Indigenous history was often forgotten on Route 66. How some tribes are reclaiming it

This year marks the 100th anniversary of The Mother Road. Established in 1926, the historic Route 66 spanned more than 2,400 miles from Chicago to Santa Monica.

It was an important migration path for farmworkers during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s and served as a precursor to the nation’s highway system as Americans became more mobile than ever before. And, of course, its signage has become iconic around the world.

But one part of its history that’s not often talked about is its Indigenous history. More than half of those 2,400 miles pass through Indian Country. And much of it follows ancient Native American hunting trails and trade routes. But if you see references to its Native American history, they’re probably buried in kitsch.

Mona Gable wrote about the appropriation of Native American culture for AFAR magazine. She’s a member of the Chickasaw Tribe in Oklahoma, and The Show spoke with her more about what this looks like.

Route 66: Arizona stories from the Mother Road

One-hundred years ago, Route 66, the first cross-country road, was built in America. The idea was to have a way to move people and goods a long way. Revisit these Arizona stories in honor of 100 years of the Mother Road.

Full conversation

MONA GABLE: It looks like concrete teepees, Indian wooden heads of statues. And unfortunately, a lot of times, these artifacts, they misrepresent the particular tribe that they're supposed to be representing.

So, for example, there is no such thing as a concrete teepee, and yet there is an entrepreneur who built a series of motels along Route 66 that were concrete teepees.

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah, yeah. A famous kind of Wigwam village motel, right?

GABLE: Yeah, exactly.

GILGER: And that misrepresents even what the Indigenous history looks like in this part of the country.

GABLE: Right, right. And that's a lot of the problem along Route 66 is, you know, there are 574 registered federal tribes in the United States. And, of course, Route 66 encompasses dozens and dozens of those tribes.

And yet, when Route 66 was built, the roadway was actually built, all that history was really ignored along the route in favor of misappropriating the history or illustrating stereotypes from Hollywood movies.

And that was sort of the marketing campaign was to draw tourists to these sort of romantic images of American Indians ...

GILGER: ... and the Wild west kind of idea.

GABLE: Yeah, yeah.

GILGER: And the history goes back even further than Route 66, right. Like, this is built upon a corridor that existed already of Indigenous trade routes.

GABLE: Right, exactly. And it touches on many of those trade routes. It directly goes through some of them. But it also is very close to many of the ancestral trade routes you have access to, to all of these incredible cultural resources and natural resources that have been, been in the area for hundreds and hundreds of years, and in some cases, thousands of years.

GILGER: Yeah, yeah. So there's an effort now to reclaim this history from Indigenous folks along this. The American Indigenous Tourism association is trying to kind of talk about this, especially in light of the centennial. What do Indigenous folks have to say right now about this and its impact?

GABLE: They're very forthright about it. The people that I've interviewed are very honest about the impact that it's had on their communities and on also their cultural identities and how they've been represented, misrepresented to people coming along the highway.

And so that is really why there's this very concerted effort among many, many tribes and, of course, the Indigenous Tourism Association to correct that and to provide authentic experiences to travelers going along Route 66.

GILGER: Right. So what does that look like? I mean, you kind of outlined some places people might consider stopping that have actual ties to Indigenous communities, right?

GABLE: Yeah, exactly, exactly. And many of those, I mean, are things that you have heard about, too, are like, there are powwows along the route that you, you know, there are restaurants, there are lots of nature activities like hikes, especially in, in places in New Mexico and Arizona where you have indigenous tribal people who have started businesses.

And there's one called Navajo Tours USA, which I was very, I'm very impressed with what they've been doing. And it's a small operation, and they do tours in some of the most beautiful desert wilderness areas in Arizona. Yeah, so that's not something you would normally encounter if you were just driving along Route 66, something you would certainly have to look for.

But there are also lots of museums. Santa Fe has an area called Museum Hill, which has three museums on top, which all offer some insights into different American tribes. You know, they're really, the point is, these organizations and individuals who are running businesses really want to present to travelers an honest depiction, an authentic depiction, of whatever their tribe's life was like in that area.

And we have a new one, actually, that I wrote about in my article. It's the Chumash Tribe there outside of Los Angeles, up near Santa Barbara, and they have a brand new museum that they took many, many years to build. And it's really a replica. A lot of it is a replica of what the Chumash lifestyle and their villages were really like. It's exciting to see this happening because it's like taking back the real history of Route 66.

Gabriel Pietrorazio/KJZZ

GILGER: That's really interesting. Can you tell us about the Hubbell Trading Post? I've never been here, and it sounds so interesting. It's like the oldest operating trading post on the Navajo Nation, you say?

GABLE: Yeah, the story is so odd. Because it was founded by a white guy who had been trading with Native Americans in different areas. And he had a really good relationship with the tribes that he was trading with. Mostly it was blankets, woven blankets, things like that. And it was owned by his family, I think, for three generations.

And now I think the National Park Service is in charge of it, but they pretty much have kept it just the way it is, so that there are all these handicrafts and goods that they sell that are all made by Native Americans. And so it's really a wonderful slice of history, and it's really great that it still exists.

GILGER: Yeah. So let me ask you lastly, Mona, just about, you know, as you're talking to folks and visiting these places and writing about this, especially on the centennial of Route 66, which is so celebrated right now all along the route.

What do you think the impact of this could be of this kind of rethinking of the history of Route 66 in not just a, you know, this was bad and we shouldn't appropriate these things kind of way, but in a positive way in which we're celebrating that real history?

GABLE: I think that's one thing that the Indigenous Tourism Association, they really hope that people see this as an opportunity to incorporate Native American culture into their travels and that it will reveal, you know, so much more about Native American tribes than people imagined.