The setting
By 1900 the major armed conflicts of the nineteenth century were over, and Apache communities were living under the reservation system or, in the case of the Chiricahua, as prisoners of war. The twentieth century then brought a different set of pressures. They were less visible in history books than the Apache Wars, but they shaped the lives of nearly every family. This article looks at three of them, poverty, health crises and land loss, and at how communities responded. It describes patterns, because conditions differed from one nation to the next and over time.
Poverty
Reservation economies in the early twentieth century were generally limited. Land was often poor, jobs were scarce, and government rations and services were inadequate. Federal rules could restrict how people used their land, and money held in trust or from leases was controlled by officials. Many families lived on small incomes from farming, livestock, seasonal wage work and, in some places, craft sales.
The Great Depression of the 1930s added strain, though some federal programs of that decade, such as work projects, also provided jobs on reservations. Poverty in many Apache communities persisted through the rest of the century. Families responded in practical ways: sharing food and housing across households, relying on extended family, combining several small sources of income, and passing along skills in making and repairing things. These customs of mutual support continued from earlier eras, and they are one reason hard times did not break communities apart.
Health crises
Infectious diseases were a serious cause of illness and death in many reservation communities in the early twentieth century. Tuberculosis is widely documented as a major problem in Native communities generally, and crowded housing, poor nutrition and limited medical care contributed. The influenza pandemic of 1918 also affected many Native communities, although how severely it struck each Apache community is not something this article claims to know. Sources differ, and it is better to say less than to guess.
Health services were often weak. Federal clinics and hospitals were underfunded, distances were long, and trust was sometimes low, given the history of removal and boarding schools. Over time, the federal government’s Indian Health Service took on a larger role, and many tribes later gained the ability to run their own clinics. The question of federal health care obligations remains a live issue, and readers should look to current official sources for details.
Traditional healing remained part of many families’ approach to illness, alongside clinics. How these fit together varied by person and community, and the specifics of healing practices are not public knowledge that this site would describe.
Land loss
Apache homelands shrank over the century and the one before. Reservations were reduced when minerals or grazing land were wanted by outsiders, and the creation of national forests, parks, dams and ranches also took land that had once been used by Apache families. Federal allotment policy, associated with the Dawes Act allotment of 1887, divided some reservation land into individual parcels in many parts of the country, and in some places it led to loss of land to non-Natives. The effects varied by reservation, and not every Apache reservation was allotted in the same way.
Land loss meant more than lost acreage. It meant losing access to places for gathering plants, for ceremony and for remembrance, and it altered how families could live. Claims for compensation went through bodies such as the Indian Claims Commission, created in 1946, which could award money but not return land, and the outcomes were mixed. The topic of Apache land claims is covered in more detail by other articles.
How communities responded
Responses took many forms, and most were ordinary rather than dramatic:
- Family care. Grandparents, aunts and uncles raised children when parents were away or ill, and households took in relatives.
- Local organization. Tribal councils, formed especially after the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, gave communities a formal way to speak with federal agencies and manage resources.
- Legal and political action. Nations pursued land claims, water rights and treaty questions through the courts and Congress, often over many years.
- Education and health work. Apache nurses, teachers and community workers helped bring services closer to home, in general terms, though this article names no individuals.
- Cultural continuity. Language, ceremony and storytelling carried on, sometimes quietly, through years when government and church policy discouraged them.
Limits of the story
Words such as “overcoming” can suggest that hardship is finished. It is not. Many Apache communities still deal with housing needs, health disparities and constraints on land and water. Describing past struggles and present strengths together is more accurate than describing either alone. It is also important not to present any one community’s experience as typical, because a small reservation in New Mexico and a large one in Arizona have very different circumstances.
For up-to-date information on programs and conditions, the nations’ own official websites are the best sources, since numbers published in older books can be out of date.