On April 5, the University of St. Katherine in San Marcos initiated their Forum Lecture Series with a presentation titled “Preserving California Indigenous Languages through Legal Recognition.” It reflects the growing academic interest in Indigenous Languages Revitalization programs growing throughout the United States. The presented to the complete college student body and local community members at the San Marcos Civic Center.
The presentation heralded the current “Juneteenth Moment” for indigenous peoples worldwide. It reviewed the international human rights theory of genocide and the 2007 United Nations International Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It included the Hawaiian language revitalization movement (which has increased the number of speakers of Hawaiian from a few hundred 40 years ago to over 30,000 speakers today), Maui’s vote last November to make their government bilingual, and recent developments that took place locally and in other American states.
Timeline of Significant Events
1819 - Civilization Fund Act funds 408 Indian Residential Schools (until 1969) across 37 states, including 21 in Alaska and seven in Hawaiʻi with the greatest concentration in Oklahoma, Arizona, and New Mexico
1830 - Indian Removal Act and Trail of Tears until 1850, indigenous peoples forced onto reservations
1840 - Kamehameha III begins first public education program west of the Mississippi River in the Hawaiian language
1885 - Kamehameha Boarding School uses English-only curriculum (like other Native American boarding schools) to divide English and indigenous language speaking students
1893 - Illegal overthrow of Hawaiian government by white supremacists ends bilingual governance
1896 - Hawaiian language banned as medium of instruction in public education
1898 - English becomes official language of unilaterally annexed Hawaiian Islands, records of torture, expulsions and dismissals of Hawaiian-speaking students and teachers ensue
1919 - Hawaiian language classes restored to public schools
1924 - Native Americans granted US citizenship, Kamehameha Schools curricula includes optional Hawaiian language classes
1944 - Raphael Lemkin defines genocide, monolingual war economy expedites the end of almost every Hawaiian newspaper, Hawaiian language demoted to “foreign language” status
1945 - UN Charter ratified in San Francisco
1948 - UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
1958 - Indian “Adoption” Foster Program initiated until 1970s
1966 - UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantees minority linguistic rights
1968 - Canada Official Languages Act guarantees equal status for French language, first minority linguistic rights legislation in North America
1972 - “White Peace” (“Paix Blanche”) by Robert Jaulin defines Ethnocide
1974 - Native American Programs Act begins federal funding for indigenous language preservation
1976 - University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa offers bachelor’s degree in Hawaiian Language
1978 - Hawaiian Language made Official Language with English in Hawaiʻi Constitution, which also specifies “State shall promote study of Hawaiian language,” BA in Hawaiian at UH Hilo taught in Hawaiian
1980 - Hawaiʻi Dept of Education pays elders to teach Hawaiian culture and language part-time
1984 - Pūnana Leo Hawaiian Medium Preschool began (illegally) in Kekaha, Kauaʻi park followed by 11 other sites statewide over the next 10 years, Inuktut made official language of Northeastern Territories
1986 - Ban on teaching in Hawaiian language lifted, Hawaiian Language Immersion Programs begin in public schools
1987 - US adopts Native American Languages Act, New Zealand adopts Māori Language Act
1989 - UN Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes right of children to use their minority language
1990 - Native American Languages Act begins to finance preservation of 200 American languages through language immersion schools
1992 - UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National, Ethnic, Religious, & Linguistic Minorities
1994 - Native Hawaiian Education Act funds immersion schools
1996 - UN Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights as fundamental human rights
2003 - Mexico: General Law of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights recognizes as “equally valid” 68 indigenous languages, Ireland: Adoption of Official Language Act
2005 - US House Concurrent Res 195 affirms UN Decl on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples prior to UN adoption
2006 - US Language Access Act 290 establishes numerical standards (lesser of 1,000 or 5% of population) to trigger provision of alternative language services, establishes planning, coordinator
2007 - UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) adopted to establish minimum standards for Indigenous Peoples’ survival
2008 - First Hawaiʻi resolution written bilingually to “enhance” State Constitution
2009 - Accredited online Hawaiian Language instruction begins
2014 - Alaska: 20 Indigenous Languages made Official with English, UN Outcome Document from World Conference of Indigenous Peoples to schedule implementation of UNDRIP
2015 - UN Sustainable Development Goals require indigenous language participation in local definitions of sustainability by 2030
2016 - UN General Assembly proclaims 2019 Intʻl Year of Indigenous Languages, American Evangelicals repudiate Doctrine of Discovery
2018 - Canada Indigenous Languages Act
2019 - UN International Year of Indigenous Languages; South Dakota makes three Sioux dialects official, Hawaiʻi Supreme Court: access to Hawaiian Medium Education guaranteed by State Constitution
2022 - UN International Decade of Indigenous Languages (IDIL) begins campaign to legalize indigenous languages by 2032, NW Territories (Canada) Official Languages Act recognizes 9 indigenous languages along with English & French; Maui County approves bilingual government to begin July 2024, Northern Ireland: Identity and Language Act
2023 - Vatican repudiates Doctrine of Discovery
