Blue Horse

A story told about Navajo children during a traumatic period in history, when their people were captured, marched hundreds of miles, and were imprisoned in a camp for four years. Their strong foundation is what kept them going and helped some of them survive. The story concentrates on a clan whose youngest being a three-month-old baby and the oldest a sixteen-year-old. The children endured the harshness of the elements and the US government. The children created a bond that would last forever with an elderly Navajo woman, who became their anchor when they could not find their loving parents. While the children were held captive, they carried on the legacies of their clans. Some reunited with their parents and returned to their homeland. With promises of better lives, the Navajo people were released to a land reserved within the four sacred mountains. They were forced to lead a different lifestyle, less flourishing than before, but they kept their families together and continued their traditional ways of life. This included the introduction of a formal education. Navajo leaders figured that acquiring an education would place them at an equal advantage of the dominant society. The children, however, had a different experience. In the end, most of them found balance in their lives back on their homeland.