Navajo student leaves his ‘footprints’ across the globe
This is one in a series of profiles showcasing some of Harvard’s stellar graduates. When Damon Clark ’17, a member of the Navajo (Diné) Nation, arrived on campus from New Mexico, he wore short hair, a cowboy hat, and hiking boots. He was here to absorb the best of Western education, to be transformed by the Harvard experience. At graduation, the “transformed” Clark plans to wear a traditional turquoise necklace and his moccasins, with his long black hair tied into the traditional bun called “tsiiyéél” in Navajo. In his culture, Clark noted, hair is considered an extension of a person’s thoughts and should not be cut. Clark will leave Harvard in May with both a greater knowledge of Navajo history and culture and a renewed pride in his indigenous identity. “I grew up learning that the U.S. government’s policy on Native Americans was, at some point, ‘Kill the Indian, Save the Man,’” said Clark,...