This bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices for the Positive Universe: Earth Protection Team website. Some of the authors featured on this page include Houston Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Daniel T. Brink, Malia Maya Villegas, Kathrin Wessendorff, Jerrie Cobb Scott, Laurie Katz, Mary Carroll Nelson, Marianne Jensen, Thomas V. Pilla, and Stan Steiner.
(2002). The Indigenous World, 2001-2002 = El Mundo Indigena, 2001-2002. This document contains the English and Spanish texts of an annual publication which examines political, social, environmental, and educational issues concerning indigenous peoples around the world in 2001-02. Part 1 describes current situations and events in 11 world regions: the Arctic; North America; Mexico and Central America; South America; Australia and the Pacific; east and southeast Asia; south Asia; and four sections of Africa. In general, indigenous peoples worldwide were dealing with issues related to land rights, self-determination, relations between central government and indigenous communities, outright oppression and violence, environmental destruction by economic development projects, communal rights, women's rights, access to appropriate education and to health care, and preservation of indigenous cultures and languages. The events of September 11 raised fears that indigenous peoples struggling for self-determination and fundamental rights would be unjustly accused of being terrorists. Items of educational interest in the Arctic and the Americas include ongoing debates in Greenland over the relative status of Danish and Greenlandic in the schools; efforts to protect Saami language and culture in Sweden; inadequate U.S. federal funding for tribal administration of schools and for necessary construction and repair of Bureau of Indian Affairs schools; reforms in indigenous education in Guatemala; the situation of the bilingual intercultural education system in Venezuela; efforts to protect collective intellectual property of indigenous peoples of the Amazon region; and training of indigenous teachers in Brazil. Articles on other regions discuss education as a tool of Chinese repression in Tibet; language issues in East Timor, Nepal, Morocco, Ethiopia, and South Africa; nonformal education initiatives and native language instruction for indigenous Cambodians; and language and cultural maintenance through cultural festivals in Kenya. Part 2 reports on United Nations work on indigenous rights. Descriptors: Acculturation, Activism, American Indians, Civil Liberties
(2008). Affirming Students' Right to Their Own Language: Bridging Language Policies and Pedagogical Practices, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. How can teachers make sound pedagogical decisions and advocate for educational policies that best serve the needs of students in today's diverse classrooms? What is the pedagogical value of providing culturally and linguistically diverse students greater access to their own language and cultural orientations? This landmark volume responds to the call to attend to the unfinished pedagogical business of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Conference on College Composition and Communication 1974 Students' Right to Their Own Language resolution. Chronicling the interplay between legislated/litigated education policies and language and literacy teaching in diverse classrooms, it presents exemplary research-based practices that maximize students' learning by utilizing their home-based cultural, language, and literacy practices to help them meet school expectations. Pre-service teachers, practicing teachers, and teacher educators need both resources and knowledge, including global perspectives, about language variation in PreK-12 classrooms and hands-on strategies that enable teachers to promote students' use of their own language in the classroom while also addressing mandated content and performance standards. This book meets that need. This book contains four parts. Part I, Setting the Context, includes: (1) Cross-Currents in Language Policies and Pedagogical Practices (Jerrie Cobb Scott, Dolores Y. Straker, and Laurie Katz); and (2) Perspectives on Language Policies and Pedagogical Practices, includes: Interview 1: Issues in Global and Local Language Policies (Joel Spring); Interview 2: An Insider's View of African American Language Policies and Pedagogies (Geneva Smitherman); Interview 3: The Law of Language in the United States (Cristina M. Rodriguez); and Interview 4: What Teachers Need to Know to Educate English Language Learners (Mary Carol Combs). Part II, Educational Policies, Attitudes, and Unfulfilled Promises, contains: (3) The Hidden Linguistic Legacies of Brown v. Board and No Child Left Behind (John Baugh and Aaron Welborn); (4) Portraits Counterportraits, and the Lives of Children: Language, Culture, and Possibilities (Rick Meyer); (5) Restore My Language and Treat Me Justly: Indigenous Students' Rights to Their Tribal Languages (Dorothy Aguilera and Margaret D. LeCompte); (6) Power, Politics, and Pedagogies: Re-Imagining Students' Right to Their Own Language Through Democratic Engagement (Valeri Kinloch); (7) Exploring Attitudes Toward Language Differences: Implications for Teacher Education Programs (Laurie Katz, Jerrie Cobb Scott, and Xenia Hadjioannou); (8) Positionality: Using Self-Discovery to Enhance Pre-Service Teachers' Understanding of Language Differences (Nancy Rankie Shelton); and (9) Beyond the Silence: Instructional Approaches and Students' Attitudes (David E. Kirkland and Austin Jackson). Part III, Toward a Pedagogy of Success in Classrooms, contains: (10) "We Have Our Own Language as Well as the Languages We Bring": Constructing Opportunities for Learning Through a Language of the Classroom (Beth V. Yeager and Judith L. Green); (11) "Taylor Cat is Black": Code-Switch to Add Standard English to Students' Linguistic Repertoires (Rebecca S. Wheeler); (12) There's No "1" Way to Tell a Story (Laurie Katz and Tempii Champion); (13) Culturally Responsive Read-Alouds in First Grade: Drawing Upon Children's Languages and Cultures to Facilitate Literary and Social Understandings (Jeane Copenhaver-Johnson, Joy Bowman, and Angela Johnson Rietschlin); (14) Developing Culturally Responsive Teacher Practitioners Through Multicultural Literature (Tamara L. Jetton, Emma Savage-Davis, and Marianne Baker); (15) Educating the Whole Child: English Language Learners in a Middle School (Mari Haneda); (16) New Chinese Immigrant Students' Literacy Development: From Heritage Language to Bilingualism (Danling Fu); and (17) High Stakes Testing and the Social Languages of Literature and Literate Achievement in Urban Classrooms (Dorothea Anagnostopoulos). Part IV, Global Perspectives on Language Diversity and Learning, contains: (18) Possibilities for Non-Standard Dialects in American Classrooms: Lessons from a Greek Cypriot Class (Xenia Hadjioannou); (19) The Writing on the Wall: Graffiti and Other Community School Practices in Brazil (Ana Christina Dasilva Iddings); (20) The Social Construction of Literacy in a Mexican Community: Coming Soon to Your School? (Patrick H. Smith, Luz A. Murillo, and Robert T. Jimenez); (21) Multilingualism in Classrooms: The Paritetic School System of the Ladin Valleys in South Tyrol (Italy) (Gerda Videsott); (22) Educational Policies and Practices in Post-Apartheid South Africa: The Case for Indigenous African Languages (Nkonko M. Kamwangamalu); (23) Meaningful Early Literacy Learning Experiences: Lessons from South Africa (Carole Bloch); and (24) India's Multilingualism: Paradigm and Paradox (Zarina Manawwar Hock). "3/5 of a Language?", a foreword by David Bloome, and "Reflections on Language Policies and Pedagogical Practices", an afterword by Jacqueline Jones Royster, Jerrie Cobb Scott, and Dolores Y. Straker, are included. An author index and a subject index are also included. [More] Descriptors: Multilingualism, Teaching Methods, Language Planning, Language of Instruction
(1997). Dealing with Disproportionality in the Juvenile Justice System: The State of Washington's Approach. In 1995, a report on the Washington state juvenile justice system found that minority youth were four times more likely than white youth to be sentenced to confinement. This report reviews aspects of disproportionality in Washington's juvenile justice system, summarizes inquiries by the Washington Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and highlights state and community efforts to address disproportionality. A section on demography and the extent of the problem examines Washington population data overall and for youth aged 10-17 by racial group; evidence of racial disproportionality in anecdotes, arrest rates, detention rates, prosecutor actions, and sentencing patterns; and positive and negative aspects of judicial discretion. Diversion programs–a legally mandated alternative to court for kids–have had some success, but problems include lack of funding, lack of community commitment, and family difficulties that prevent youth from appearing at required hearings. Statewide efforts on disproportionality include improved data collection and analysis on the juvenile justice system, state-mandated monitoring of juvenile disposition standards and the effectiveness and cultural relevance of rehabilitative services, and extensive diversity training for law enforcement and juvenile justice personnel. Successful community programs provide mentors to oversee alternatives to detention for African American youth, work to reinstate youth in school, and provide counseling and tutoring at drop-in centers. A multitribal organization advocates for American Indian youth in the juvenile justice system. Ongoing challenges include contributing factors in the child's environment, lack of funding, detentions due to failure to appear, lack of bilingual staff, and lack of prevention services. [More] Descriptors: Adolescents, American Indians, At Risk Persons, Blacks
(2004). Entering Sacred Landscapes: Cultural Expectations versus Legal Realities in the Northwestern Plains, Great Plains Quarterly. Sacred and cultural geography is a universal feature of indigenous religious practices across Native North America. However, in a growing number of cases, conflicts have developed between Native North American religious practitioners and land-managing federal agencies. The contentious situations often come down to Indian peoples struggling to reassert their religious rights within an environment of "due process, federal and state statutes, and administrative policies." Here we take a case study, the Big Horn Medicine Wheel, and examine the problem of weighing a value system based on inextricably associating a spiritual world and physical geography against a system that inherently separates the two. [More] Descriptors: Values, Public Agencies, North Americans, Administrative Policy
(1979). American Indian Telecommunications Satellite Demonstration Project. Summary Report. The technical feasibility of voice and television communication within and between tribes, between tribes and federal agencies, and between educational institutions and tribes was demonstrated by broadcasts which took place April 10, 12, and 14, 1978, with equipment located at four sites: Crow Agency, Montana; All- Indian Culture Center, New Mexico; Moffett Field, California; and Washington, D.C. Two-way interactive television with the TV signals transmitted by satellite allowed tribe members, government officials, and congressmen to see and talk with one another. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration arranged for the use of the Communications Technology Satellite and other technical equipment; the tribes otherwise planned and conducted the broadcasts which included informative presentations by representatives of government agencies, discussion between tribes and a panel of congressmen, instructional programs, and question-and-answer periods with tribes and government representatives participating. Health services, education, rural development, water rights, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs were topics of discussion. Indian groups and federal agencies must now study the possible uses, benefits, and cost effectiveness of using satellite communications to improve Indian information networks. [More] Descriptors: American Indians, Communication (Thought Transfer), Communications, Communications Satellites
(1986). Elementary and Secondary Civil Rights Survey, 1984. District Summary Volumes 1 and 2. This 1984 survey was conducted to obtain data on the characteristics of public school students in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The 3,510 school districts selected to participate were statistically sampled from approximately 16,000 U.S. school districts, and the schools within the selected districts were subsampled: (1) all special education, vocational, and disciplinary schools, and (2) a statistical sample of remaining schools. Two lines of data are presented for each state: actual reported, computed by aggregating the district level from each state, and projected data, computed from the reported data using sampling weights for each district. The data are summarized by Office of Civil Rights (OCR) client populations–American Indian or Alaskan Native; Asian or Pacific Islander; Hispanic; Black, not of Hispanic origin; White, not of Hispanic origin; male; and female. Three types of reports are included: (1) National and State Summary of Projected Data, by state; (2) National and State Summary of Reported Data, by state; and (3) District Summary Report, by state. Each report has: (1) Identification Data (state and name and location of school district); (2) Summary Data–by individual racial/ethnic categories, total, and by sex (except for bilingual data) for the following areas: enrollment; bilingual (in need of language assistance programs); bilingual (enrolled in language assistance programs); gifted/talented; corporal punishment; suspensions; educable mentally retarded; trainable mentally retarded; speech impaired; seriously emotionally disturbed; specific learning disability; and graduates; (3) Special Education Data is subdivided by children: awaiting initial evaluation; identified as requiring special education; in special education programs in school district; in special education program in nondistrict facility; part-time; full-time; (4) Supplemental Data reports: (1) Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students identified as in need of language assistance but not enrolled in such programs, and (2) students in selected courses (home economics, industrial arts, and physical education), by sex in single-sex and mixed-sex classes. [More] Descriptors: Academically Gifted, Bilingual Education Programs, Corporal Punishment, Disabilities
(1994). Tribal Colleges: A Success Story. An overview is provided of the tribal college movement, including information on the students, curricula, funding, and future of these institutions. The paper begins by examining the history of the establishment of tribal colleges, citing the influence of the civil rights movement of the 1960's, never-realized interest in establishing a single national university to serve all tribes, and the creation of tribal colleges by individual tribes, beginning with the establishment of Navajo Community College in 1968. Next, common traits of the early tribal colleges are explored, including tribal charter and control; a mission strongly committed to the enhancement, preservation, and teaching of tribal culture; and a commitment to strong transfer and vocational functions. The paper then looks at the curricula of individual colleges as a reflection of institutional mission and tribal needs, underscoring the importance of Indian and Tribal Studies programs and courses and programs related to such contemporary issues as tribal management and federal laws. A profile of tribal college students is presented next, indicating that most are from the reservation, older than traditional college students, and often the first in their families to attend college. Additional information on Native American participation in higher education is also provided. After addressing the federal government's responsibility for and failure to adequately fund the education of Indians on reservations, the paper points to other sources of funding. Next, the paper discusses the formation and role of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, and identifies reasons for the success of tribal colleges. Finally, prospects for the survival of the tribal college movement are analyzed. Information on tribal college funding and enrollments is appended. [More] Descriptors: American Indian Education, American Indian Reservations, Community Colleges, Tribally Controlled Education
(1979). The Mexican Americans. For more than 400 years the ancestors of the Mexican American have contributed to the spiritual and material wealth of this land, yet recognition of their cultural and national rights has been slow to come. Like the American Indians, Chicanos can claim, "We did not come to America, America came to us". As a conquered people, they have been repressed by the dominant society. Mexican Americans can trace their ancestry back to the Spanish conquistadores who subjugated the Aztec. From the blending of the two cultures came the Mestizo population. It was the Mestizos and Mexicans, rather than the Spaniards, who settled the American Southwest; but most of the millions of acres of rich lands granted by the Spanish Land Grants were lost after the U.S. victory in the Mexican American War. Some Mexican Americans worked as laborers on the large farms or ranches; others migrated to the cities and settled in the barrios. From within the barrios has come the growth of the Chicano movement, which protests against the status quo and its social institutions and seeks to establish Mexican Americans as part of the social and political structure of the nation. Mexican Americans today number between 7 to 12 million and will soon be the largest minority in America. Their future depends on how they define their national identity and the direction they choose to take as a national minority. It also depends on how the nation itself chooses to define the political and constitutional union that binds our culturally pluralistic people together. Descriptors: American History, American Indians, Civil Rights, Cultural Pluralism
(1989). Bakk'autugh Ts'uhuniy = Stories We Live By. Traditional Koyukon Athabaskan Stories Told by Catherine Attla, with Teacher's Guide. This collection of eighteen traditional stories are told in Koyukon Athabaskan, an American Indian language variety spoken in Alaska, on the left page and in English translation on the right page. Introductory sections provide background information on the oral tradition from which the stories come, the translations, the storyteller and her storyteller grandfather, and Koyukon Athabaskan orthography. The stories are in five categories according to theme: power and compassion ("Wind Man,""The One Who Secured His Axe to the Sky,""The One Who Had Been Willed To Come for a Man's Daughters,""Eagle Man Who Carried People Far Away"); Raven ("The Baby Who, According to His Aunt, Resembled His Uncle,""Great Raven Who Killed a Water Monster,""Great Raven Killed a Whale,""Great Raven Who Abducted a Young Girl"); love and jealousy ("The Woodpecker Who Starved His Wife,""The Taahsol Woman,""The One Who Recognized Her Younger Brother's Little Finger"); death ("The One Who Tore the Bowpiece from Her Grandmother's Canoe,""K'itlinbaalots'ik"); and war ("Liver's Head,""Unkk'uya,""Deeneegidzee,""Northern Lights Man,""The One Who Drank Water with Dog Droppings in It"). A separate teaching guide providing background notes on the tales, comprehension and discussion questions and activities, has been appended. Descriptors: Alaska Natives, American Indian Culture, Athapascan Languages, English
(1995). Maryetta School: The Center of a Rural Community, Issues…about Change. This theme issue describes Maryetta School, a rural pre-K-8 school in Stilwell, Oklahoma, with an enrollment of approximately 500 students, mostly American Indians of Cherokee descent. Although the area has a high poverty rate and virtually all the students are judged to be at risk, the school has an impressive array of programs and facilities and has won numerous awards, including National School of Excellence in 1988. This case study report traces the school's development, particularly since the early 1980s, and identifies leadership strategies that have promoted school improvement. Since 1968, the school has been under the leadership of a visionary "superintendent" (the title given to heads of dependent schools, which send students to another district for high school). The superintendent's beliefs that physical activity promotes academic learning and that right-brain learning styles are prevalent among Indian children led to the development of a "psychomotor program" that uses physical activities to reinforce cognitive skills and retention. This program and others have been funded through aggressive grantsmanship. The superintendent is the driving force for change and has several leadership strategies for effecting change and steady improvement. These include securing grants, determining and implementing the community's priorities, organizing special events that include the community, providing community education programs and other services, and planning for the long term and managing money wisely. The superintendent also hires strong, supportive staff with a variety of complementary skills, maintains good working relationships with them in a collegial atmosphere, and encourages new ideas. [More] Descriptors: American Indian Education, Case Studies, Change Strategies, Cherokee (Tribe)
(2008). Cree Language and Culture: 9-Year Program Classroom Assessment Materials, Grade 4. This document is designed to provide assessment materials for specific Grade 4 outcomes in the Cree Language and Culture Nine-year Program, Grades 4-5-6. The assessment materials are designed for the beginner level in the context of teaching for communicative competence. Grade 4 learning outcomes from the Cree Language and Culture Nine-year Program, Grades 4-5-6 provided the basis for the development of the performance tasks and accompanying evaluation tools in this document. These assessment materials are intended to be closely linked to classroom practices and are aligned to the general and specific outcomes for Grade 4. The guide discusses purposes of assessment as divided into two categories: "for learning" (formative assessment) and "of learning" (summative assessment). Suggestions for how and when to use assessment materials, and activity templates are included. The guide summarizes effective classroom assessment as: (1) addressing specific outcomes in the program of studies; (2) sharing intended specific outcomes with students prior to instruction; (3) assessing before, during and after instruction; (4) employing a variety of assessment strategies and evaluation tools to indicate student achievement; (5) grounding assessment within contexts that are meaningful to students; (6) sharing criteria with students before assessment activity begins; (7) providing frequent and descriptive specific feedback to students; (8) facilitating students' communication with others who have a right to know about their progress and achievement; and (9) ensuring students can describe what comes next in their learning. (Contains 2 footnotes.) [For "Cree Language and Culture: 9-year Program Guide to Implementation, Grades 4-5-6," see ED506220.] [More] Descriptors: Feedback (Response), Student Evaluation, Formative Evaluation, Program Guides
(1990). Perspectives on Official English. The Campaign for English as the Official Language of the USA. Essays on the campaign to establish English as the United States' official language include: "Official Languages and Language Planning" (Richard Ruiz); "Una lingua, una patria?: Is Monolingualism Beneficial or Harmful to a Nation's Unity?" (David F. Marshall and Roseann D. Gonzalez); "Canadian Perspectives on Official English" (Joseph E. Magnet); "Language Policy and Linguistic Tolerance in Ireland" (Alan Hudson-Edwards); "Languae Policies in Western Europe and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" (Leslie J. Limage); "The Legislation of Bahasa Malaysia as the Official Language of Malaysia" (William G. Davey); "English – The Official Language of California, 1983-1988" (Stanley Diamond); "Testimony Before the State Legislature on California Proposition 63″ (Geoffrey Nunberg);"Voting Rights, Liberal Voters and the Official English Movement: An Analysis of Campaign Rhetoric in San Francisco's Proposition 'O'" (Kathryn A. Woolard); "The Popularity of California's Proposition 63: An Analysis" (Connie Dyste); "The Official English Movement in Florida" (Max J. Castro, Margaret Haun, and Ana Roca); "Who Supports Official English and Why?: The Influence of Social Variables and Questionnaire Methodology" (Ana Celia Zentella); "Ethnic and Linguistic Minorities in the Southwest: An Overview" (Karen L. Adams); "Official English and the Learning of English" (Jon Amastae); "On the English Proficiency Act" (The Honorable Jeff Bingaman); "The Official English Movement and the Role of First Languages" (Elizabeth A. Brandt); "Official English and the Urge to Legislate" (Betty Lou Dubois); "The Navajo Language Today" (AnCita Benally and T. L. McCarty); "American Indian Language Policy" (Ofelia Zepeda); "Legal Background and History of the English Language Movement" (Barnaby W. Zall and Sharon McCloe Stein); "Is Language Choice a Constitutional Right?: Outline of a Constitutional Analysis" (James Weinstein); "Bilingualism and the Constitution" (John Trasvina); "Language and the Law in the Classroom: Bilingual Education and the Official English Initiative" (Rachel F. Moran); "Language Rights as Collective Rights" (Joseph E. Magnet); and "On Walling In and Walling Out" (The Honorable Noel Fidel). Six appendices covering amendments, initiaties, and resolutions; the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, article VIII; congressional hearings; the New Mexico state Constitution–Articles XII, XX; and representitive data are included. Descriptors: American Indian Languages, Bilingual Education, Bilingualism, Classroom Communication
(2010). 500 Maori PhDs in Five Years: Insights from a Successful Indigenous Higher Education Initiative, ProQuest LLC. With this thesis, I present a case study of the effort to graduate 500 "Maori" doctorates in five years in New Zealand in order to advance our understanding of a successful Indigenous higher education initiative. By paying careful attention to contextual factors, I describe the theoretical and practical significance of this effort and discuss the implications for higher education and for Alaska Native doctoral development. Through the presentation of data, I explore why such an effort was desirable for "Maori," how this initiative was made possible, and what kinds of changes it has inspired. I argue that the goal of supporting the development of 500 "Maori" PhDs is fundamentally aspirational and focused on generating success through establishing right relationships as specified in "Maori" cultural understandings and beliefs about creation, or cosmogony. "Maori" culture and cosmogony serve as foundation for inquiry and allows for an alternate conception of scholarship that is not based in academic disciplines or tertiary education institutions. The "Maori" doctoral development initiative has inspired similar efforts to develop Indigenous doctorates in First Nations communities in Canada, Native Hawaiian communities, and Alaska Native communities. As such, this study seeks to provide information about how this initiative emerged and took hold to those interested and involved in Indigenous higher education development. Case study data include: institutional documents and archival records; data from interviews with 44 initiative leaders, participants, and university administrators; and participant observation data from gatherings of "Maori" scholars. I draw on analytic methods from grounded theory, including: open and axial coding, data displays, and the constant comparative method. In order to come to a full understanding of the particularities and resonant qualities of this case, I also draw on existing research on "Maori" social and political movements, Indigenous higher education, and the history of universities and scholarly development. Through this dissertation, I hope to engage "Maori" people, Alaska Native and Indigenous leaders, and higher education researchers in a conversation about how the "Maori" doctoral development effort might inform our understandings about higher education development in an Indigenous context. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.%5D [More] Descriptors: Grounded Theory, Higher Education, Participant Observation, Alaska Natives
(2004). "I'm On Home Ground Now. I'm Safe" Saskatchewan Aboriginal Veterans in the Immediate Postwar Years, 1945-1946, American Indian Quarterly. In 1945 the Saskatchewan Aboriginal veterans from World War II returned to a rapidly changing world. The economy was improving dramatically as expanding industries encouraged unprecedented consumerism. In addition, new social values reflected an optimism for the elimination of the social inequality epitomized by Nazi Germany. The new social consciousness culminated with the United Nations' Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. In Canada the postwar years saw the federal government begin to investigate Indian policy reforms. In Saskatchewan the postwar years ushered in a new optimism epitomized by a new provincial government. In 1944 the people of the province of Saskatchewan elected the first socialist government in North America, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). The CCF, elected on the slogan "humanity first," began examining the possibility of implementing an Aboriginal policy. The change of economic, social, and political environment in Canada immediately after the war added to the excitement brought on by the ending of hostilities. Saskatchewan Aboriginal veterans' active participation in the immediate postwar changes was minimal. [More] Descriptors: Foreign Countries, State Government, Social Values, War
(1971). Pablita Verarde: The Story of an American Indian. Pablita Velarde Hardin is a famous Tewa Indian artist, born in Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico in 1918. She has helped revive and reinterpret traditional Indian art forms, preserving both for the pleasure of people today and for future generations. From ancient tales told to her by her father she has written and illustrated "Old Father, the Story Teller", a book of Tewa legends. Pablita's life has been one of conflict between her Indian heritage and her life in the Anglo world. Her years were much like those of any other Tewa baby, although when she was three her mother died. She was educated in Indian boarding schools and in the eighth grade received her first art training at the Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school in Santa Fe. There Indian children were taught basic art concepts but were encouraged to develop their own art styles and to reflect their own cultures. By the end of the first year her detailed paintings of pueblo life were chosen for exhibit in Chicago and Washington, D.C. She graduated from high school in 1936, a feat seldom accomplished by girls of her tribe at that time. At 23 she married Herb Hardin, an accomplished Anglo, and became the mother of two, Herby and Helen, the latter being an artist in her own right. She kept to her art resulting in fame for her murals and paintings. Her work is related to her Indian culture and she has attempted to preserve Santa Clara Pueblo culture; she uses her art to interpret Indian life. Today she is the most famous Indian woman painter in the world. This biography is written for grades five and up. Descriptors: Adolescent Literature, American Indian Reservations, American Indians, Artists