Walking in Two Worlds

As  Nancy Kendall and other abolitionists did their small parts and major conductors such as Harriet Tubman assisted enslaved Africans on their way to freedom via the Underground Railroad, Native Americans in the US continued their struggle to keep their way of life. In fact, long before Africans were kidnapped and brought to the US, Native Peoples were forced into slavery.

Listen to NPR’s “An American Secret: The Untold Story of Native American Enslavement” for more information about this often neglected chapter in history.

I worked on the Navajo Reservation in AZ for a number of years as a teacher and librarian. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Half of the teachers were Navajo and half were Anglo. I have always been grateful to the community for allowing me to share their lives.

Teacher orientation included sessions with the remarkable Gramma Thomas. We fell in love with her. Everyone did. She was a prominent and revered citizen of her community, and indeed, of all the people in the Navajo Nation during her lifelong dedication as an educator.

One of the enchanting stories she told us new recruits was that we were there because her people decided they needed to learn to “walk in two worlds” to thrive. She told us about her life as a young Navajo girl on the reservation. She lived with her grandmother. As a child, she loved tending the corn fields and herding sheep. When her grandmother signed her up to go to a public school in Ganado, she didn’t want to go.

Not long after her arrival at school, she ran back to her grandmother. Her grandmother was not having it. The Catholic priest in Chinle had a car, and escorted the runaway right back to school.

In the end, Gramma Thomas's education was a blessing. She spent many years teaching in the local Chinle state schools.

The Navajo Reservation is the largest Indian reservation in the nation. It spans 25,000 square miles. Life there, though spare and basic, is convenient. Fast food places, a large chain grocery store, a post office and a Wells Fargo Bank branch are a few of the amenities.

In some ways, life seems not to have changed. People still haul and store drinkable water. Some haul and store coal from a mine in the area. Grammas and Grampas often live in hogans. Others live in trailers and small houses. It’s a much more practical life than that of mainstream America.

Efforts have been made over the years to provide financial assistance and other services. Employment continues to be a problem. Many Navajo men work in distant locations doing construction work. But more and more folks choose to pursue college educations.

I taught there for 11 years, until I retired. My fervent hope is that my students learned as much from me as I learned from them.

Our newly confirmed US Department of the Interior cabinet head, Deb Haaland is a member of the Laguna Pueblo Nation in Northern New Mexico. Secretary Haaland is the first Native American Cabinet secretary in the history of the nation. Because the Department of the Interior has a history of oppressing America’s Indigenous peoples, her appointment is both historic and symbolic.

For a more in-depth look at the history of First Nations in American, the PBS documentary “Native America” is a superb narrative. The documentary covers the history of Bonito Pueblo life at Chaco, the major cultural center of the Ancestral Pueblo Nation as well as other Native peoples and cultures.
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The entire documentary is over three hours long, but is divided into the following time marked segments:

From Cave to Cosmos - 0:00
Nature to Nations - 53:28 
Cities of the Sky - 01:46:55
New World Rising - 02:40:22

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When I visited Chaco Canyon as a tourist, the forest ranger guide said the canyon had been “discovered” by white cowboys, Richard Wetherill and his brother-in-law Charlie Mason. What the ranger didn’t mention was that the discovery was possibly made with the help of a Native guide.

Coming Soon: Native Peoples and the intricate dance of walking in two worlds.