1893 to 1903

With allotment legislation passed, American Protestants vigorously campaigned for the dissolution of reservations and tribal governments. They also amplified their efforts to “civilize” Native people. They sent numerous missionaries to Indian Country. They argued for increased funding for Indian education, especially off-reservation boarding schools that separated Native children from their families. Kiowas struggled to hold on to their lands and maintain communal ties in an increasingly difficult environment. No longer practicing one of their central communal rites, Kiowas turned to other sources of sacred power for healing and protection. Some participated in peyote rites, others affiliated with churches, and still others reinvigorated the Ghost Dance. Even as they tried numerous ritual options, Kiowas worked to delay allotment. Some took their protests all the way to the Supreme Court, which heard one of the most important Indian land cases in American history, Lonewolf v. Hitchcock, in 1903.