User:Sharp-shinned.hawk/sandbox/Alice Lee Jemison

Alice Lee Jemison (1901-1964) was a Seneca political activist and journalist. She was a major critic of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and John Collier's New Deal policies. She was supported by the Seneca Tribal Council, and also lobbied in support of California, Cherokee, and Sioux Indians during her career. Her work was condemned by the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration and she was described harshly in press conferences and before Congressional committees. For a time she was put under FBI surveillance.

Early Career
One of Jemison's earliest political actions was to support the defense of two Seneca women who were accused of murdering Colthilde Marchand, wife of sculptor Henri Marchand. She worked with Chief Clinton Rickard and Ray Jimerson to appeal to political leaders, including vice president of the United States Charles Curtis, resulting in federal intervention.

Jemison worked part time for Seneca President Ray Jimerson in the early 1930s and also wrote for the Buffalo Evening News. Her articles were syndicated by the North American Newspaper Alliance. During this time she conducted legal research, wrote newspaper articles, campaigned for the Six Nations' candidate, and lobbied against the Indian Reorganization Act.

Jemison moved to Washington, DC in 1943 and began writing for the Washington Star.

Lobbying against New Deal policies, John Collier, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Jemison and her allies viewed the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 as a violation of treaty rights and a denial of tribal sovereignty. She also protested Roosevelt's veto of a bill that would have "restored tribal jurisdiction over fishing and hunting on [Seneca] reservations which had been taken away by the government in the Conservation Act of 1927", which she considered a violation of the Treaty of Canandaigua (1794). Jemison also fought against the federal government's draft of Iroquois, insisting such authority belonged to the Iroquois Confederacy.

Jemison's attacks on BIA Commissioner John Collier were centered on his ideas about how the Indians should govern themselves. She fought for a diversity of Indian lifestyles, fighting against a monolithic, romantic notion of primitives living on the pueblo. Her ideas were influenced by the writings of Carlos Montezuma and Montezuma's one-time secretary, Joseph W. Latimer.

Defense of other Indian nations
Jemison defended the rights of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians along with Cherokee Vice-Chief Fred Bauer, successfully moving the path of the Blue Ridge Parkway to a less disruptive route.

Jemison's efforts to defend South Dakota and California Indians increased the voice for diverse Indian opinions before Congress by bringing Native Americans to testify.

The First American
Jemison published a newsletter, The First American, which discussed congressional legislation, violation of Indian civil liberties, the image of the American Indian, the abolishment of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the removal of Commissioner John Collier.

Personal life
Jemison was born in Silver Creek, New York, near the Cattaraugus Reservation. Her goal was to become an attorney and she worked in the office of Robert Codd, Jr., but could not afford law school. Shortly after high school she married Le Verne Leonard Jamison. She was the mother of two children and also financially supported her mother. In addition to her journalism and activist career, she worked at various times as a beautician, salespserson, factory worker, clerk, peddler, dressmaker, and theatre usher.