Tohono Oʼodham

The Tohono Oʼodham are a Native American people who live in the Sonoran Desert. Most of them live in the U.S. state of Arizona, but some also live in the northern Mexican state of Sonora. They are recognized by the United States government as the Tohono Oʼodham Nation.

The Tohono Oʼodham Nation controls a large area called the Tohono Oʼodham Indian Reservation. This reservation is in the southern part of Arizona and includes parts of three counties: Pima, Pinal, and Maricopa. Their land also reaches into Sonora, Mexico. The Ak-Chin Indian Community also includes some Tohono Oʼodham people.

Name

The Tohono Oʼodham people have chosen not to use the name "Papago" since the 1980s. Instead, they call themselves Tohono Oʼodham, which means "desert people".

Nearby, the Akimel O’odham, another tribe, called them "Ba꞉bawĭkoʼa", meaning "eating tepary beans". Spanish settlers heard this name and called them Pápago, and English settlers also used that name.

History

The Tohono Oʼodham lived in what is now southern Arizona and northern Mexico, across much of the Sonoran Desert. Their land reached the San Miguel River to the east, the Gila River to the north, the Colorado River to the west, and the Gulf of California to the southwest. They shared borders with the Seris and Opata peoples.

These lands have wide plains and tall mountains, with very little water. Rain comes mostly in late summer and is often heavy, while winters are mild with few frosts. The Tohono Oʼodham moved between summer and winter homes, following the water. In summer, they lived on flat areas where they could grow crops using rainwater. In winter, they moved to the mountains where water was more reliable.

Historically, the Tohono Oʼodham had tensions with the nomadic Apache, who would sometimes raid their settlements. The first Europeans to record their lands were explorers in the 1530s. The Mission San Xavier del Bac, known as the "White Dove of the Desert," was built in 1700 and is a famous old building near Tucson. The Tohono Oʼodham resisted Spanish attempts to change their ways for many years.

Culture

See also: Montezuma (mythology)

The Tohono Oʼodham share linguistic and cultural roots with the closely related Akimel Oʼodham (People of the River), historically known as Pima, whose lands lie just south of present-day Phoenix, along the lower Gila River. The ancestors of both the Tohono Oʼodham and the Akimel Oʼodham resided along the major rivers of southern Arizona. Ancient pictographs adorn a rock wall that juts up out of the desert near the Baboquivari Mountains.

On the nature of the Oʼodham, Eric Winston writes:^: 18 

The Oʼodham were not a people in a political sense. Instead, their sense of belonging came from similar traditions and ways of life, language and related legends, and experiences shared in surviving in a beautiful but not entirely hospitable land.

Debates surround the origins of the Oʼodham. Claims that the Oʼodham moved north as recently as 300 years ago^{[citation needed]} compete with claims that the Hohokam, who left the Casa Grande Ruins, are their ancestors.^: 15 

In the Santa Barbara Mission Archive-Library are materials collected by a Franciscan friar who worked among the Tohono Oʼodham. These include scholarly volumes and monographs. The Office of Ethnohistorical Research, located at the Arizona State Museum on the campus of the University of Arizona, has undertaken a documentary history of the Oʼodham, offering translated colonial documents that discuss Spanish relations with the Oʼodham in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Oʼodham musical and dance activities lack "grand ritual paraphernalia that call for attention" and grand ceremonies such as pow-wows. Instead, they wear muted white clay. Oʼodham songs are accompanied by hard wood rasps and drumming on overturned baskets, both of which lack resonance and are "swallowed by the desert floor". Dancing features skipping and shuffling quietly in bare feet on dry dirt, the dust raised being believed to rise to atmosphere and assist in forming rain clouds.

Society

Society focused on the family, and each member had specific roles to play. Women were in charge of food preparation and also gathered the bulk of food, although all members helped. Older girls in the family would be in charge of fetching water each morning, the duty would fall to the wife if there were no daughters. Women also wove baskets, and made pottery, such as ollas. Men performed many of the farming tasks, and hunted. Older men would hunt larger game like bighorn sheep, younger men and boys hunted small game. Most communities had a medicine man, a usually male position. Decisions were made by men in a communal fashion, with elders holding prominence.^: 8–11  Children were free to play until age six, around which time they began to learn their roles. Grandparents and older siblings were the most frequent teachers, as parents tended to be very busy.^: 12 

Marriages were generally arranged by parents, or if the parents had died, older siblings. Since individual villages tended to be closely related, marriages were generally between villages, as close relatives were not allowed to marry. A wife would generally move to the village of her husband, but exceptions could be made if the wife's village needed more help. Polygamy was allowed. Although women had little choice in whom they married, they could choose to leave their marriage if unhappy; they would then return to their village and a new marriage would be arranged.^: 11–12 

Society was intensely communal, and there were few positions of authority. Hunters shared their catches with the entire village. Food and supplies were shared with those who needed it. It was expected that if you had been given things in a time of need that you would repay the debt when you could.^: 12–15 

Despite a shared language and heritage, the Oʼodham were only loosely connected across their lands. Loyalty laid with the village, not the people. However, the Oʼodham generally got along well with neighbors. They regularly gathered with nearby villages, and would even partner with them in times of conflict against outsider tribes. Gatherings for races, trade, socialization, and gossip were frequent events.^: 12–15  Gambling was a common recreational event, with men playing a game with sticks similar to dice, and women playing a game which required tossing painted sticks. They would bet trinkets such as shells or beads, as well as valuables such as blankets and mats. Betting also occurred on races, which were the most important sport. Girls were already generally good runners due to being water fetchers, and all members needed to be able to run to escape danger or attacks. Day long races were popular events, and courses would be 10–15 mi (16–24 km). Women played a field hockey-like game called toka which is still enjoyed and is a frequent school sport on the modern reservation.^: 45–46 

Subgroups

Though they shared a linguistic root with the Pima, and could understand the languages of nearby tribes, such tribes were considered distant cousins at best. Even within the Oʼodham there were linguistic and cultural differences that led to the groups being only loosely united. Different groups had different origin stories, linguistic quirks, and appearances. Where a person lived was the best indicator of which group they belonged to, more so than the other differences. As of the 1700s, when Europeans began to categorize the tribes, there were probably at least six groups. The actual number of groups has varied by author. The following categorization is from Eric Winston's 1994 textbook on the Oʼodham, and includes seven groups, along with some subgroups.^: 12–15 

• Himuris – They lived along the southern edge of Oʼodham lands, in modern Mexico. In the west they lived up to the confluence of the Altar River and the Magdalena River in what is now Magdalena de Kino. Their range extended all the way to the eastern reaches of the Oʼodham. They were the first to make contact with Europeans.
• Hia C-eḍ – Divided into northern and southern groups, they stretched along the western border of the lands, from the furthest north to the southernmost reaches. In the south they shared the land with the Seris, and those there may have had more in common with them than the rest of the Oʼodham. To the north they had contact with the Yumas, and the northern Hia C-eḍ shared some of their traits. The Hia C-eḍ dialect was the most distinct, and they spoke much faster than other groups. Since their lands were the hottest and driest they had very large ranges and migrations. Little of the land was suitable for farming, and thus the Hia C-eḍ were almost exclusively hunter-gatherers.
• Hu:huhla – The oldest group of the Oʼodham, they lived in a strip to the east of the Hia C-eḍ. The other tribes considered them to be "orphans"; it is possible they were there before the Oʼodham arrived and were assimilated. Their style of living mirrored the Hia C-eḍ, as their lands were also poor.
• Kohatk – They lived along the northern extent, and intermingled with the Pima. They extended south to modern Tucson. They had considerable trade and intermarriage with the Pimas.
• Koklolodi – Situated above the Himuris, but below the Totokwan.
• Sobapuris – This easternmost group lived between the San Pedro and Santa Cruz rivers. They took more cues from the Pima and lived in more permanent settlements. Their lands were on the edge of the Sonoran Desert and thus had better water supplies, ensuring year round settlement in most areas. Members only left the village to hunt and gather, and did not usually make seasonal migrations. Their cooler lands, fertile fields, and consistent water made their land the most desired by European settlers, and their lands were the first to be taken over. The Sobapuris suffered the most from colonization.
• Totokwan – Centered around Ge Aji Peak, they inhabited the ceremonial center of the northern Oʼodham.

Warfare

The Oʼodham were a generally peaceful people. They rarely, if ever, initiated conflict, and got along well with most neighboring tribes. The exception was the Apache, who were frequent raiders of the Oʼodham and other tribes. The Apache were to the east and northeast of the Oʼodham, and had probably moved into the area sometime in the 15th century. The Apache had limited interest in farming, and preferred to raid neighboring troops for supplies. The eastern Oʼodham, the Sobapuris, bore the brunt of Apache attacks.^: 18–19 

Diet

The original Oʼodham diet consisted of regionally available wild game, insects, and plants. Through foraging, Oʼodham ate a variety of regional plants, such as: ironwood seed, honey mesquite, hog potato, and organ-pipe cactus fruit. While the Southwestern United States does not have an ideal climate for cultivating crops, Oʼodham cultivated crops of white tepary beans, peas, and Spanish watermelons. They hunted pronghorn antelope, gathered hornworm larvae, and trapped pack rats for sources of meat. Preparation of foods included steaming plants in pits and roasting meat on an open fire.

Saguaro cactus fruit was an especially important food.^: 8–10  The Tohono Oʼodham use long sticks to harvest the fruits, which are then made into a variety of products including jams, syrups, and ceremonial wine. Tohono Oʼodham cooks made porridge from its edible seeds. The harvest begins in June; villages would travel to the saguaro stands for the duration of the harvest. A pair of saguaro ribs, about 6 m (20 ft) long, is bundled together to make a harvesting tool called a kuibit. They then reduce the freshly harvested fruit into a thick syrup through several hours of boiling, as the fresh fruit does not keep for long. Four kilograms (9 pounds) of fruit will yield about 1 liter (1⁄4 U.S. gallon) of syrup. Copious volumes of fruit are harvested; an example harvest in 1929 yielded 45,000 kg (99,000 lb) among 600 families.^{: 324–326}  At the end of the harvest, each family would contribute a small amount of syrup to a communal stock that would be fermented by the medicine man. This was cause for rainmaking celebrations. Stories would be told, there was much dancing, and songs would be sung. Each man would drink some of the saguaro wine. The resulting intoxicated state was seen as holy, and any dreams it brought on were considered portentous. This was the only time that the Oʼodham drank alcohol during the year.^: 17–20 

Ak cin, known as "mouth of the wash", refers to the farming method in which farmers would monitor the weather for signs of storm cloud formations. The appearance of storm clouds signified that there was going to be a downpour of rain. Farmers would anticipate these moments and quickly prep their plantations for seeding as the rain began to flood their lands. This type of agriculture was most commonly used during summer monsoons. Mission Garden in Tucson, Arizona, includes Oʼodham areas that show foods and farming methods before and after European contact. This includes planting in basins that hold the monsoon rains.

Traditional tribal foods were a combination of goods provided by nature and items they cultivated. From nature, the Tohono Oʼodham would consume rabbit, sap and flour from mesquite trees (flour was made by crushing the pods of the trees), cholla cactus, and acorns. On the agricultural side of their diet, farmers focused on corn, squash, and tepary beans.

Lost traditions, modern times

It was not until more numerous Americans of Anglo-European ancestry began moving into the Arizona territory that the outsiders began to oppress the people's traditional ways. Unlike many tribes in the United States, the Tohono Oʼodham never signed a treaty with the federal government, but the Oʼodham experienced challenges common to other nations.^: 163 

As Oʼodham communal lands were allocated to households and some "surplus" sold to non-Native Americans under the Dawes Act of 1888, a variety of religious groups entered the territory. Presbyterian missionaries built schools and missions there, vying with Roman Catholics and Mormons to convert the Oʼodham to their faith.^: 20–21 

Major farmers established the cotton industry, initially employing many Oʼodham as agricultural workers. Under the U.S. federal Indian policy of the late 19th and early 20th century, the government required native children to attend Indian boarding schools. They were forced to use English, practice Christianity, and give up much of their tribal cultures in an attempt by the government to assimilate the children of various tribes into the American mainstream.

The current tribal government, established in the 1930s under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, reflects years of commercial, missionary, and federal intervention. While the federal government encouraged tribes to reestablish their governments, it approved models based on the electoral system and structure of the US. The goal was to make the Indians into "real" Americans, but the boarding schools generally offered training only for low-level domestic and agricultural labor, typical of jobs available in rural areas. "Assimilation" was the official policy, but full participation was not the goal. Boarding school students were supposed to function within the segregated society of the United States as economic laborers, not leaders.

The Tohono Oʼodham have retained many traditions into the twenty-first century, and still speak their language. Since the late 20th century, however, U.S. mass culture has penetrated and in some cases eroded Oʼodham traditions as their children adopt new trends in technology and other practices.

Health

Beginning in the 1960s, government intervention in the tribe's agricultural cultivation caused the Tohono Oʼodham tribal citizens to shift from a traditional plant-based diet to one that favored foods high in fat and calories. The government began to close off the tribe's water source, preventing the Indigenous group from being able to produce traditional crops.^: 41–45  This resulted in the widespread trend of type 2 diabetes among citizens of the tribe. The adaptation of a processed food diet caused the presence of type 2 diabetes to rise at alarming rates, with nearly 60 percent of the adult population in the tribe facing this disease and 75 percent of children expected to contract this disease in their lifetime. Children are also at risk for childhood obesity.

Many of the original crops that the Indigenous group produced, such as tepary beans, squash, and the buds of cholla cactus, were items that could have aided in combating the diabetes crisis within the community. These foods possessed nutrients that would have helped normalize blood sugar and minimize the impact of diabetes. However, as a result of government intervention, many of these traditional foods were lost. A local nonprofit, Tohono Oʼodham Community Action (TOCA), has built a set of food systems programs that contribute to public health, cultural revitalization, and economic development. It has started a cafe that serves traditional foods.

The Tohono Oʼodham community has made efforts to combat future issues by attempting to rehabilitate the systems the tribe had in place before government intervention. The Indigenous group has been advocating for the restoration of their water privileges so that they will be able to effectively produce traditional crops for the tribe. Moreover, even in tribal schools, such as those in the local Baboquivari Unified School District, the quality of lunch programs is being reassessed in order to bring a larger emphasis of the need for healthier food options.

The Tohono Oʼodham Nation is one of the few Indigenous groups to offer tribal citizens access to medical treatment in the United States. Requirements for this enrollment include being a citizen of Mexico and of the Tohono Oʼodham Nation. As advocacy for the border wall continues to grow, inspections and securities along these boundaries have heightened, limiting tribal members' access to resources beyond the border.

Cultural revitalization

The cultural resources of the Tohono Oʼodham are threatened—particularly the language—but are stronger than those of many other aboriginal groups in the United States.^{[citation needed]}

Every February the nation holds the annual Sells Rodeo and Parade in its capital. Sells District rodeo has been an annual event since being founded in 1938. It celebrates traditional frontier skills of riding and managing cattle.^{[citation needed]}

In the visual arts, Michael Chiago and the late Leonard Chana gained widespread recognition for their paintings and drawings of traditional Oʼodham activities and scenes.^{[citation needed]} Chiago has exhibited at the Heard Museum and has contributed cover art to Arizona Highways magazine and University of Arizona Press books. Chana illustrated books by Tucson writer Byrd Baylor and created murals for Tohono Oʼodham Nation buildings.^{[citation needed]}

In 2004, the Heard Museum awarded Danny Lopez its first heritage award, recognizing his lifelong work sustaining the desert people's way of life. At the National Museum for the American Indian (NMAI), the Tohono Oʼodham were represented in the founding exhibition and Lopez blessed the exhibit.

Tucson Indian School

The Tohono Oʼodham children were required to attend Indian boarding schools, designed to teach them the English language and assimilate them to the mainstream European-American ways. According to historian David Leighton, of the Arizona Daily Star newspaper, the Tohono Oʼodham attended the Tucson Indian School. This boarding school was founded in 1886, when T.C. Kirkwood, superintendent of the board of national missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, asked the Tucson Common Council for land near where the University of Arizona would be built. The Common Council granted the Board of Home Missions a 99-year lease on land at $1 a year. The Board purchased 42 acres (17 ha) of land on the Santa Cruz River, from early pioneer Sam Hughes.

The new facility opened in 1888, with 54 boys and girls. At the new semi-religious boarding school, boys learned rural trades like carpentry and farming, while girls were taught sewing and similar domestic skills of the period. In 1890, additional buildings were completed but the school was still too small for the demand, and students had to be turned away. To raise funds for the school and support its expansion, its superintendent entered into a contract with the city of Tucson to grade and maintain streets. While officially called the Tucson Indian Training School, "any person of either sex, regardless of race or color", who showed "promise of development into a Christian leader or citizen and whose educational needs may, in the judgement of the school, be better served by the school than by another available resource" was eligible for admission.

In 1903, Jose Xavier Pablo, who later went on to become a leader in the Tohono Oʼodham Nation, graduated from the school. Three years later, the school bought the land they were leasing from the city of Tucson and sold it at a significant profit. In 1907, they purchased land just east of the Santa Cruz River, near present-day Ajo Way and built a new school. The new boarding school opened in 1908; it has a separate post office, known as the Escuela Post Office. Sometimes this name was used in place of the Tucson Indian School.

By the mid-1930s, the Tucson Indian School covered 160 acres, had 9 buildings, and was capable of educating 130 students. In 1940, about 18 different tribes made up the population of students at the school. With changing ideas about the education of tribal children, the federal government began to support education where the children lived with their families. By August 1953, it had no grades lower than 7th grade. In 1960, the school closed its doors. The site was developed as Santa Cruz Plaza, just southwest of Pueblo Magnet High School.

Tohono Oʼodham Nation

The Tohono Oʼodham Nation is a large area in the Arizona desert. It is made up of eleven districts and is one of the biggest Native American areas in the United States. Many people live there, and the Nation has its own leaders.

The Tohono Oʼodham have lived in the desert for a very long time, but sometimes other people wanted their land. They worked with the government in the past to keep some of their land. Today, their lands include several areas, such as the main Tohono Oʼodham Indian Reservation and smaller places like the San Xavier Reservation near Tucson.

Tohono Oʼodham Community Action (TOCA)

The Tohono Oʼodham Community Action (TOCA) was started in 1996 by Terrol Dew Johnson and Tristan Reader. Their goal was to bring back important traditions of the Tohono Oʼodham people. It began in Sells, Arizona, with a small community garden and classes on making baskets.

TOCA has grown to include two farms, a restaurant, and an art gallery. In 2009, they opened Desert Rain Café to help fight health problems in the community by serving traditional foods. The restaurant uses ingredients like mesquite meal, prickly pear, and agave syrup in every meal. Some popular dishes are Mesquite Oatmeal Cookies and Brown Tepary Bean Quesadillas. The café serves over 100,000 meals each year.

Basket weaving is an important part of Tohono Oʼodham culture. Classes were held weekly to teach people how to make baskets, which can take a whole year to complete. The baskets are made from local plants and represent the history and traditions of the Tohono Oʼodham nation.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s first visit to an Indian reservation

In 2017, a newspaper shared the story of what is believed to be Martin Luther King Jr.'s first visit to an Indian reservation. On September 20, 1959, King gave a speech at the University of Arizona. After the speech, he met a pastor named Rev. Casper Glenn, who showed him photos of a diverse church group that included members of the Tohono Oʼodham tribal group. King expressed interest in visiting the nearby Tohono Oʼodham Indian Reservation and was taken there the next day. The tribal leaders were surprised and honored by his visit. King spoke with them and later expressed appreciation for meeting the people there.

Districts

The Tohono Oʼodham Nation has several districts where people live. Some of these districts are Gu Achi, Pisinemo, Sif Oidak, and Sells District. Others include Baboquivari, Hickiwan, San Lucy District, Gu Vo, Chukut Kuk, San Xavier District, and Schuk Toak.

Notable Tohono Oʼodham

The Tohono Oʼodham people have many talented individuals who have made important contributions. Some well-known people include Annie Antone, who creates beautiful baskets, and Gabriella Cázares-Kelly, who works as an educator and community organizer. Others like Maria Chona and Terrol Dew Johnson are also famous for their basketweaving and promoting healthy foods. Juan Dolores helped people learn more about the Tohono Oʼodham language, while Raul Mendoza coached basketball. Ponka-We Victors served as a legislator in Kansas, and Ofelia Zepeda is known for her work as a writer and poet. Augustine Lopez was a leader for the Tohono Oʼodham Nation.