“The civil rights of indigenous peoples in the Americas improved after 1945.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?

The question requires that candidates consider the merits or otherwise of the statement that the civil rights of indigenous peoples in the Americas improved after 1945. Candidates may refer to the US passage of the Indian Civil Rights Act (1968), the Supreme Court case of US v. Wheeler that extended tribal autonomy over reservation policy, and the actions of the US National Indian Youth Council and the American Indian Movement. In Canada, the Indian Act (1961) and the Constitutional Act (1982) advanced indigenous rights in respect to reserve land and funds. It may also be argued that legislation was not consistently implemented or enforced and that the legislation often failed to rectify the civil rights’ disparities of the past. Other relevant factors may be addressed, for example in Latin America, indigenous groups were able to advance land rights and gain respect for cultural identity as well as resistance to forced assimilation, but with a focus on the issue in the question. Candidates’ opinions or conclusions will be presented clearly and supported by appropriate evidence.

The question required that candidates consider the merits or otherwise of the statement that the civil rights of indigenous peoples in the Americas improved after 1945. This was not selected very often and there were numerous instances of mistakenly treating African American civil rights as the subject matter for the essay. However, there were a few notable essays that exhibited thorough knowledge relevant to the demands.