Happy Indigenous Peoples Day! Join us today, and every day, in honoring the Native American tribes that occupied the lower Cache la Poudre valley in northern Colorado for thousands of years before Euroamerican settlers arrived in the area. These tribes included the Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne, Pawnee, Ute, and Arapaho tribes. At the National Heritage Area, we seek to preserve and share the many different cultures that make the Cache la Poudre River valley so unique. Part of this work involves preserving historic knowledge, oral traditions, and language and honoring the ancestral connections these groups have to the land.
The “Lifting Voices from the Shadows” project is one such opportunity to preserve and share Native American history. In particular, an opportunity for Northern Arapaho women, like Florita Soldier Wolf featured in this video, to tell about their personal experiences with voting, both past and present. The project is funded by a “Women in Parks Innovation and Impact” grant from the National Park Foundation.
“I think it was a good thing that we voted ‘cuz we were counted too in our voting. So, that’s what I know about voting.” – Florita Soldier Wolf, Northern Arapaho
The “Lifting Voices from the Shadows” project is an opportunity for Northern Arapaho women, like Fay Soldier Wolf featured in this video, to share their personal experiences with voting, both past and present.
The project is funded by a “Women in Parks Innovation and Impact” grant from the National Park Foundation (NPF). The goal of the grant “is to support projects and programs that help the NPS share a more comprehensive American narrative that includes the voices of women.” In particular, the initiative is meant to raise awareness of the 19th Amendment’s centennial this year and to “highlight stories of women who continue to shape the world.” However, Indigenous women did not gain the right to vote in 1920. It was not until the Snyder Act passed in 1924 that Indigenous Americans earned their full U.S. citizenship, though some states continued to deny Indigenous Americans their enfranchisement as late as 1962.
PHA Executive Director, Kathleen Benedict, interviewed Yufna Soldier Wolf of the Northern Arapaho Tribe in Wind River, Wyoming, to introduce the project and discuss why it is important to record the stories of Northern Arapaho women.
The Northern Arapaho lived in the Cache la Poudre River basin for centuries before the United States military forcibly removed the tribe to Wyoming in the 1870s. It is vital that Northern Colorado communities learn the stories of the people whose historic and spiritual homeland is the Cache la Poudre River. Doing so can help people properly understand the complicated history and ecology of the region. The involved organizations hope that the “Lifting Voices from the Shadows” project will strengthen partnerships, build the PHA’s education and interpretation program, and connect people to their collective Poudre River heritage.
The project is funded by a $25,000 “Women in Parks Innovation and Impact” grant from the National Park Foundation (NPF). The goal of the grant “is to support projects and programs that help the NPS share a more comprehensive American narrative that includes the voices of women.” In particular, the initiative is meant to raise awareness of the 19th Amendment’s centennial this year and to “highlight stories of women who continue to shape the world.” However, as Benedict and Soldier Wolf discuss in the video, Indigenous women did not gain the right to vote in 1920. It was not until the Snyder Act passed in 1924 that Indigenous Americans earned their full U.S. citizenship, though some states continued to deny Indigenous Americans their enfranchisement as late as 1962.
The “Lifting Voices from the Shadows” project is an opportunity for Northern Arapaho women to share their personal experiences with voting and address contemporary issues in a respectful and professional context. Soldier Wolf believes this is the first opportunity that Northern Arapaho women have had to share their stories with the public. The PHA will record 8-12 women’s oral histories in the coming months. Thanks to the grant support, the organization will also create educational videos and interpretive materials, and share relevant content about the promises and failures of the 19th Amendment.
The Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Area is treasured by a community that values it for a variety of recreational activities and the tranquility of a natural corridor, while also depending on it as a water source for municipal, industrial, and agricultural uses. A wide range of cultural perspectives form our rich Poudre River heritage. This project will help the PHA present creative and balanced interpretation representing the variety of cultures that make up our river corridor and helping citizens find a sense of place and continuity in a rapidly changing world.
“Water is sacred and we respect that. Without water there is no life.”
– Crawford White, Arapaho Elder
Water makes life possible and with all of the pressures on our freshwater resources today, we can’t possibly navigate a topic as large as this without some sense of perspective, and some help from the past.
Through an online video series, the Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Area (CALA) has been capturing and sharing knowledge from individuals who collectively hold vital knowledge about water heritage, particularly related to the Poudre River corridor.
Elders from the Northern Arapaho Tribe were generous in sharing their perspectives and stories about their descendants. These individuals reflect on life for Arapaho living in their homelands along the Poudre River in the 1800s and what has happened to their culture.
The PHA considers the Northern Arapaho Tribe a partner and friend and look forward to more opportunities to work with them in interpreting their unique history in the Fort Collins area of Northern Colorado.
