Joe Sando

Early life and education

Joe Sando was born in 1923 at Jemez Pueblo. He grew up speaking Towa, also known as the Jemez language, as well as New Mexican Spanish. Sando was initially educated in the San Diego Mission School at Jemez Pueblo.^[1] He later attended the Santa Fe Indian School, where he learned English.

Sando joined the United States Navy during World War II.^[2] The G.I. Bill funded his studies of Native American history, particularly the Native American history of New Mexico.^[3] After the war he attended Eastern New Mexico University and Vanderbilt University.^[2][3][1]

Professor

Sando returned to New Mexico in the 1960s, beginning a lifelong career.^[1] He was consistently working as a historian of Pueblo culture, government, and history, and taught Pueblo history at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe.^[3]

Books

Sando wrote several lauded notable non-fiction books about the Pueblo peoples, such as Pueblo Profiles: Cultural Identities Through Centuries of Change, Po'pay: Leader of the First American Revolution, Nee Hemish, a History of Jémez Pueblo, the forward to Pueblo People: Ancient Traditions, Modern Lives, The Pueblo Indians; the autobiography Pueblo Recollections: The Life of Paa Péh, and Pueblo Nations: Eight Centuries of Pueblo Indian History.^[2][4][5] His books about Pueblo culture, government, and history included how Pueblos interacted with the Spanish Empire, Mexico, and the United States, and his 2008 memoir is one of the few written by a Native American author.^[3][2]

Sando was inspired to write Pueblo Nations: Eight Centuries of Pueblo Indian History to counter a prevailing sentiment narrative in the academia of his youth that "was uncomplimentary to young Indians." Sando believed it was imperative there were written "Indian stories to be written by Indians for Indian school children."^[3] The American Historical Review reviewed Pueblo Nations as “An important and rare book. Clearly written and fairly presented, a first-hand synthesis of American Indian history and culture.” The New York Times called Pueblo Nations “The first insider’s story of the 800-year history of the 19 pueblos in New Mexico—an excellent book.”^[1] The Associated Press wrote that "scholars and historians considered him the first scholar from any of the New Mexico Pueblos to tackle that life from an insider's point of view."^[3]

While Sando was very open about spreading knowledge concerning the secular history of the Pueblo peoples, he remained reluctant to publicly address aspects of the Pueblo religion due to the Pueblo taboo of breaking the code of silence when talking about the religion to non-Pueblos.^[3] Unlike Sando, the Tewa scholar Alfonso Ortiz of Ohkay Owingeh would break this taboo.^[6]

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center

Sando was also the director of the Institute of Pueblo Study and Research, the historical archives at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.^[3] In 1992, he was part of a select group of scholars invited to speak in Spain to mark 500 years after the Columbian Exchange.^[1] In addition to his scholarly work, Sando was also "an active member and founder of a number of boards, councils and commissions on Native American issues. ^[3] According to Lela Kaskalla, president of the board of directors at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, “Mr. Sando knew people from every one of the pueblos. He would ask who you were, who your parents were, who your grandparents were and inevitably he could tie back to someone he knew from the pueblo ... An individual like Mr. Sando is so rare. You meet a handful of them in your lifetime. He was the life in the Institute for Pueblo Indian Studies. He believed in it; he wanted us to tell our own story.”^[2] A member of Cochiti Pueblo said Sando's "knowledge that he drew from his love of reading and writing our history, provided the message that we – meaning all of us from all walks of life – can understand and enjoy how in the end we’re all part of the same family... He was one of the greatest ambassadors of our people to the world.”^[2]