{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}
'''Evangeline Parsons Yazzie''' ({{circa}} 1952 – May 22, 2022) was a [[Navajo]] educator and author of the first textbook adopted by the [[State_school#United_States|U.S. public education system]] to teach the [[Navajo language]].

== Life ==
Yazzie received a Master of Arts degree in Bilingual Multicultural Education and a Doctorate in Education from [[Northern Arizona University]] (NAU) where she taught [[Navajo language]] courses for 24 years until 2014. In 2007, Yazzie co-authored a textbook for teaching the Navajo language titled ''Diné Bizaad Bínáhoo’aah: Rediscovering the Navajo Language'' along with [[Peggy Speas|Margaret Speas]], a professor of linguistics at the [[University of Massachusetts]].<ref name="nau_20080827_navajotextbook"/><ref name="yazzie_2007_dinebizaad"/> In 2008, [[New Mexico]] adopted the textbook making itself the first U.S. state to officially use any text for teaching the Navajo language in its public school system.<ref name="nbc_20080731_nmadopt"/>

Following her retirement in 2014, Yazzie authored several novels about a fictional family's experience of the [[Long Walk of the Navajo]].<ref name="nho_20140401_novels"/><ref name="lpc_20181219_booksigning"/> Yazzie died on May 22, 2022 at age 69.<ref name="nho_20220531_obit"/>

==References==
{{reflist|refs=

<ref name="lpc_20181219_booksigning">{{cite news
 |last         = Allen
 |first        = Krista
 |title        = Beloved Navajo author receives warm welcome at Page book signing
 |date         = Dec 19, 2018
 |work         = [[Lake Powell Chronicle]]
 |url          = https://lakepowellchronicle.com/article/beloved-navajo-author-receives-warm-welcome-at-page-book-signing
 |access-date  = Jan 25, 2023
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20190205045416/https://lakepowellchronicle.com/article/beloved-navajo-author-receives-warm-welcome-at-page-book-signing
 |archive-date = Feb 5, 2019
 |url-status   = live
}}</ref>

<ref name="nau_20080827_navajotextbook">{{cite web
 |title        = Navajo professor writes textbook to help save her Native language
 |date         = Aug 27, 2008
 |work         = NAU News
 |url          = http://news.nau.edu/navajo-professor-writes-textbook-to-help-save-her-native-language
 |access-date  = Jan 25, 2023
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20171202064825/http://news.nau.edu/navajo-professor-writes-textbook-to-help-save-her-native-language
 |archive-date = Dec 2, 2017
 |url-status   = live
}}</ref>

<ref name="nbc_20080731_nmadopt">{{cite news
 |title        = New Mexico first state to adopt Navajo textbook
 |date         = Jul 31, 2008
 |website      = [[NBC News]]
 |url          = https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna25943277
 |access-date  = Jan 25, 2003
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20210226135831/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna25943277
 |archive-date = Feb 26, 2021
 |url-status   = live
}}</ref>

<ref name="nho_20140401_novels">{{cite news
 |last         = Yerian
 |first        = Loretta
 |title        = Local author takes new look at the Navajo Long Walk
 |date         = Apr 1, 2014
 |work         = [[Navajo-Hopi Observer]]
 |url          = https://www.nhonews.com/news/2014/apr/01/local-author-takes-new-look-at-the-navajo-long-wa/
 |access-date  = Jan 25, 2023
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20230125092230/https://www.nhonews.com/news/2014/apr/01/local-author-takes-new-look-at-the-navajo-long-wa/
 |archive-date = Jan 25, 2023
 |url-status   = live
}}</ref>

<ref name="nho_20220531_obit">{{cite news
 |title        = Diné author and scholar Dr. Evangeline Parsons Yazzie passes away at 69
 |date         = May 31, 2022
 |work         = [[Navajo-Hopi Observer]]
 |url          = https://www.nhonews.com/news/2022/may/31/dine-author-and-scholar-dr-evangeline-parsons-yazz/
 |access-date  = Jan 25, 2023
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20220531165224/https://www.nhonews.com/news/2022/may/31/dine-author-and-scholar-dr-evangeline-parsons-yazz/
 |archive-date = May 31, 2022
 |url-status   = live
}}</ref>

<ref name="yazzie_2007_dinebizaad">{{cite book
 |last1        = Parsons-Yazzie
 |first1       = Evangeline
 |last2        = Speas
 |first2       = Margaret
 |title        = Diné Bizaad Bínáhoo’aah: Rediscovering the Navajo Language
 |year         = 2007
 |publisher    = [[Salina Bookshelf]]
 |location     = [[Flagstaff, Arizona]]
 |oclc         = 156845819
}}</ref>

}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yazzie. Evangeline Parsons}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Native American women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Native American women]]
[[Category:Native American women academics]]
[[Category:21st-century Native Americans]]
[[Category:Navajo people]]
[[Category:Northern Arizona University alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century American educators]]
[[Category:20th-century American women educators]]
[[Category:21st-century American educators]]
[[Category:21st-century American women educators]]
[[Category:21st-century American novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American textbook writers]]
[[Category:Women textbook writers]]
[[Category:Native American academics]]
[[Category:Northern Arizona University faculty]]
[[Category:1950s births]]
[[Category:2022 deaths]]
{{NorthAm-native-bio-stub}}