Anselmo Valencia Tori (April 21, 1921 – May 2, 1998) was the former Chairman of the Pascua Yaqui Association, former Vice-Chairman of the Pascua Yaqui Tribal Council and Elder of the tribe. Raised in southern Arizona and Rio Yaqui, Mexico, Anselmo adopted his second surname as a young man. ”Tori” is the family’s clan name. His wife was Kathy Ann () Nordin. Their marriage took place on April 26, 1992, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Early life

Anselmo was born in

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

on April 21. 1921. His father was Francisco A. Valencia (b. 1885), and his mother was Placida Laborin (b. 1886). In 1930 the family lived in

Bacadéhuachi Bacadéhuachi () is a village in Bacadéhuachi Municipality in the northeast of the Mexican state of Sonora. It is 269 kilometers northeast of the state capital, Hermosillo. Origin of the name and history The name is derived from the Opata l ...

, Sonora, a small village along the

Bavispe River The Rio Bavispe or Bavispe River is a river in Mexico which flows briefly north then mainly south by southwest until it joins with the Aros River to become the Yaqui River, eventually joining the Gulf of California. History Historically, the Rio ...

, which constitutes the upper stream of the

Yaqui River The Yaqui River (Río Yaqui in Spanish) (Hiak Vatwe in the Yaqui or Yoreme language) is a river in the state of Sonora in northwestern Mexico. It was formerly known as the Rio del Norte. Being the largest river system in the state of Sonora, th ...

. Anselmos's father worked in agriculture, and the economy of Bacadéhuachiis almost entirely based on agriculture and cattle raising, both of which are poorly developed due to the shortage of water. Along with his father and mother, Anselmo had three brothers and two sisters at this time.

Accomplishments

Anselmo was inducted into the United States Army on October 22, 1942, during the early part of World War II. A veteran with only a Grammar school education, he became a teacher, tribal historian, and the political and spiritual leader of the

Yaqui The Yaqui, Hiaki, or Yoeme, are a Native American people of the southwest, who speak a Uto-Aztecan language. Their homelands include the Río Yaqui valley in Sonora, Mexico, and the area below the Gila River in Arizona, Southwestern United Stat ...

peoples. He was noted by the

Arizona House of Representatives The Arizona State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. The upper house is the Senate. The House convenes in the legislative chambers at the Arizona State C ...

br>
as the driving force behind the Yaqui tribe's efforts to obtain Federally recognized tribes, Federal recognition as well as historic tribe designation. An authority on Yaqui culture, he helped establish the non-profit ''Yoemem Tekia Foundation'' in 1989, which is dedicated to preserving and perpetuating Yaqui Indian culture.

Tribal Rights

He was a major political figure in the Yaqui tribe. In 1964 and 1965, serving as Executive Director of The Pascua Yaqui Association, he managed federal funds allocated through President Lyndon B. Johnson's newly founded ''

Office of Economic Opportunity The Office of Economic Opportunity was the agency responsible for administering most of the War on Poverty programs created as part of United States President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society legislative agenda. It was established in 1964 as an i ...

''. The funds were used for new construction projects, including a church, and for adult education programs, vocational training, and summer youth programs. He strove to gain economic development opportunities as well as social and medical services. He also supported tribal efforts in the traditional

Pueblos The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zu ...

in Rio Yaqui,

, Mexico. In addition, he worked toward achieving

self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...

tribal sovereignty Tribal sovereignty in the United States is the concept of the inherent authority of indigenous tribes to govern themselves within the borders of the United States. Originally, the U.S. federal government recognized American Indian trib ...

, and human rights for the Pascua Yaqui. He did not recognize the political boundaries between Mexico and the United States, and waged long battles to gain land and water rights for the traditional pueblos in Rio Yaqui.

Death

Anselmo died in

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

, Arizona on May 2, 1998. He was 77 years of age. He was interred at the Monte Calvario Cemetery in Tucson.

Notes

References

Arizona House of Representatives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tori, Anselmo Valencia 1921 births 1998 deaths Native American United States military personnel Native American leaders United States Army personnel of World War II 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers People from Bacadéhuachi Municipality 20th-century American male writers Mexican emigrants to the United States