Author David Martínez Reads at Changing Hands in Tempe

Date: Thursday, September 28, 2023

Time: 6:30 p.m., AZT

Where: Changing Hands Bookstore, 6428 S McClintock Dr., Tempe, Arizona

David Martínez reads from and discusses his book, My Heart is Bound Up with Them, How Carlos Montezuma Became the Voice of a Generation. Martínez is professor of American Indian studies at Arizona State University (ASU) and is enrolled in the Gila River Indian Community. ASU professor Irasema Coronado will introduce the author; Martínez will present his work followed by an opportunity for questions and answers from the audience. The event is free and open to the public event.

About the book:

Carlos Montezuma is well known as an influential Indigenous figure of the turn of the twentieth century. While some believe he was largely interested only in enabling Indians to assimilate into mainstream white society, Montezuma’s image as a staunch assimilationist changes dramatically when viewed through the lens of his Yavapai relatives at Fort McDowell in Arizona.

Through his diligent research and transcription of the letters archived in the Carlos Montezuma Collection at Arizona State University Libraries, David Martínez offers a critical new perspective on Montezuma’s biography and legacy. During an attempt to force the Fort McDowell Yavapai community off of their traditional homelands north of Phoenix, the Yavapai community members and leaders wrote to Montezuma pleading for help. It was these letters and personal correspondence from his Yavapai cousins George and Charles Dickens, as well as Mike Burns that sparked Montezuma’s desperate but principled desire to liberate his Yavapai family and community—and all Indigenous people—from the clutches of an oppressive Indian Bureau.