Jan 19th: Flagstaff’s Navajo and Hopi World War II Story
John Westerlund, Flagstaff Historian
When eight thousand workers were needed immediately for the Army’s massive construction project ten miles west of Flagstaff in the spring of 1942, almost four thousand Navajo and Hopi workers and their family members signed on. They left the reservations for good-paying jobs. Conditions were deplorable for the first Indians workers. Bootleggers lurked in the shadows, selling their liquor. The first commander faced a myriad of organizational and employee problems and quickly decided to invite the Navajo and Hopi laborers and their families to build an “Indian Village” of their own on the military base. Tribal representatives accepted the invitation and soon, for the first time in American history, a community of about 3,750 Native Americans voluntarily settled onto a military installation. Working Indian women were part of the enormous cultural experiment brought about by good army jobs.

This presentation illustrates how the regular wages heightened expectations for both Navajos and Hopis and created an image of post war opportunities. It shows how the Indian Village experience set the mold for future Navajo tribal leadership and why, for many Indian families, Bellemont was just a stopping point on their migration from the reservations into nearby Flagstaff. The wartime experience exposed thousands to a life beyond the reservation and today the word “Bellemont” remains a part of Navajo and Hopi family history.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 14th, 2008 at 9:09 am by Leslie Connell and is filed under Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.