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Navajo
Location: northern New Mexico, a portion of southern Utah, and part of northern Arizona.
Language: Athapaskan
Daily Life: The Navajo today accept changes made in the past and have made every effort to create a promising future for
themselves. They acknowledge the importance of education and economic success, but do not wish to lose sight of the important
Navajo principle of supporting family and community.
Traditions:
Traditional Navajo economy relied on agriculture and livestock such as sheep, goats and horses. They planted fields of corn, beans and squash and practiced hunting and gathering to obtain even more plant foods.
History:
Navajo life became difficult after Western contact. The whites wanted them to stop raising sheep because of soil erosion and
actually killed many of the Navajo's livestock. With the loss of their sheep, they did not know how to support themselves. Many
Navajos left the government reservation to seek wage labor. Some served as migrant workers in seasonal harvesting, others went
to cities for employment in factories, while others helped with railroad construction and operations.
Resources:
Robert S. McPherson, The Northern Navajo Frontier 1860-1900 (1988)
Garrick and Roberta Bailey, A History of the Navajo: The Reservation Years (1986)
Alfonso Ortiz, ed., Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 10 (1983).
Additional Reading
Navajo Tribe
Dine
Navajo Myths
Navajo Native Americans
Arizona Native Tribes
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