Apache Odyssey, a Journey from Freedom to Captivity

Apache Odyssey, a Journey from Freedom to Captivity  

                                                                                                  Instructor:Stacy Pritchett  

    The Apache Odyssey will be seen in accounts by the people who lived it between the 1870’s and the early 1900’s. We’ll find out how some of the Apaches saw their own lives in a fight for their freedom.  Western movies tell us that Apache Indians were fierce fighters. But there is more to the story. Apaches share a language with the Navajo people, but did not settle down as farmers. Their mobile lifestyle of raiding and warfare made them antagonistic to white   soldiers and settlers moving west to what would become the states of Arizona and New    Mexico.

In 1882 the US Army sent General George Crook to bring about the surrender of the western Apaches, using Apache scouts to track the family bands, like Geronimo’s people, into their hidden mountain camps.

By the late 1880’s the Chiricahua Apaches who raided along the Mexican border were taken as prisoners of war to Fort Sill Oklahoma. Families were separated, and then later rejoined their loved ones. Geronimo never saw his Arizona homeland again, but some of his relatives wrote memoirs.

From these and other sources, we’ll find out how some of the Apaches saw their own lives between 1870 and the early 1900’s. Come join us in October and November to experience the Apache Odyssey as told by the people who lived it.

 Tuesdays  1:00  -  3:00 p.m. CLASS FEE: $15.00                October 2  -  November 27 (8 Sessions) Parkville Senior Center

(No class on November 6)