Navajo History part 1 💛

The first time today, a long sleeve top was needed before I headed out the door to learn more about the Navajo people 🤓

I first went to Museum, which included information on the long walk and more on the Navajo code talkers.

Quick summary...

Westward expansion narratives saw native peoples as obstacles, and by 1863, the Dinè were forced to surrender. A military strategy to destroy anything of value, including food sources, water supplies, crops, and livestock, was implemented.

They were starved out.

10,000 Dinè were held prisoner until the US Government had searched their land for valuable resources like gold. They were forced to march 300-miles. Only 4000 survived.

In 1868, a treaty was signed, which returned a portion of their homelands.

The land given did not have sufficient carrying capacity for the livestock that families dependent on, and consequently, the Dinè were subject to more US policy.

The federal government argued that overgrazing was causing severe soil erosion and sediment would wash into the Colorado River and clog the newly built Hoover Dam. In 1933, voluntary culling soon changed to forced livestock destruction.

This ended their self-sustaining ways of living.Read more