Lack of activity here on American Indians in Children's Literature is because I've been at Acoma, and at Nambe (my home), doing some research but also working on the old adobe home that started out as my grandmothers and eventually came to me. Daughter Liz and I, with help from my parents and nephews, have been mixing a lot of cement to do some new flooring. And, we're working on restoration of a fireplace, too. Good work.
Today (July 24) we're in Santa Fe for a few hours while Liz finishes up some work she's done for our tribal lawyers.
We walked down to the plaza in downtown Santa Fe an hour or so ago and walked past a sign... Liz took the pic, and I'm posting it here. It says:
A BUILDING STOOD HERE BEFORE 1680
IT WAS WRECKED IN
THE GREAT INDIAN UPRISING
THIS HOUSE INCORPORATES
WHAT REMAINED
IT WAS WRECKED IN
THE GREAT INDIAN UPRISING
THIS HOUSE INCORPORATES
WHAT REMAINED
As I read that sign, I know what it is about. We call it the Pueblo Revolt, NOT "the great Indian uprising." We called it a revolt, because in 1680 we--the Pueblo people--drove the Spanish out of what became New Mexico. A well executed plan to rid our homelands of brutal treatment by the Spanish. I wonder who made the sign? The words the signmaker chose reflect bias... There's a lot of history here, a lot to think about...
