reservation. Her mother was Seneca and her father was Cherokee descent. After graduating high school she married Le Verne Leonard Jemison. Nine years later she left him because of his alcoholism. During the 1920s she took care of her children and mother. She worked a variety of jobs. Almost anything to care for her family. In 1929 Alice became secretary to Seneca Nation President Ray Jimerson. In 1929 she conducted research for the U.S. Census Bureau. This opportunity appears to have changed the course of her life.

Quickly Alice Lee Jemison learned and realized about the paternalistic relationship the U.S. tried to hold over indigenous communities within her borders. She turned her attention to the John Collier, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and Indian Reorganization Act (IRA).  According to Hauptman, Alice believed that U.S. bureaucracy only benefited government employees and not Native communities. As a Seneca woman she understood that U.S. government was not interested in honoring treaties, but influencing Native individuals and communities to assimilate into American mainstream society and open up their territories to corporations and real estate developers. 

Her true awakening was how she witnessed first-hand how the U.S. government and society violated indigenous lifeways and disparaged their belief systems. The first incident that invigorated her activism was Congress, which bypassed the federal trade and intercourse acts and the Senate. This bypassing gave New York State jurisdiction over some Seneca land on the Oil Spring Territory.  The second incident was the trial of two Indian women accused of killing the wife of famous artist Jules Henri Marchand in which the native defendants, and all Native people, were disparaged in court. Alice, along with local Native leaders, sought assistance from the government to ensure that the women received a fair trial. The women were convicted, but later freed. It was then that she began a career in Native rights activism and journalism.

By 1934, Alice moved to Washington DC to write for the Washington Star, lobbied for the Seneca Nation, and worked for the American Indian Federation (AIF).  Throughout most of the 30s she fervently lobbied against the IRA and the levels of unnecessary complexity for Native Nations. She openly called for the abolition of government programs. Alice noticed that most of these policies continued to erode the sovereignty of native people. Beginning in 1930s the US government tried to discredit her often branding her as some sort of Indian Nazi or a commie. The sad irony is her Iroquoian worldview and perspectives may have influenced many of the Termination policies from the 1950s to 1970s to turn communities into nonentities and create thousands of displaced peoples.

One of the things that drew me close to Alice was her call to abolish the Bureau of Indian Affairs. For many native peoples this call does not garner much support. Most US native communities have become accustomed to working with the BIA to resolve issues, receive monetary support, and so on. Her bravery to stand up and be heard with considerable opposition  from the non-Native community. In the 1940s Alice questioned the Roosevelt administration and John Collier (head of the BIA and the architect of the Indian New Deal). From this condemnation she organized the American Indian Federation, which called for the abolition of the BIA. She knew that these programs would weigh down Native communities to function traditionally and pressure many to leave their home lands and assimilate into the American landscape.  

What brought me closer to Alice was how she made me aware of the contradictory nature of American patriarchy. For most of the treaty making period all three branches of government continuously declared Native nations were sovereign, but dependent on U.S. aid. It also became glaring that any act of Congress could figuratively erase a living community off the map.   It is important remember those who aided to where we now reside in the spaces created for us. We must continuously thank people like Alice Lee Jemison.

 Women continue to be the Mothers of all of our Nations.