Reading – Tohono O’odham Nation
Tohono O’odham Nation
https://www.tribalpedia.com/us-tribes/s-z/tohono-oodham-tribe/
The O’odham are descendants of the Hohokam who lived thousands of years ago along the Salt, Gila, and Santa Cruz Rivers. Today, the majority of the tribe lives in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, and the rest ( several thousand) live in northwestern Mexico.
In 1687 Father Eusebio Kino, a Jesuit missionary, arrived in Sonora and built missions and introduced Christianity, to the Tohono O’odham and Pima people. He and his people also introduced wheat, livestock, fruit, and metal tools. In 1700, he established the San Xavier mission.
In 1848 The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War with Mexico ceding most of what is now the modern-day southwest of the United States.
With the independence of the Republic of Mexico, O’odham fell under Mexican rule. In 1854, through the Gadsden Purchase or Treaty of La Mesilla, the O’odham land was divided almost in half, between the United States and Mexico.
In 1917 the main Tohono O’odham reservation was established. Following the Plan de Iguala, O’odham lands in Mexico continued to rapidly decrease. In 1927, reserves of lands for indigenous peoples were established by Mexico.
On the U.S. side of the border, the Gadsden Purchase had little effect on the O’odham because they were not informed that a purchase of their land had been made. Initially tribal members were free to travel back and forth between borders to work, visit relatives, and participate in religious ceremonies.
Today: Border Issues
Unfortunately, stricter border enforcement mainly due to drug trafficking between the United States and Mexico have been enforced. Because of this, the border has become an issue that affects the O’odham in many ways. For one, the immigration laws present a barrier that prevents the O’odham from traveling back and forth. This prevents them from visiting relatives and sacred sites, and from conducting business related to their jobs and culture. O’odham members must produce passports and border identification cards to enter into the United States.
On countless occasions, the U.S. Border Patrol has detained and deported members of the Tohono O’odham Nation who were simply traveling through their own traditional lands… Border officials are also reported to have confiscated cultural and religious items, such as feathers of common birds, pine leaves or sweet grass.
U.S. Federal Recognition Today
Tohono O’odham bands are now broken up into 4 federally recognized tribes: the Tohono O’odham Nation, the Gila River Indian Community, the Ak-Chin Indian Community and the Salt River (Pima Maricopa) Indian community.
Each band is politically and geographically distinct and separate. The remaining band, the Hia-C’ed O’odham, are not federally recognized, but reside throughout southwestern Arizona. All of the groups still speak the O’odham language, which derives from the Uto-Aztecan language group, although each group has varying dialects.
The Tohono O’odham members reside on reservation land and live on one of the four separate pieces of land that make up the Tohono O’odham Nation. These pieces of land are the “main” reservation, Florence Village, San Xavier and San Lucy. There are also O’odham who live in Mexico. The Tohono O’odham Nation houses branches of government and their programs, five recreation centers, one health center, six Head Start preschools and much more.
Although the tribe has several casinos that help with some of the costs, they still cannot cover the outstanding costs for basic needs such as medical, housing, education and emergency services. The physical isolation of the tribe has always been a handicap to its economic development.
Check for Understanding:
- The Tohono O’odham are descendants of what group of people?____________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
- Who was Father Eusebio Kino? _____________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
- What event occurred in 1854 that caused the tribe to be divided between the U.S. and Mexico? ________________________________________________
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- Due to the stricter border enforcement laws, what are some of the problems the Tohono O’odham are having today? ________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
- Although the tribal members have several casinos, they are still having financial problems in many areas in the community. What are the areas? ______________
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