Navajo Nation's come long way since Long Walk

The Navajo Nation is commemorating an important milestone this year, the 150th anniversary of the Treaty of 1868 and the return of the Diné people to their ancestral homeland.

From 1863 through 1866, more than 11,500 Navajos were marched to Bosque Redondo near Fort Sumner, a distance of 350 to 400 miles. It became known as The Long Walk.

The Navajo people weren’t allowed to leave internment at Fort Sumner and return to their ancestral homeland until Navajo leaders signed a treaty with the United States on June 1, 1868.

Of the more than 11,500 Navajos on the Long Walk, only about 8,500 returned home. The others succumbed to age, illness and harsh conditions, according to Navajo Nation Vice President Jonathan Nez.

“We were not wanted in this land at one time, and it was almost total annihilation of our people,” he says. “Now, 150 years later, we are the most influential indigenous nation in the world.”

Today, there are 350,000 Navajos, and they have a homeland that covers 27,000 square miles, stretching across parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. The Navajo people have made invaluable contributions to both New Mexico and the United States, with their rich culture and unique language.

It was, after all, the Navajo Code Talkers who played an instrumental role in helping the U.S. and its allies win World War II. The elite group of Marine recruits used their native language to create a code that proved to be unbreakable by the Japanese.

Nez says retelling the history of The Long Walk, as well as the entire history of the Navajo people, from the Navajo perspective will encourage a renaissance in the Navajo culture, language and way of life.

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of Navajos returning to their ancestral homeland, the two known copies of the treaty will be on display — in June at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Arizona, and from June 8 through August at the Bosque Redondo Memorial Museum at Fort Sumner State Monument.

This anniversary offers an opportunity for all of us to reflect on the contributions of the Navajos and other native people to our state and nation.

— Albuquerque Journal