Arapaho Tribe in Wyoming
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In the state of Wyoming, the only Indian reservation is located at Wind River. The Arapaho tribe lives in the territory with 8,791 members. Out of this number, only 200 speak the Arapaho language, but none of the fluent speakers is younger than 55 (Frosch).
Alvena Oldman, a 69-year old member of the Arapaho tribe told The New York Times that they were banned from using their own native languages at school, they were punished if the teachers heard them say a word in Arapaho; therefore, they had grown up to being afraid to speak their first language. Now, the leaders of the tribe are afraid their language will not survive the following years (Frosch).
They recently established a new school where children are taught in Arapaho so that the new generation could learn the language and pass it on to the following ones (Frosch). Their goal, obviously, is to prevent the language from becoming lost. The so called wake-up call for the tribe was the speech of the 96-year old, Helen Cedar Tree at the Council of Elders in 2003, “Look at all of you guys talking English, and you know your own language. It's like the white man has conquered us” (Frosch).
Since the establishment of the school, many in possession of Native American, especially of Northern Arapaho, heritage, have taken their kids to the school to learn the native language of their parents and grandparents (Frosch).