Evangeline Parsons Yazzie

Evangeline Parsons Yazzie (c. 1952 – May 22, 2022) was a Navajo educator and author of the first textbook adopted by the U.S. public education system to teach the Navajo language.

Life

Yazzie received a Master of Arts degree in Bilingual Multicultural Education and a Doctorate in Education from Northern Arizona University (NAU) where she taught Navajo language courses for 24 years until 2014. In 2007, Yazzie co-authored a textbook for teaching the Navajo language titled Diné Bizaad Bínáhooʼaah: Rediscovering the Navajo Language along with Margaret Speas, a professor of linguistics at the University of Massachusetts.[1][2] In 2008, New Mexico adopted the textbook making itself the first U.S. state to officially use any text for teaching the Navajo language in its public school system.[3]

Following her retirement in 2014, Yazzie authored several novels about a fictional family's experience of the Long Walk of the Navajo.[4][5] Yazzie died on May 22, 2022, at age 69.[6]

References
  1. "Navajo professor writes textbook to help save her Native language". NAU News. August 27, 2008. Archived from the original on December 2, 2017. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  2. Parsons-Yazzie, Evangeline; Speas, Margaret (2007). Diné Bizaad Bínáhooʼaah: Rediscovering the Navajo Language. Flagstaff, Arizona: Salina Bookshelf. OCLC 156845819.
  3. "New Mexico first state to adopt Navajo textbook". NBC News. July 31, 2008. Archived from the original on February 26, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2003.
  4. Yerian, Loretta (April 1, 2014). "Local author takes new look at the Navajo Long Walk". Navajo-Hopi Observer. Archived from the original on January 25, 2023. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  5. Allen, Krista (December 19, 2018). "Beloved Navajo author receives warm welcome at Page book signing". Lake Powell Chronicle. Archived from the original on February 5, 2019. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  6. "Diné author and scholar Dr. Evangeline Parsons Yazzie passes away at 69". Navajo-Hopi Observer. May 31, 2022. Archived from the original on May 31, 2022. Retrieved January 25, 2023.


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