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Native Americans : A Navajo Indian

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Vanessa Atine is a Navajo Indian that was born in the United States. Her family resides mainly in Arizona and southern Utah on the Navajo reservation. She was born and raised as a Navajo, but did not participate in her culture until she moved back onto the reservation two years ago. The Atine family moved around frequently, they have lived all over Utah and Arizona. When Vanessa was in third grade they moved into the Kearns area and stayed until she was in tenth grade. The constant moving was mainly due to financial instability and job searching. Native Americans do not have all of the opportunities other Americans do when it comes to finding jobs. There is a lot of prejudice and discrimination towards Native Americans dating back to…show more content…
The Athabaskan had two separate groups: the Northern and the Southern. Another theory is that Native Americans descended from the Tibetan and Mongolian people because the Navajo people retain the same physical characteristics. This theory still uses the idea that they must have crossed the Bering Strait. The Native Americans acknowledge these two theories, but they have their own origin stories. Schools teach Native Americans the anthropological theories and at home they are taught the traditional stories. The traditional stories are about Changing Woman and how she created the four clans and how they ended up at the Four Corners. The stories also mention how a group, called Dine Nahodloonii, split from the main group of Navajos and if they meet again it will cause misfortune. None of the stories mention migrating from the north and they mostly emphasize originating from their homeland which is the Navajo reservation. The four clans Changing Woman made are Hashtl’ishnii (Mud People clan), Kin Yaa’aanii (Towering House clan), Honagaahnii (One Walks Around You clan), and To dich’iinii (Bitter Water clan). The Mud People clan are the creative ones. They weave, craft, and farm. They were given the Black Jet Gish by Changing Woman which they used to get muddy water out of the ground. The Towering House clan are the teachers and leaders. They were given the White Shell Gish by Changing Woman which they threw against a canyon wall because it would not give them water. The
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