Wednesday, April 07, 2010

HUM 221: Today - CAAP test, Luci Tapahonso

If you are eligible to take the Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP) test today, you are excused from class. Your scores on the CAAP math and writing skills modules are an important part of SCI's student learning outcomes assessment program, which in turn is an important part of what we do to maintain our accreditation by the state and federal governments and the North Central Association of Schools and Colleges.

So we're grateful to you, and we'll do our classwork today on the blog so you'll be able to make it up.


In order to make sure we don't penalize the students who are taking the CAAP test, we will defer the second part of our study of Navajo flute artist Carlos Nakai till Friday. Instead, we will do some of the background on a poem by Navajo writer and educator Luci Tapahonso titled "In 1864" ... it's one of those poems you have to read a couple of times because she's telling a story within a story, but it's one of my favorites.

To get some background, divide yourselves into small groups. (If you're reading this later, thanks again for taking the CAAP test and read on.) On the World Wide Web, research the following topics and post your findings - with links pasted in - as comments to this post. The topics are:
  • The Long Walk and Kit Carson
  • Navajo jewelry and silver work
  • Traditional Navajo clothing
  • Fry bread
All these are mentioned in the poem. So is coffee. To find out more about that important subject, check out an old newspaper story about coffee rationing during World War II and a poem titled "Hill Brothers Coffee" also by Luci Tapahonso.

Some added notes and links:
Fry bread. A video of Navajo ladies making fry bread outdoors at the community field day in Na'neelzhiin (Torreon), N.M. The fry bread, according to YouTube, was later served for lunch with mutton stew.


The Long Walk. Wikipedia has a summary and good map of the Long Walk of the Navajo people in 1864. Also definitions of some of the words in the poem, including "Dinétah" - the ancestral homeland in northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico.

Kit Carson. PBS has a short bio of Carson that tells both the good and the bad. Here's the part about the Navajo:
... Most of his military actions, however, were directed against the Navajo Indians, many of whom had refused to be confined upon a distant reservation set up by the government. Beginning in 1863 Carson waged a brutal economic war against the Navajo, marching through the heart of their territory to destroy their crops, orchards and livestock. When Utes, Pueblos, Hopis and Zunis, who for centuries had been prey to Navajo raiders, took advantage of their traditional enemy's weakness by following the Americans onto the warpath, the Navajo were unable to defend themselves. In 1864 most surrendered to Carson, who forced nearly 8,000 Navajo men, women and children to take what came to be called the "Long Walk" of 300 miles from Arizona to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, where they remained in disease-ridden confinement until 1868.
Carson's memory was as controversial as his contemporary Gen. W.T. Sherman, who undertook a similar scorched- earth campaign known as "Sherman's March" through Georgia. He helped win the Civil War for the Union, and he was honored in the North but hated by Southerners.

8 comments:

brok said...

The Navajo are the largest tribe of North American Indians. It is said the art of Navajo jewelry silversmith was introduced to the Navajo while in captivity at Fort Sumner in Eastern New Mexico in 1864. During that time it's possible that Atsidi Saani learned the craft of silversmith. By the 1880 Navajo silversmiths we creating handmade Navajo jewelry including bracelets, tobacco flasks, necklaces, bow guards and eventually evolved into earrings, buckles, bolos, hair ornaments and pins. Also, in the 1880's turquoise jewelry started to appear inlayed in the Navajo's sterling silver jewelry. Turquoise had been used in jewelry by the Navajo for hundreds of years, but not inset into the silver.
The amazing transformation of Navajo jewelry designs can be seen as the tools and process of the Navajo artisans have changed over the years. The 100 plus yeas of change in economic and cultural influences have influenced Navajo jewelry, although much of the Navajo jewelry continues to be handcrafted as it has for hundreds of years.

As, the global marketplace has expanded over the last decade so has the demand for handmade Navajo jewelry. Collectors are able to get beautiful handcrafted turquoise silver jewelry pieces that are unique and almost one of a kind. It's a nice change for people who are tired of having the same jewelry pieces as everyone else. The costs for most handmade Navajo Jewelry pieces are quite reasonable compared to other handcrafted pieces of comparable beauty. Plus, the style, history and culture is not comparable to any in the world.

brok said...

The Navajo are the largest tribe of North American Indians. It is said the art of Navajo jewelry silversmith was introduced to the Navajo while in captivity at Fort Sumner in Eastern New Mexico in 1864. During that time it's possible that Atsidi Saani learned the craft of silversmith. By the 1880 Navajo silversmiths we creating handmade Navajo jewelry including bracelets, tobacco flasks, necklaces, bow guards and eventually evolved into earrings, buckles, bolos, hair ornaments and pins. Also, in the 1880's turquoise jewelry started to appear inlayed in the Navajo's sterling silver jewelry. Turquoise had been used in jewelry by the Navajo for hundreds of years, but not inset into the silver.

The amazing transformation of Navajo jewelry designs can be seen as the tools and process of the Navajo artisans have changed over the years. The 100 plus yeas of change in economic and cultural influences have influenced Navajo jewelry, although much of the Navajo jewelry continues to be handcrafted as it has for hundreds of years.

As, the global marketplace has expanded over the last decade so has the demand for handmade Navajo jewelry. Collectors are able to get beautiful handcrafted turquoise silver jewelry pieces that are unique and almost one of a kind. It's a nice change for people who are tired of having the same jewelry pieces as everyone else. The costs for most handmade Navajo Jewelry pieces are quite reasonable compared to other handcrafted pieces of comparable beauty. Plus, the style, history and culture is not comparable to any in the world.

calenevill said...

Fried bread (also spelled frybread or fry bread, also known as bannock) is a Native American food, found throughout the United States. It was first made in the early 1600s. Frybread is a flat dough fried or deep-fried in oil, shortening, or lard. The dough is generally leavened by yeast or baking powder.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frybread

Shakeria said...

Kit Carson wasborn Dec. 24, 1809, Madison county, Ky., U.S. and died May 23, 1868, Fort Lyon, Colo. U.S. frontiersman, scout, and Indian agent. Raised in Missouri, he ran away from home at age 15 to become a trapper and trader in the Southwest. In the early 1840s he served as a guide to John C. Frémont's explorations of the West. He guided Gen. Stephen Kearny's expedition to California during the Mexican War, often carrying dispatches to Washington, D.C. In 1854 he was appointed Indian agent (an official representative of the U.S. government to Indian tribes) at Taos, N.M. During the American Civil War he commanded the 1st New Mexico Volunteers. In 1868 he was appointed superintendent of Indian affairs for the Colorado Territory. His contributions to westward expansion made him a folk hero.

Catey Rutschke said...

Frybread was first made in the 1600s. It is kind of like an "Indian taco". It is flat dough that is fried in either shortening, lard or oil. It can be served with beans, ground beef or shredded cheese. If sugar is mixed into the dough it can be served with honey or powdered sugar. They say it is similar to an elephant ear. Native Americans make this dish at home, at gatherings, or at pow-wows.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frybread

logan eader said...

christopher carson or "kit" carson was an american frontiersman during the civil war. the navajo tribe tried to take advantage of the army's weakness from the civil war and carson was sent to settle the uprising.

the long walk is the forced march of the Navajo people in 1864 from there homeland to incarceration at fort Sumner

Shakeria said...

He was also, , “a natural born killer.” Carson’s cold-blooded brutality was never unprovoked—he acted either in reprisal or under orders—but he “could be brutal even for the West of his day.” Sides points out another vital contradiction in Carson’s character. Though he was on sympathetic, intimate terms with the Indians of the West—he married two of them—he was also a ruthless Indian killer. Blood and Thunder describes in detail the massacre of an entire Indian village that Carson carried out under Frémont’s command. This and other murders—the term isn’t exaggerated—that Carson committed under orders lead Sides to speculate that “Carson seemed incapable of resisting an order” he might personally disagree with. “When given a command, he was the good soldier; in such situations, his trigger-finger did not communicate with his conscience.”

dave maziarz said...

christopher carson was an american frontiersman during the civil war. the navajo tribe tried to take advantage of the army's weakness from the civil war and carson was sent to settle the uprising.

the long walk is the forced march of the Navajo people in 1864 from there homeland to incarceration at fort Sumner