Teach In Day 2 (PART 2) | Indigenous Histories of the U S Mexico Borderlands | Shepherd

Teach In Day 2: Indigenous Histories of the U.S. Mexico Borderlands We Are an Indian Nation: A History of the Hualapai People During this session, Dr. Shepherd will present an overview of Hualapai history through the lens of three themes: land and belonging; gender and tribal leadership; and tourism and tribal sovereignty. The first theme will focus on the era between 1883 and the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934, and the very unusual trajectory of tribal members refusing to live on the newly created reservation because it did not encompass the territories of most band members. The second theme, gender and tribal leadership, focuses on the exceptional trend, starting in 1951, of women serving on the Tribal Council and as Tribal Chairpersons. Long before the postwar Women’s Movement, Hualapai women held elected positions in tribal government. And finally, the third theme focuses on the construction of the Hualapai Skywalk in the 21st century, on the west end of the reservation and on the rim of the Grand Canyon. This project confounded Indian Affairs’ experts, worried the Department of the Interior, and raised important questions about economic development, but it ultimately demonstrated the directions and possibilities of tribal sovereignty. Suggested Readings and Materials: Jeffrey Shepherd, “The Politics of Native Resistance, 1915-1941,” We Are an Indian Nation: A History of the Hualapai People (Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 2010), 1-6; 89-114.