1918

In October 1918, a group of Native American peyotists gathered in El Reno, Oklahoma, to found the Native American Church, responding to the near-passage of a national ban on peyote earlier that year. The deep history of peyotism north of the border remains somewhat unclear, though the practices had consolidated in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Their efforts to create an institutionalized church legible to the U.S. government did not immediately succeed, as anti-peyotists dominated the Bureau of Indian Affairs through the 1920s, but began to see significant success after John Collier became chief of the BIA in 1933.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Chastened by how close a national ban of peyote came to passing in early 1918, the following October a group of Native American peyotists gathered in El Reno, Oklahoma, in order to found the Native American Church. This chapter explores this remarkable moment of political activism, along with the histories of peyotism in the United States that led to this initiative. The deep history of peyotism north of the border remains somewhat unclear, though we can be certain that the individuals who came together in 1918 to found a church that could, in turn, enjoy constitutional protections were participants in practices that had consolidated in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Their efforts to create an institutionalized church that would be legible to the U.S. government did not immediately bear fruit, as anti-peyotists dominated the Bureau of Indians Affairs (BIA) through the 1920s, though these efforts did begin to see significant success after John Collier became chief of the BIA in 1933.