The Gila River Indian Community was established by Congress in 1859 during the Westward Expansion shortly after the Gadsden Purchase took place in the United States where present-day Arizona and New Mexico are located. This made it the very first Indian reservation in Arizona that now resides in the Gila River Valley. The people who live on the reservation primarily speak Mojave. The community remains peaceful and hopeful for the Gila River to run through their community again because the dam built by other farmers back in the 1870s-1880s prevented the water from flowing freely like it once did. The Native Americans that lived here where they once could farm were going through starvation periods along with famine. Conditions have only gotten a bit better since this happened more than a century ago. They continue fighting for an irrigation system that will solve this problem for them along with the generations that come after them. The government has also helped with improving the community by helping build health centers, schools, and new houses, showing that the community has a good future ahead.
The Mojave-American author of "When My Brother Was an Aztec" Natalie Diaz is currently enrolled in the Gila River Indian Community. Her goal in this small group composed of adults and children is to keep the Mojave language their ancestors spoke many years alive. She is a key figure in her community who is trying to preserve the language by continuing to discuss the language for future generations to learn so it will never be forgotten again.
Source Used: "History." Gila River Indian Community. https://www.gilariver.org/index.php/about/history