American Indian leaders want students to know that the history of Utah didn’t begin when the Dominguez-Escalante expedition arrived at Utah Lake in 1776, or when Jim Bridger and his buddies started laying traps in the 1820s, or when the first Mormon wagon train rolled into the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.
The Ute and the Paiute, the Goshute and the Navajo, and the Northern and Eastern Shoshone tribes had already lived here for centuries.
Leaders of Utah’s tribes, speaking at the state’s second annual Native American Summit in Cedar City last week, said Indian history, languages and culture are often ignored in public schools. And, in their opinion, it’s having a devastating impact on the academic achievement of Native American students.
“It sends a strong message that their history doesn’t matter, and many of them lose motivation in school,” said Rupert Steele, chairman of the Confederated Tribes of Goshute Reservations. full story
