The Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute: An American Tragedy

In 1882 President Chester A. Arthur signed an executive order that created a joint-occupation reservation for both Hopis and western Navajos in present-day Arizona. This policy was the start of a century-long land dispute between the two tribes. The Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute recounts the origins and history of the legal battle between the two peoples for control of the 1882 reservation, focusing on the federal court case, Healing v. Jones, in which the author served as a consultant for the Navajo Nation. Although the federal government wanted to relocate impoverished Navajos from the disputed land, Brugge firmly believed that a fair court hearing would reinforce the Navajo claim. His account of Healing vs. Jones – events leading to the case, the court case itself, and the aftermath of the judge’s decision – tries to balance the extreme positions staked out by advocates for the Hopis and the Navajos. Brugge argues that, to this day, the Navajos suffer stereotyping and prejudice, both of which were decisive in the tragic outcome of the legal battle. Lawyers for the Hopis, he contends, exploited ethnic hatred to the benefit of their client tribe and to the detriment of the Navajos.