The languages and oral traditions of Native American peoples have carried the thoughts and beliefs of their ancestors forward to their descendants in contemporary America. Passed from generation to generation through storytelling, oral traditions represent living libraries containing thousands of years of knowledge and history about the world and how to be in it.
From their first intervention, the United States government and Christian missionaries worked together to create a system of tribal education. This new system was designed to eradicate by force the use of native languages and to replace tribal stories with those drawn from Christianity in an effort to remake Native American people in the Euroamerican image.
The cultural extirpation these policies inflicted has had a devastating effect on many Native Americans. However, there has always been resistance. Though numerous languages are no longer spoken, many do still remain in use, and others are experiencing a revival as more and more young people are moving to reclaim them. Countless oral traditions still flourish and continue to evolve as new Native American storytellers add their voices to those of their ancestors, making the transition from the spoken word to the printed page.