Southwest Native American

Identity
By: Sonia Aguilar, Rachel Grubbs, William Whitfill

Important Vocabulary Words

Assimilation: conformity of the customs and attitudes, of a group, nation;
adapt or adjust
Marginalization: to put or keep (someone) in a powerless or unimportant
position within a society or group
Missionary: Spanish Catholic sent to America to spread catholicism

What are some things that you associate with Native

Americans ?
Think about films and other places where you have
seen Native Americans

Who were Native Americans in History?

Due to the progressive westward expansion beginning around the
1860s, Native American lifestyle was impacted negatively by
Depletion of buffalo as the US government tried to kill Native
American culture
The US government forced Native American tribes to live in
certain areas called Indian Reservations away from their traditional
homes
Assimilation with boarding schools for Native American children

Early Native Americans

The Native Americans in the southwestern region were either
hunter-gatherers or farmers. The best known and most skilled
farmers of the area prior to the 1500s were the Pueblos. It wasnt
until around around the 1500s that the Navajo and
the Apaches tribes arrived as hunter-gatherers.

Southwest Native American writing

Leslie Marmon Silko: a Laguna Pueblo writer

The Man to Send Rain Clouds (short story)

Set on an Indian reservation in the American Southwest

As the story opens, Leon and his brother-in-law, Ken, find an old man, Teofilo, dead under a
cottonwood tree. They ritually paint his face and take his body, wrapped in a red blanket, to their home

for a traditional Pueblo funeral ceremony.

The Pueblo people paint the faces of the dead so that they will be recognized in the next world. They
also scatter corn and sprinkle water to provide food and water for the spirit on its journey to the other
world. To the Pueblo, death is not the end of existence, but part of a cycle in which the spirit of the
deceased returns to its source and then helps the community of the living by returning with rain clouds
for the nourishment of the earth.

Southwest Native American writing continued...

On their way home, Leon and Ken encounter Father Paul, a young Catholic priest who expresses his
sorrow that the old man had died alone. Teofilos funeral is performed in the traditional Native American
way until Leons wife suggests to her husband that he should ask the priest to sprinkle holy water on the
grave.

At first, Father Paul refuses to use the holy water as part of an Indian burial ceremony. After
reconsideration the priest, still confused about his role the ceremony, changes his mind and sprinkles the
grave with the holy water:

You know I cant do that, Leon. There should have been the Last Rites and a funeral Mass at the
very least, (360).

How is cultural assimilation evident in this piece of writing? (Think about the
different meaning of holy water between the Catholic Church and Pueblo

The Arrival of the Spanish (1540-1542)

The Spanish arrived in America around the 1500s and
began their conquest for land. One of the most famous
Conquistadors, Francisco Vazquez began an expedition
with around 1500 people to the Pueblo land. There he
killed hundreds of Natives and ran the rest off of the land.

Spanish Colonization (1599)

In 1599 a major conquistador Juan de Onate faced a revolt with the
Acoma Pueblo over land Onate responded by killing 800 of 6,000
Native Americans in the region. Over the course of the next 60 years
Native Americans lost lots of their land and were forced to convert to
Catholicism.

Native Resistance (1680)

In 1680 the Pueblo Natives revolted
from the Spanish in an attempt to regain
land and religious freedom. The revolt
was very successful and most nearly all
of the missionaries were driven out. This
success was short lived as the Spanish
reconquered most of the land by 1696

Spanish Domination (1696)

In 1696 the Spanish had reacquired the Native American land and
forced most of the Natives onto missions. This was the last time the
Natives could practice their culture openly and they were forced to
practice their religion in hiding. Eventually the Native American land
was ceded to Mexico and then became a part of the U.S. later

Movement West by Americans (1863)

In 1863 Kit Carson was ordered to move the Navajo Natives to
reservations off of there land. Carson and his men torched fields and
killed livestock in order to force movement on the Trail of Tears, as
it was nicknamed.

How is the change of Southwest Native Americans Identity evident

throughout history?
Through the historical events and writing pieces we went through
today, it is evident that Native Americans have had to fight and
struggle to keep their identity and culture alive. Native Americans were
forced into a society where their way of life was not relevant and this
resulted in a destruction of certain aspects of their culture and identity.

Works Cited (MLA Format)

"Native Americans Prior to 1492." Native Americans Prior to 1492. Web. 09 Feb. 2016.

"Southwest Indians." The History and Culture of the. Web. 09 Feb. 2016.

"Native Americans of the Southwest." Whatwhenhow RSS. Web. 09 Feb. 2016.

"American Indians, Culture Areas, Tribes." American Indians, Culture Areas, Tribes. Web. 09 Feb. 2016.

"The Native American Peoples of The United States." The Native American Peoples of The United States. Web. 09 Feb.
2016.

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 09 Feb. 2016.

Silko, Leslie Marmon. The Man to Send Rain Clouds. 1974. Rpt. in Nothing But the Truth: An Anthology of Native American
Literature. Edited by John L. Purdy and James Ruppert. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001. 358-61.

Native American Literature. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000. Print.

"Southwest Indian | People." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.