The Native American Route 66
By Donna McCrohan Rosenthal, East Sierra Branch
If you hear Santa Monica, Pasadena, Kingman, Seligman, Flagstaff, Winslow, Holbrook, Albuquerque, Chicago, you would probably connect the dots and declare, “Route 66, the Mother Road.” But if instead you saw Santa Monica, San Manuel, Hualapai, Hopi, Navajo Nation, Acoma, Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes, Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, Osage, Cherokee, Chicago, you would recognize the names but most likely not that they populate the same iconic highway.
Route 66, officially commissioned from 1926 to 1985 when the Interstates took over, lays claim to all the lore popularly associated with it. It evokes much more when we consider that it conducted travelers through the lands of more than 25 tribal nations. In fact, more than half of Route 66 lies in Indian Country to the tune of over 1300 miles.
For most of the years that motorists designed vacations around Route 66 destinations, they snapped pictures and bought souvenirs that perpetuated false stereotypes, immersing themselves in images created by movies and the hotel industry. But thanks to a joint project by AIANTA in collaboration with the National Park Service Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program and author Lisa Hicks Snell, the guidebook “American Indians & Route 66” tells another story.
Filled with accommodation and attraction listings, historical vignettes, commentary, maps, and photos focusing on the real Native American culture, it invites visitors to explore the Pueblo of Sandia’s Bien Mur Indian Market – the Southwest’s largest retail arts and crafts store, offering authentic handmade American Indian goods –
near Santa Fe, NM; “the city in the sky” Acoma Pueblo, the oldest continuously inhabited community in the United States, dating back to at least 1150, and widely celebrated for its pottery; Ft. Wingate, where World War II’s Code Talkers trained, near Gallup, NM; the Hubbell Trading Post, a lifeline for supplies to the Navajo in the 19th century and today providing groceries, exhibits, and rug weaving demonstrations, in eastern Arizona; Explore Navajo Interactive Museum in Tuba City, the red stone Window Rock arch recognized as the capital of the Navajo Nation, the Navajo Nation Fair right after the Labor Day weekend, ancestral Hopi villages and the Hopi Arts Trail, and the Hualapai’s Skywalk and Grand Canyon West, all in Arizona; the Southern California Indian Center in Fountain Valley, California; and ruins, feast days, powwows, (and casinos) across the entire Southwest expanse.
If you live in the Southwest, you’ve doubtless already enjoyed many Route 66 adventures. Next time, try experiencing the Mother Road through the eyes of the folks who got here first.
To order “American Indians & Route 66,” contact Sherrie Bowman at sbowman@aianta.org for ordering information. You can also check out www.AmericanIndiansAndRoute66.com to learn more about the tribes.