ABSTRACT
The evolution of federal Indian policy contains an inherent dichotomy revolving around the social, political, and legal status of Native Americans. Congress is the federal entity that appropriates money for Indians, creates Indian programs, and enacts the basic law that governs Indians. As federal policy has shifted its goals and objectives over the years, one theme has been fairly constant: a desire to assimilate Indians into the dominant white culture. The urban Indians are learning: They are supporting the creation of urban Indian centers; they are creating urban Indian communities with close ties to the reservation; and they are increasingly using the pluralist system to their own advantage without having to abandon their traditional culture. Much like the population of the United States as a whole, the Indian population has shifted from a predominantly rural residential pattern to a predominantly urban one.
