I Am the Grand Canyon: The Story of
the Havasupai People by Stephen
Hirst
Very Special Book
I Am the Grand Canyon is the story of the Havasupai people. From their
origins among the first group of Indians to arrive in North America some
20,000 years ago to their epic struggle to regain traditional lands taken
from them in the nineteenth century, the Havasupai have a long and
colorful history. The story of this tiny tribe once confined to a toosmall
reservation depicts a people with deep cultural ties to the land, both on
their former reservation below the rim of the Grand Canyon and on the
surrounding plateaus.
Personal Review: I Am the Grand Canyon: The Story of the
Havasupai People by Stephen Hirst
The Havasupai people are a tribe of Native Americans who by oral
tradition trace their origins back thousands of years. In some stories back

to before the time that present day theory has the original people coming
over the ice bridge from Asia. At any case, they have lived in the Grand
Canyon area for a very long time. Their early habits were to live at the
bottom of the canyon during the spring and summer, and to move to the
plateau behind the South Rim during the fall and winter.
This book tells their story but concentrates on the last few hundred years.
During this time first the Spanish and then the Americans came to disrupt
their lives. As is often the case, the Americans wanted the Havasupai on
reservations and eventually a very small (less than one square mile)
reservation at the bottom of the canyon was 'given' to them. This robbed
them from the use of their ancestral lands.
A major part of the book is on the struggle to retain some rights to the use
of the upper lands. It was a fight against the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the
National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Sierra Club (all of
whom had different agendas), and more.
Eventually the Havasupai won over all this opposition, and their
reservation was expanded by some 185,000 acres. This book shows that a
small group can win, eventually, some of the time.
You may also want to view the Havasupai Tribe web site, do a Google
search.
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