Content
Before beginning this unit, students will first develop an understanding of the historical context and events that led to the Navajo Long Walk.
Introducing Federal Indian Policy highlights the historical background of Indigenous law, key legal principles, and federal policies instituted from the 17th to the 19th century—many of which remain in effect today. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs, “Treaties, the U.S. Constitution, and Supreme Court decisions form the foundation of Federal Indian law and shape the federal-tribal relationship.” 2
For centuries, Indigenous people have resisted and continue to fight against the U.S. government. Historically, the government's policies always favored a white, Western way of life, with a strong focus on forcing Native Americans to assimilate. In response, Indigenous tribes have fought, and are still fighting, against the tyranny of the government.
Historical Context
The Federal Indian Policy
There are several federal policies that affect Native Americans and the federal-tribal relationship. In each section below, I will give a brief overview of the History of Indian Law and Policy due to some policy overlap. To inform you about this history is to show the tyranny of the U.S. government and how many tribes beside the Navajo have been resisting against the government's authoritative power and the abuse that comes with these treaties.
The Treaty Period (1778-1871)
Since 1778, there are significant amounts of treaties that have been established between the federal government and Indian Tribes. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior Indian Affairs, “In 1871, when the treaty making era formally ended, the U.S. had signed more than 350 treaties with Indian tribes. Even after 1871, there were many written agreements between tribes and the United States which functioned like treaties.”3 The main focus of these treaties that I would like to focus on is the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Navajo Tribe of Indians (Treaty of 1868).
The Forced Removal Period (1830-1850)
The U.S. government used treaties as a tool to remove Indigenous peoples from their ancestral homelands, a policy that was reinforced by the Indian Removal Act of 1830. When treaties did not accomplish this goal, the government often ignored or violated both treaty agreements and Supreme Court decisions to continue exploring and expanding the United States to the west.
For instance during the early 1800s, white settlers continued moving west into native lands. The United States and Federal government viewed Native Americans as barbarous savages and wanted to take land from the Indigenous peoples. Although earlier presidents had suggested relocating Indigenous tribes west of the Mississippi River, Andrew Jackson made removal a major government policy.
Before becoming president, Jackson led military campaigns against Indigenous tribes. After defeating the Creek Nation at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814, he forced the Creek people to surrender more than twenty million acres of their land. Jackson later helped negotiate several treaties that required Indigenous nations to give up their homelands.
Some Native nations, including the Creek, Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw, attempted to protect part of their land by cooperating with the United States and agreeing to treaties. Other groups, such as the Seminole, resisted through warfare. However, both cooperation and military resistance often failed to stop removal.
As president, Jackson supported the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which allowed the federal government to offer Indigenous tribes land west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their eastern homelands. Although the government promised assistance and permanent protection, federal officials often used pressure, threats, bribery, and unfair treaties to force Native tribes to leave. The government also ignored treaty agreements and Supreme Court decisions when they interfered with westward expansion.
By the end of Jackson’s presidency, nearly 50,000 Indigenous people had been removed to Indian Territory, primarily in what later became Oklahoma. Their removal opened millions of acres of Native land to white settlement while forcing Indigenous tribes away from their ancestral homelands. This was the primary goal, to take land and make a profit.
This failure demonstrates an abuse of power and reflects the tyranny exercised by the United States government over many Indigenous nations and tribes. Throughout history, the federal government entered into treaties with numerous Indigenous tribes, but these agreements were often used to acquire Indigenous lands and relocate Native peoples onto reservations, separating them from their ancestral homelands. In this curriculum unit, I will focus on the Navajo Long Walk and take a deeper look at the United States government's policies and actions toward the Navajo Nation and how it illustrates this pattern of tyranny, displacement, and resistance.
The Reservation Systems Period (1850-1891)
The Reservation System was a federal policy that confined Native American tribes to restricted lands, effectively segregating Indigenous nations between 1850 and 1891. As stated in the Federal Law and Indian Policy Overview, “These reservations were created by treaties, statutes, and executive orders.”4 Historically, the U.S. government's policy was to force Native Americans westward, a practice rooted in the colonial era and the earliest years of the United States. However, the U.S. government consistently broke the treaties it established with these tribes. For instance, according to the Reservation System of the United States:
The federal government sent ambassadors to negotiate treaties with the tribes, and many groups, such as the Cherokee in northern Georgia, had established their own governments and states within the United States. Others had traded territory in the East for land farther west. Trouble began in Georgia after the discovery of gold on Indigenous land. Eventually, Congress passed a law, supported by Andrew Jackson, offering territory west of the Mississippi River to tribes willing to relinquish their lands in the East. All Indigenous people would have to accept this trade or face forced removal. Several wars and the infamous Trail of Tears, which saw the deaths of thousands of Native Americans, followed the imposition of this removal policy. 5
This demonstrates that while the U.S. government fully understood the treaties it had made with Indigenous tribes, it chose to impose its tyranny by violating those agreements, utilizing forced military power to seize their land despite fierce Indigenous resistance.
The Mexican-American War and Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1846-1848)
Students will read the text “Beyond a Border Conflict: Indigenous Involvement in the Mexican-American War,” 6 pages 334-424-42 and they will use their completed note-catchers throughout the unit as evidence for discussions, written responses, and later activities (see classroom strategies to read more about this).
The Mexican-American War was a conflict between Mexico and the United States. After the United States annexed Texas, a disagreement over the border between the two countries led to war. However, for many Indigenous tribes, including the Apache, Comanche, and Navajo, this conflict meant much more than a border dispute. These communities had lived in the region long before either country claimed the land. As the United States and Mexico fought over territory, many Indigenous peoples were also fighting to preserve their homelands and traditions as both governments sought greater control over Indigenous lands. According to Bowers, “With the incursion of settlers and soldiers from both the United States and Mexico, Indigenous groups faced loss of land, detrimental threats to their population through warfare, potential destabilization of their way of life, and the loss of culture”.7 These actions demonstrate tyranny because powerful governments used military force and expansion to dispossess Indigenous peoples of their homelands, undermine their sovereignty, and disrupt their cultural traditions. Rather than viewing westward expansion simply as progress, this perspective shows how Indigenous communities experienced it as oppression while resisting efforts to take their land, weaken their identity, and disrupt their way of life.
As noted in The Mexican-American War, “During the sixteenth century, European explorers began arriving in the Southern part of the North American continent. Native Americans were already in the area following their own traditions. Until the middle of the nineteenth century, the Southwest would be dominated by the Spanish, who conquered Mexico, which then included territory that later became part of the United States.”8 This history demonstrates that Indigenous nations had established communities, governments, and cultural traditions long before European powers claimed the region.
As the United States expanded westward, many Americans embraced the idea of Manifest Destiny. This belief held that it was the nation's God-given right to expand across the continent, even if doing so meant taking land from those who already lived there. As stated in The Mexican-American War, “Most U.S. citizens believed it was the ‘manifest destiny’ (the God-given right and duty) of white Americans to take over this vast, resource-rich land, even if it meant taking land from the Mexicans or Native Americans who had been living there for hundreds, and even thousands, of years.” 9 This belief justified continued expansion and strengthened federal policies that displaced Indigenous peoples from their ancestral homelands.
The Mexican-American War significantly increased the amount of land controlled by the United States and marked a turning point in federal policy toward Indigenous nations. Rather than recognizing Indigenous sovereignty, the government focused on expanding its territory and asserting control over Native lands. This expansion laid the foundation for later military campaigns, treaty negotiations, and forced removals, including the Navajo Long Walk. Understanding this historical context helps explain how the United States government's pursuit of westward expansion contributed to the tyranny experienced by many Indigenous nations, including the Navajo.
The Four Directions
The number four holds deep meaning in the Navajo culture and is important. It is represented by the four directions, four seasons, four original clans, and four colors connected to the four sacred mountains. The number four is also important in traditional ceremonies, songs, wedding baskets, and many other cultural symbols.
Why is the land between the Four Directions so important to the Diné People? In the Navajo Creation Story, the creators put the Diné people on the land (Dinétah) between the four mountains. Of the many teachings, Áłtsé Hastiin (First Man) and Áłtsé Asdzą́ą́ (First Woman) placed the sacred mountains in the four directions. The Dinétah is very sacred to the Diné people and it represents the deep connections among land, spirituality, and culture. Each mountain is associated with a specific color and sacred stone connected to its direction. Based on The Natural History Museum of Utah, “Sis Naajiní’ (the White Shell Mountain), or Mount Blanca is located in south-central Colorado and represents the east. Tsoodził (the Blue Bead Mountain) or Mount Taylor northeast of Grants, New Mexico, represents the south. Dook’o’oosłííd (the Yellow Abalone Shell Mountain), or the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Arizona, represent the west. Dibé Nitsaa (the Obsidian Mountain), or Mount Hesperus located near Durango, Colorado, represents the north. The four sacred mountains are the locations of many important events in Diné sacred stories.” 10
Different forms of Resistance
Navajo resistance during this period took many different forms. Some Navajo leaders and their followers resisted through armed conflict against the United States military, while others avoided being captured by hiding in remote areas of Dinétah. Families moved through canyons and mountainous regions, protected livestock and food supplies, and helped one another survive the military raids led by Kit Carson. Even after many Navajo people were forced to Bosque Redondo, resistance continued. Some attempted to escape and return home, others maintained their language, cultural knowledge, family relationships, and connections to Dinétah. As mentioned in our seminar session, there are many forms of resistance. These actions demonstrate that resistance does not always occur through warfare, resistance can be shown through survival, cultural preservation, negotiation, and the refusal to abandon one’s identity. Through out this unit, students will learn the different forms of resistance which will allow them to develop an understanding of Navajo resilience during the Long Walk.
The Navajo Long Walk
We will be reading Navajo Long Walk: The Tragic Story of a Proud People’s Forced March from their Homeland. Students will be using a graphic organizer that will have a set of questions that will lead them to identify and list the evidence of how the Navajos resisted and how the government abused their power to expand west of the United States. This will help them to create a graphic novel, comic strip, or storyboard to explain the specific acts of Navajo resistance and resilience from the Navajo Long Walk.
Hweeldi is the Navajo word for Fort Sumner, New Mexico. In the year of 1864, the Navajo (known as the Diné People) were relocated to Bosque Redondo, New Mexico under the force of Christopher ‘Kit’ Carson. The Navajos were surrendered and forced to walk between 300-450 miles from Chinle, Arizona (this area is the primary point of the tragedy's starting point) and other areas from New Mexico and Arizona. The ultimate goal of the United States was to acquire much of the territory upon which the Navajo (and other groups) dwelled and confine them to smaller reservations where they would refrain from older traditions of raiding and focus primarily on agricultural means of sustenance. 11
When Kit Carson drove his army through the canyons of Canyon De Chelly, they had burned all the crops in the fields, killed all the livestock, and burned homes. He gathered as many Navajos as he could and started their treacherous journey to Bosque Redondo.
Alongside the Navajos, the Mescalero Apaches were forced on this treacherous and cruel journey. The United States wanted more land, so they sent Kit Carson to gather all Navajos and send them to the internment camp. The U.S. soldiers made sure that they were not allowed to leave from this camp. The master plan was to assimilate Navajos and Apaches into westernized people. It was a way to get rid of their traditions, find their way into white culture and to prevent issues with other white settlers.
During this long devastating journey, there were children, women, men, and elderly who had trekked this long walk. General James H Carleton did not provide the Navajos with enough food. Many of them became malnourished due to the harsh weather conditions and starvation. When the people were very exhausted and no longer could continue, they were either left behind by the U.S. soldiers or were shot. There are many stories that are orally told by our grandparents about this tragedy that has happened. Some Navajos had escaped the camps, others were either killed or stayed at the camp. They were escaping back to their homeland, Dinétah. In April 1868, Chief Manuelito and Barboncito, along with other Navajo Headman were sent to Washington to meet with federal peace commissioners to discuss and decide on a Peace Commission. The Peace Commission was to decide what to do with the Navajo People that were at Bosque Redondo. This led to the “Treaty Between the United States of America and the Navajo Tribe of Indians”. 12 This resulted in the Navajos being removed from Bosque Redondo and to return to their homelands.
Conditions at Bosque Redondo
Conditions at Bosque Redondo demonstrated failure and cruelty of the United States government's plan. The land was not able to support the large amount of people that were confined there. Families experience shortages of food, inadequate shelter, illness, crop failure, and limited access to water. The government expected the Navajo people to abandon their traditional way of life and to live a westernized way of life. Bosque Redondo was more than a place of confinement, it was part of a larger assimilation effort designed to displace Native Americans and erase their culture. Despite the hardships, the Navajo people continued to main family relationships, cultural knowledge, and were able to return to Dinétah.
Who is Chief Manuelito and Barboncito?
Chief Manuelito was an important Navajo leader whose actions showed that resistance can change based on the needs of the people. Before the Long Walk, Manuelito resisted the United States military in Navajo territory. He led his Navajo people to defend Dinétah and refused to surrender when the United States military forced Navajo families from their homeland. However, the military’s destruction of crops, homes, orchards, and livestocks made survival difficult. Manuelito eventually surrendered in 1866. His surrender wasn’t an abandonment of his people or homeland. Mauelito and others were taken to Bosque Redondo. In the spring of 1868 Manuelito and other leaders were allowed to go to Washington D.C., to plead to move back to their homelands. The Treaty of 1868 was made and allowed the Navajo people to return home.
Barboncito was another important Navajo leader during the Navajo Long Walk. He was born in Canyon de Chelly. He served as a War Chief from 1863 to 1866 and later became the head chief during the negotiations of the Treaty of 1868.
During the Mexican- American War in 1846, he signed a treaty promising peace with the Americans. However, this peace did not last. By the 1860’s, conflict had grown as the U.S military tried to stop the Navajos and Apaches raiding on settlements in Arizona and New Mexico. Conflict near Fort Defiance started to rise after soldiers killed the Navajo peoples horses during a disagreement over grazing rights. In response, Barboncito and Manuelito led Navajo warriors in an attack on Fort Defiance and nearly captured the fort. Afterward, they returned to the mountains before agreeing to participate in a peace council.
Tensions continued when Barboncito and his brother, Delgadito, were ordered to relocate to Bosque Redondo in eastern New Mexico in 1862. Instead of accepting removal, the brothers joined Manuelito in resisting the U.S. military. Their resistance continued until 1864, when Colonel Kit Carson captured Barboncito and forced him to relocate to Bosque Redondo alongside other Navajo people and Mescalero Apaches. Conditions at Bosque Redondo were extremely harsh. Many people suffered from hunger and disease. Livestock also died, making it even more difficult for the people imprisoned there to survive.
Barboncito escaped from Bosque Redondo in 1865 and joined Manuelito. Later on, he eventually surrendered in November 1866. As Head Chief of the Navajo people in 1868, Barboncito played an important role in negotiating the Treaty of 1868 between the Navajo Nation and the United States. He was able to persuade General William T. Sherman to allow the Navajo people to return to their ancestral homeland. Barboncito died in 1871.
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