Oral History of the Yavapai

by Mike Harrison, John Williams, Sigrid Khera (Editor)

In the 1970s, the Fort McDowell Reservation in Arizona came under threat by a dam construction project that, if approved, would potentially flood most of its 24,680 acres of land. As part of the effort to preserve the reservation, Mike Harrison and John Williams, two elders of the Yavapai tribe, sought to have their history recorded as they themselves knew it, as it had been passed down to them from generation to generation, so that the history of their people would not be lost to future generations. In March 1974, Arizona State University anthropologist Sigrid Khera first sat down with Harrison and Williams to begin recording and transcribing their oral history, a project that would continue through the summer of 1976. Although Harrison and Williams have since passed away, their voices shine through the pages of this book, and the history of their people remains to be passed along and shared. Thanks to the efforts of Scottsdale resident and Orme Dam activist Carolina Butler, this important document is being made available to the public for the first time. Oral History of the Yavapai offers a wide range of information regarding the Yavapai people, from creation beliefs to interpretations of historical events and people. Harrison and Williams not only relate their perspective on the relationship between the White people and the Native American peoples of the Southwest, but they also share stories about prayers, songs, dreams, sacred places, and belief systems of the Yavapai. Their narration of their history facilitates a broad yet deep understanding of the Yavapai people.

Little has been formally published on the Yavapai people, in particular, and this book fills that gap in literature. As such, it is a valuable addition to the literature already available regarding Native American anthropology and history, especially for students, professors, researchers, and anyone with a special interest in the American Southwest and/or Native American cultures.

Genres: History

400 pages, Hardcover

First published July 31, 2012

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Duston Mazzella]

Oral History of the Yavapai is an engaging and informative read that truly captivated me. Growing up in Fountain Hills, which borders the Fort McDowell reservation, I had a personal connection to the landscape described in this book. The Yavapai’s rich history, as told through oral narratives, has added a deeper layer of understanding to the place I’ve called home. This book not only enriched my knowledge of the local history but also provided valuable insight into the culture and traditions of the Yavapai people.

In my opinion, it’s one of the best history books about Arizona, offering a unique perspective on the state’s past that many might overlook. It’s a must-read for anyone with an interest in history, particularly those looking to understand the indigenous cultures that shaped the region. Whether you’re a local or just a history enthusiast, Oral History of the Yavapai is a compelling and essential addition to any bookshelf.

[Mary Ann Clark]

This is an important book, especially for Arizona readers. Everyone in the United States lives on land that formerly (or perhaps, currently) belonged to one or more Native American groups. Like the rest of my Prescott, Arizona readers, I live in the ancestral lands of the Yavapai people. This book, maybe for the first time, gives us the history of this area as told by The Yavapai themselves. It is based on extensive interviews with two Yavapai elders, Mike Harrison and John Williams, by the Arizona State University anthropologist Sigrid Khera. Dr. Khera and her associate and editor Carolina C. Butler chose to tell this story principally in the words of Harrison (1886–1983) and Williams (1904–1983) with little of the editorializing common in anthropological texts. They further enhanced the book with copies of original documents from various United States agencies, maps, and photos of Yavapai people, places and things.

The Yavapai are one of Arizona’s oldest and most historic tribes. Their beginning dates from approximately 1250 CE and continues to this day. In 1965, the Indian Claims Commission found that the United States took 9,238,600 acres of land from the aboriginal Yavapai in 1873 without payment or compensation. This area encompasses most of the current Yavapai county and areas as far west as the Arizona border and as far south as Agua Caliente and a portion of the Gila River. Today the Yavapai have a small reservation near the city of Prescott as well as people continuing to live on the Fort McDowell Mohave-Apache Reservation north of Phoenix. As hunter-gathers, the Yapavai seasonally used this extensive area collecting salt from the hills facing the Colorado River, shells from near Parker, mescal and prickly pear from Harcuvar and Harquahala and other food and materials from throughout the region. In 1969 the Commission paid the tribe $5,100,000 for this land.

In 1974, Mike Harrison, who was 88 years old at the time, asked the Anthropology Department at Arizona State University for someone to write the history of his people as he and his contemporaries knew it. The newly arrives scholar Dr. Khera took up the challenge and met with Harrison and his cousin John Williams, aged 70. The cousins told her of the coming of the White people and the subsequent Indian Wars, even though the Yavapai people didn’t want to fight with the invaders. They told of the massacre of a whole band of Yavapai in a cave above the Salt River, now known as Skeleton Cave after the remains left there. And the slaughter of people at Grapevine Spring that gave Skull Valley its name. They told of the removal of the people from their homelands, their confinement at San Carlos for 25 years, and their subsequent return.

Harrison and Williams made a point to telling Khera that the even though the Whites classified the Yavapai as Apache, they were not. They are a different tribe with a completely distinct language.

In 1976, through Harrison and Williams, Khera met Jim White, a Yavapai medicine man and healer who invited her to attend rituals and healing ceremonies. White shared with her the beliefs and religious practices of the Yavapai. He also told her that when a military post was set up at Fort McDowell in 1865, the Yavapai lost an important sacred site and later, under confinement and control of the military, they lost their much of their religious freedom.

[Ann]

An important work certainly, but perhaps most useful for research. I found reading it to be a somewhat disjointed experience as the men reminisced about the past, going back and forth in time, and sometimes repeating stories.

[Colin]

A fascinating book that I found at my local library concerning the Yavapai tribe, whose territory in Arizona was once quite extensive.