American Indian Utah Tribes

Navajo Nation

About the Tribe

The people of the Navajo Nation call themselves the Diné,which means "the people". They are a nation whose origins stem from small bands of nomadic people who emerged into and adapted to their environment in the Southwest. Today the Navajo Nation covers over 27,000 square miles, extending into the states of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. Diné Bikéyah, which means “Navajoland,” is larger than ten of the fifty states in America.

Resources about the Navajo Nation:

The Native American Indian Literacy Project

The Native American Indian Literacy Project was the work of USOE Indian Education Specialist in 2006, Shirlee Silversmith, and a partnership between the Utah State Office of Education (currently the Utah State Board of Education) and the San Juan School District Media Center. The project included a series of books, lesson plans and histories that were created with the help of tribal elders and cultural consultants and are based on the oral traditional stories and history of their specific tribes. Funds for the original project came from the Utah State Office of Education.

The original booklets were designed for printability (Print Instructions), and have been reformatted here for digital use. A big thank you to Brenda Beyal (Dine) and Lorna Loy (Dine) for updating these lesson plans and aligning them to current core standards. This update was funded by a partnership grant from the Utah Division of State History and Utah Humanities.

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