Digital Resources for O'odham Part 2:

The Great Bend of the Gila: Contemporary Native American Connections to an Ancestral Landscape PDF

This second digital resource I'd like to highlight in this series is a report done as part of a project to designate an area near Gila Bend a national monument due to it's cultural, historical, and natural importance to the country. This report entitled The Great Bend of the Gila: Contemporary Native American Connections to an Ancestral Landscape is in a PDF format. PDF stands for Portable Document File and makes sharing documents easier. The report is important because it shows how there are areas of cultural significance outside the boundaries of our O'odham reservations.

The report not only highlights O'odham tribes but other tribes who consider the area significant to their culture or ways of life. For the O'odham in particular the report tells how this area was significant in the migration of 49ers and that the onslaught of non-indigenous people pushed out the O'odham in the area. There are songs associated with the area as well. Many famous petroglyphs are also found in the area. From Pages 41-89 the O'odham perspective is given.

With these digital resources it is still important to remember to ask your connections or elders. Some of the information in this report might not have been passed down so an opportunity for elders to learn is presented as well.

Congressman Raul Grijalva just recently presented the bill to make this area a National Monument. It would need to be reviewed by several committee and then go to vote. I'll include a link to the bill and a link an article on the bill presented and monitor the status of the bill.

Report link: https://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/gb_ethno.pdf

Bill link: https://naturalresources.house.gov/imo/media/doc/GRIJAL_103_xml%20-%20FINAL%20for%20Intro.pdf

Article on the Bill: https://www.indiangaming.com/congressman-grijalva-introduces-great-bend-of-the-gila-conservation-act/