American Indian Center

The American Indian Center (AIC) of Chicago is the oldest urban American Indian center in the United States.[1] It provides social services, youth and senior programs, cultural learning, and meeting opportunities for Indian peoples. For many years, it was located Uptown and is now in the Albany Park, Chicago community area.[2][3]

American Indian Center
FoundedSeptember 7, 1953
TypeNon-profit cultural organization
Location
Area served
Chicago metropolitan area
ServicesArchery, Social services, education, cultural programming
Key people
AL Eastman, Archery Director
Websiteaicchicago.org

History

Founded in 1953 by Native Americans with assistance from the American Friends Service Committee, the Center was a response to an increasing influx of native people into Chicago. This migration was largely prompted by the Indian termination policy and the Indian Relocation Act of 1956, which sought to assimilate Native Americans into urban America.[4][5] As noted by the AIC, "Native people from tribes throughout the country, arrived in Chicago. In addition to the Oneida, Ojibwa, Menominee, Sac and Fox, and Potawatomi of the north woods, Lakota, Navajo, Blackfoot, Papago, and many others were represented. The result was (and is) a multi-tribal community (including members of more than 50 tribes) searching for a common social and cultural ground."[2] The center provided, and provides, a way for the people it serves to build community organizations and support in the city.[6]

From its start, the Center has been overseen by the Native American members, from a variety of tribes, who make up its board. One of its longest running social and educational programs is the annual pow-wow, and it has also organized study opportunities, exhibits and conferences with academic institutions.[7] The Center has also collaborated with Chicago Public Schools to establish alternative education programs for Native American students, including Little Big Horn High School in 1971.[8] In addition to its present center in Chicago, which opened in 1966, in 2005 it opened the Trickster Gallery in Schaumburg, Illinois, to showcase contemporary Native American artists. Trickster Gallery is no longer affiliated with AIC. The AIC is a member of the Chicago Cultural Alliance. Archery at the American Indian Center hosts a Junior Olympic and Adult Achievement program.

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See also

References
  1. Cutler, Irving (2006). Chicago : Metropolis of the Mid-continent (4th ed.). Carbondale: Southern Illinois Univ. Press. pp. 206–207. ISBN 9780809327010.
  2. "AIC - History". American Indian Center of Chicago. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  3. "A Message from the AIC Board of Directors". aicchicago.org. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  4. "The Urban Relocation Program". PBS. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  5. Reid, Kerry (2013-09-05). "At American Indian Center's 60th Powwow, both ritual and dance contest". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2013-12-23.
  6. Lobo, Susan; Kurt Peters, eds. (2000). American Indians and the urban experience. Walnut Creek, Calif.: Altamira Press. pp. 91–93. ISBN 9780742502758.
  7. Lloyd, Nora; et al. (2004). Chicago's 50 years of Powwows. Charleston, SC: Arcadia. ISBN 0738533033.
  8. Laukitis, John (2015). Community Self-Determination: American Indian Education in Chicago, 1952-2006. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. pp. 66–70. ISBN 978-1-4384-5768-0 – via Google Books.

Further reading

Delgado, Louis. "Native Americans". www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org. Retrieved 12 June 2017.

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