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Interviews and Lectures - Relocation, peace and religion, 1986

 File — Box: 2, Folder: 9

Scope and Content

From the Collection: The Santa Fe Big Mountain Defense Support Group is the most prominent theme in the collection. Law headed this group for twelve years, in the 1970s and 1980s. The collection documents this group's efforts to repeal PL 93-531 via pamphlets, flyers, newspaper and magazine articles, newsletters, videos, press releases, letterwriting campaigns to Governor Bill Richardson and Congress, petitions, position papers, testimonies, informational packets, and fact sheets. Three folders of correspondence are included. The collection contains a small assortment of interviews conducted by Law, including her interview with documentary filmmaker Bahe Keediniihii. The files are organized alphabetically.

Native American Issues and International Activism (outside of the Navajo-Hopi Relocation Act) documents traditional indigenous nations of the world coming together in support of Native American sovereignty, including the defense of the Western Shoshone as a nation and the International Indian Treaty Conference – a nongovernmental organization representing 99 traditional indigenous nations. The majority of materials in this section pertain to activism outside of Big Mountain Defense and the Hopi-Navajo Relocation Act, however there is some overlap, an example being Big Mountain’s participation in the Ninth International Indian Treaty Congress, dedicated to the preservation and continuity of American Indian cultures. Documents include an agenda, newspaper articles, newsletters, petitions, press releases, reports and resolutions. Simultaneously in New Mexico, in support of actions at the Ninth International Indian Treaty Congress, Navajo and Hopi people staged a unity march. The collection includes a flyer, permit, press releases, and notes on the march. Materials also document international activism to restore world peace and respect for the earth through the spiritual teachings and traditions of Native American people including faxes, interviews, lectures, and promotional materials for the “Back to Your Senses" Native American Celebration Art Festival.

The final theme in the collection is the Big Mountain Weaving Project: Women in Resistance. Law, along with many others, helped raise money for this project. A collection of photographs by Law of Navajo weavers is noteworthy. As the Weaving Project’s aim and the goal of Big Mountain Defense overlap, materials in both parts of the collection also overlap. Weaving Project files include photographs and copies of photographs, press releases, correspondence, faxes, board of directors’ lists, flyers, newspaper clippings, and pamphlets.

Dates

  • 1986

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Extent

From the Collection: 2 boxes (1 cu. ft), plus 1 oversized folder

Creator

Repository Details

Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository

Contact:
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451