imdb.com/ Courtesy photo In this image from the film, "In the Footsteps of Yellow Woman" tells the story of the Navajo Long walk of 1864-1868.
oybm.org/ Courtesy photo Camille Manybeads Tso portrays her great-great-great-grandmother in the 27-minute docudrama "In the Footsteps of Yellow Woman."
In 1864, a young Navajo woman living in Black Mesa, Ariz., fought to protect her family from the efforts of the U.S. Army and scout Kit Carson to remove them from their land and send them to Ft. Sumner, N.M.
One hundred and forty-five years later, another young Navajo woman walked in the footsteps of Yellow Woman, her great-great-great-grandmother.
Camille Manybeads Tso is a 14-year-old freshman at the Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy. Home-schooled until she enrolled in FALA, Camille used the skills she learned from an Outta Your Backpack Media Native American youth workshop to make a 27-minute docudrama, "In the Footsteps of Yellow Woman."
Camille tells the story of Yellow Woman by interviewing her grandmother in Black Mesa and reenacting Yellow Woman's struggle to avoid relocation.
The story begins with Yellow Woman at about age 14, hiding her baby daughter in a tree while she fled on horseback to lead the soldiers away from her family. When it was safe, she returned to find her daughter safe in the tree where she had placed her.
Despite her efforts to remain strong for her family, the soldiers eventually caught up to Yellow Woman. Even though she was pregnant, the soldiers shot her and beat her, leaving her for dead.
She lost her baby, but Yellow Woman lived. Eventually, she gave up her struggle and joined with other members of the tribe for the infamous Long Walk of the Navajos to Ft. Sumner.
Beginning in 1864, the Navajo people walked 634 miles to Ft. Sumner. It took them two months to reach the fort and about 3,000 Navajos died either on the march or at the fort. Many Navajo elders and babies were lost crossing the Rio Grande River.
The Navajos' confinement at Ft. Sumner ended in 1868 when the U.S. government allowed them to return home.
Camille screened her film for freshman and sophomores at Northpoint Expeditionary Learning Academy in Prescott on Sept. 25.
The film fit perfectly with what the students are studying: The freshmen are learning about displaced people and the sophomores are researching racism.
Sophomore Sidney Faughn said he had learned about the Navajo Long Walk in the eighth grade. He said Camille's film was "powerful. It brought the story to life."
As much as possible, Camille filmed "on locations where the events happened," she said. A trip to the Rio Grande was out of the question, so Camille substituted a river near Grand Falls in Northern Arizona.
Camille said she spent about a year working on the film.
"You never really think about your ancestors. Yellow Woman just wanted to protect her family and land," Camille said. "The fact is, she was probably about my age and the main caretaker of her family."
Camille recruited members of her family, all descendents of Yellow Woman, to help her make costumes, direct, film, act, sing and edit.
What started as a class project ended in an incredible journey to learn the history of her family, especially Yellow Woman.
Camilla began working with the Outta Your Backpack Indigenous Youth media literacy collective when she was 9 years old. She is currently its youngest youth mentor.
Reader Comments
Posted: Monday, October 05, 2009
Article comment by:
Stay tuned
Allan: The film will be viewed at Northpoint later in the year. It will be announced so stay tuned.
Posted: Sunday, October 04, 2009
Article comment by:
Allan Johnson
Thanks to Ms. Tso for this wonderful project of love and pride. Where can this film be viewed for all to see and appreciate?
Posted: Sunday, October 04, 2009
Article comment by:
Be Loud & Be Proud
First of all~KUDOS to you Camille for doing this! I am of cherokee descent. I have been trying to track down my ancestors for many years. I have found out that I had family that walked the "Trail of Tears" and was scouts in the Civil War. Be PROUD & Be LOUD! Our ancestors is what help founded this country. AMEN
Posted: Sunday, October 04, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
This is a fine story and a wonderful project. A couple of corrections---the walk was about 400 miles and it was one of the shortest walks in the tragic roundup of Indians. By 1855 EVERY tribe east of the Mississippi had been eliminated or removed and relocated. So this was standard operating procedure for the U S Government.
The soldiers that were assigned to the walk had exactly the same provisions as the Indians. The fortunate part of this roundup is that it was NOT an elimination of the tribe. From this event, the new Dine' leaders took total control of their people and stopped the "young bucks" from their ways that got the whole tribe in trouble and the Navajo became the largest tribe in the U S. It is a wonderful diverse group of people that is a Nation within a nation today.
