The Navajo Boy facts for kids
The Navajo Boy was a silent film made in the 1950s. It showed the Cly family, who lived on the Navajo Nation in Monument Valley, Utah. The film's director, Robert J. Kennedy, would talk live during each showing. He didn't give much written information about the people or their lives. (The original film title was spelled The Navaho Boy.)
This early film featured two people named Happy and Willie Cly. Happy Cly is known as one of the most photographed Native American people ever. Their nephew, Jimmy Cly, was the "Navajo Boy" the film was named after.
Around the year 2000, the director's son, Bill Kennedy, decided to make a new film. Bill was also a film producer. He wanted to visit the Cly family again for a documentary about their lives. This time, he wanted the Cly family and other Navajo people to be involved. He wanted them to share their own stories.
The Navajo people felt that the first film had not truly shown their voices. They wanted to tell their own story in the new documentary, called The Return of Navajo Boy (2000). They especially wanted to talk about health problems. Many families had become sick or lost loved ones because of uranium mining. This mining happened on their land for many years.
