Lilakai Julian Neil
Encyclopedia
Lilakai Julian Neil, in 1946, was the first woman elected to the Navajo Tribal Council. After a serious automobile accident, she was forced to withdraw from public service.
In September of 1947, Lily wrote a letter to Mr. Beatty, the General Director of Indian Education for the Education Division of the Department of the Interior.. In her letter she was critical of the double bind placed upon the Navajo residents in the chapter that she represented (Delegate to the Navajo Nation Tribal Council, district 19). On the one hand the government encouraged the Navajos to get education so that they could get better employment and become self-sufficient. On the other hand, the government neglected agreements to supply adequate education and schools placed roadblocks to Navajos getting the necessary education.
She points out that in the period after World War “when the (US) government is making all these big loans to foreign countries… …Who tried to ruin us…, it seems as if they would try to do something for their poor little neglected children or wards at home who they made treaties with but most of them were never kept…”..
This portion of the letter was cited by other authors to emphasize the mood of the Native Americans about post war race relations and proposals to improve economic status of the Navajo Nation by dividing into four parts corresponding to the separate boundaries in the four states of the Four Corners.
Lily also testified in hearings about the immunity of Indian territories from state jurisdiction
and the tribal self-determination policy of the twentieth century
Lily is also associated with the founding of La Vida Mission, a Seventh Day Adventist mission center for the Navajo Nation
in Farmington, New Mexico
. A church at the mission, “Lily Neil Memorial Chapel”, is named in her honor.
In September of 1947, Lily wrote a letter to Mr. Beatty, the General Director of Indian Education for the Education Division of the Department of the Interior.. In her letter she was critical of the double bind placed upon the Navajo residents in the chapter that she represented (Delegate to the Navajo Nation Tribal Council, district 19). On the one hand the government encouraged the Navajos to get education so that they could get better employment and become self-sufficient. On the other hand, the government neglected agreements to supply adequate education and schools placed roadblocks to Navajos getting the necessary education.
She points out that in the period after World War “when the (US) government is making all these big loans to foreign countries… …Who tried to ruin us…, it seems as if they would try to do something for their poor little neglected children or wards at home who they made treaties with but most of them were never kept…”..
This portion of the letter was cited by other authors to emphasize the mood of the Native Americans about post war race relations and proposals to improve economic status of the Navajo Nation by dividing into four parts corresponding to the separate boundaries in the four states of the Four Corners.
Lily also testified in hearings about the immunity of Indian territories from state jurisdiction
and the tribal self-determination policy of the twentieth century
Lily is also associated with the founding of La Vida Mission, a Seventh Day Adventist mission center for the Navajo Nation
Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous Native American-governed territory covering , occupying all of northeastern Arizona, the southeastern portion of Utah, and northwestern New Mexico...
in Farmington, New Mexico
Farmington, New Mexico
Farmington is a city in San Juan County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 U.S. Census the city had a total population of 45,877 people. Farmington makes up one of the four Metropolitan Statistical Areas in New Mexico. The U.S...
. A church at the mission, “Lily Neil Memorial Chapel”, is named in her honor.