Jan Crull Jr. is a Native American rights advocate, attorney, and filmmaker.
Involvement with Native American matters
From 1979 to the beginning of 1981, Jan Crull Jr. was a volunteer on the
Ramah Navajo Indian Reservation
The Ramah Navajo Indian Reservation ( nv, Tł'ohchiní}) is a non-contiguous section of the Navajo Nation lying in parts of west-central Cibola County, New Mexico, Cibola and southern McKinley County, New Mexico, McKinley counties in New Mexico, Un ...
in
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
where he made many contributions to the well-being of the Ramah Navajos. Although a volunteer, a title - '' Assistant to the President and the Chapter ''(the reservation's local government) - was conferred upon him by a community vote already in mid August 1979.
His securing Federal legislation ''Public Law 96-333 '' was a major accomplishment for it provided the Ramah Navajos with a legal right to lands that they had been living on for generations and which made the people living on the lands in question eligible for the services and benefits provided by Federal government agencies and departments. The legislation had had a turbulent nineteen-year history because of disputes regarding it within the New Mexican Congressional delegation, the
Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs of the
U.S. House of Representatives, and local Navajo and
Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native American reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah; at roughly , the ...
politics and between all of them because of its ties to railroad right-of-ways to the Starlake Coal Fields. While others, including U.S. senators and lawyers from leading Washington, D.C.firms, had been unsuccessful in seeking Congressional action on this matter, Crull had succeeded. In obtaining it, he also taught the Ramah Navajo how to succeed in obtaining all mineral rights underlying the lands he had secured for them with ''Public Law 97-434 ''.
Crull's work for the Ramah Navajos led to his nomination for the ''Rockefeller Public Service Award '' in 1981. His nomination was endorsed by U.S. Senators and U.S. Congressman who had worked with him to secure passage through both houses of the
U.S. Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...
, specifically
Dennis DeConcini,
Pete Domenici
Pietro Vichi "Pete" Domenici (May 7, 1932 – September 13, 2017) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States Senator from New Mexico from 1973 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, he served six terms in the S ...
,
Manuel Lujan Jr.
Manuel Archibald Lujan Jr. (May 12, 1928 – April 25, 2019) was an American politician from New Mexico who served in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican from 1969 to 1989 and as the United States Secretary of the Interior from 1 ...
,
John Melcher
John David Melcher (September 6, 1924 – April 12, 2018) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who represented Montana as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and as a United States Senator fro ...
, and
Paul Simon.
In the early 1980s, Jan Crull Jr. served as a professional staffer with the U. S. House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education then chaired by
Paul Simon. Crull was responsible for developing legislation reauthorizing the ''Tribal College Act''(''The Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act ''), creating special provisions for Native Americans in the ''Library Services Construction Act '', and other matters related to Indian education. Sensing the negative impact of what would subsequently be called
Reaganomics
Reaganomics (; a portmanteau of ''Reagan'' and ''economics'' attributed to Paul Harvey), or Reaganism, refers to the neoliberal economic policies promoted by U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s. These policies are commonly associat ...
on Indian education and especially the Tribal Colleges, he called for a meeting of all tribal college presidents and other Indian leaders on the afternoon of July 21, 1981 at the now defunct American Indian Bank in Washington, D.C. There he proposed the creation of an
American Indian College Fund
The American Indian College Fund is a nonprofit organization that helps Native American students, providing them with support through scholarships and funding toward higher education. The fund provides an average of 6,000 annual scholarships for ...
akin to the
United Negro College Fund
UNCF, the United Negro College Fund, also known as the United Fund, is an American philanthropic organization that funds scholarships for black students and general scholarship funds for 37 private historically black colleges and universities ...
and having the U.S. government provide matching funds to a level determined by the
U.S. Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...
. This "matching idea" was based on the reworking of the old ''Allen Bill'' language and incorporating it in the reauthorization legislation for the tribal colleges.
Attorney, investment banker and other career activities
In addition to his involvement with Amerindians, Crull's career path has taken him to teaching at all levels; administering at a top-ranked American public high school; from defending juveniles accused of felonies while in law school to negotiating international business deals with their attending multi layered contracts; and from achieving overviews of corporate matters globally to marketeering in an assortment of locations worldwide. His first light and learning in the investment field came when he interned at
Dillon Read
Dillon, Read & Co. was an investment bank based in New York City. In 1991, it was acquired by Barings Bank and, in 1997, it was acquired by Swiss Bank Corporation, which was in turn acquired by UBS in 1998.
History Carpenter & Vermilye
Dillon Rea ...
and ''GGvA '' in the early 1970s and they were enhanced as he gained expertise over the years with his stays with private investment houses/sovereign funds in Geneva, Vienna and Berlin. His clients have ranged from global manufacturers to, for example, the
government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...
. He also has served in capacities involving infrastructure development in emerging nations. Although his name has surfaced in various international periodicals and newspapers, his only in depth interview appeared in a trade publication almost two decades ago wherein he warned U.S. manufacturers to examine their trade associations' charters to see if international services were mandated; and if they were, to see to it that they were carried out.
Filmmaker
In the early 1970s, Crull attempted to develop a film about Dutch/U.S. relations regarding West New Guinea in 1962, titled ''What About My Friend's Children ''. Because two of the three key figures were already deceased and the third one stymied him, he pieced together a short film that was only an outline of the original. ''Not in Fiction Only: There and Here Also '' was shown half completed. Both projects had Crull being mentored by
Joris Ivens even though he, himself, could not devote much time to Crull's endeavors since he was busily engaged with other film work in China. ''AIDDS: American Indians' Devastating Dilemma Soon '', ''To Mute Them Once Again '', and ''Indian Buckaroos '' were short films, originally meant to be feature length which Crull released under the Vigil Film Production Company banner in the early 1990s. While he had been doing them, among other things, his goal was to develop a feature-length documentary film ''A Free People, Free To Choose''. After over one hundred hours of preliminary footage was shot or compiled, the film's subjects got involved in a lawsuit with one another (which had nothing to do with Crull) and the project fell apart although a part of it was salvaged and has been viewed.
Erik Barnouw
Erik Barnouw (June 23, 1908 – July 19, 2001) was a U.S. historian of radio and television broadcasting. At the time of his death, Barnouw was widely considered to be America's most distinguished historian of broadcasting.
Life
According to ...
and
Malcolm Mackenzie Ross served as Crull's mentors on this project. Crull also had his brush with feature films:
David Lean's ''
Ryan's Daughter
''Ryan's Daughter'' is a 1970 British epic romantic drama film directed by David Lean and starring Robert Mitchum and Sarah Miles. The film, set between August 1917 and January 1918, tells the story of a married Irish woman who has an affair ...
'';
John Trent's ''
Sunday in the Country
Sunday is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. In most Western countries, Sunday is a day of rest and a part of the weekend. It is often considered the first day of the week.
For most observant adherents of Christianity, Sunday ...
''; and
Alan Bridges
Alan Bridges (28 September 1927 – 7 December 2013) was an English film and television director.
In 1967 Bridges directed a television adaptation of Charles Dickens' '' Great Expectations'' starring Gary Bond as Pip.
He won the '' Grand P ...
' ''
Age of Innocence''.
Education and family background
Crull was born in the Netherlands to
Nederland's Patriciaat ''Nederland's Patriciaat'', informally known as ''Het Blauwe Boekje'' (the little blue book), is a book series published annually since 1910, containing the genealogies of important Dutch patrician non-noble families. It is published by the Centraal ...
families. He became a naturalized American citizen.
After receiving his diploma from
Lake Forest Academy
Lake Forest Academy (also known as LFA) is a co-educational college preparatory school for boarding and day students in grades 9 through 12. The school is located on the North Shore in Lake Forest, Illinois, United States, about 30 miles north o ...
, Crull attended Canada's
Dalhousie University is where he received his B.A. Honours; the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
awarded him the A.M. degree; and
Tulane University of Louisiana is where he obtained his J.D.
["a, b, c, d." ''Tulane Law School Alumni Directory 2000''. Plano, Texas: Publishing Concepts LLC, The Clancy Way, 2000. p. 42]
See also
*
D-Q University
*
Jack D. Forbes
Jack Douglas Forbes (January 7, 1934 – February 23, 2011) was an American historian, writer, scholar, and political activist, who specialized in Native American issues. He is best known for his role in establishing one of the first Native Ameri ...
*
Stephen Douglas Johnson
*
David Risling David Risling Jr. (April 10, 1921 in Morek, Humboldt County, California – March 13, 2005 in Davis, California) was a Native American ( Hoopa) educator and rights activist who was often referred to as "The Father of Indian Education".
Life and ...
References
External links
*
tp://ftp.ebuild.com/woc/T920811.PDF 'When in Rome' still applies in global marketing (Link to 1968 Northwestern University Syllabus Yearbook: Photograph of Jan Crull is on page 299)
'Highlighting Entanglement of Cultures via Ranking of Multilingual Wikipedia Articles (Crull is listed on page 17 of the "pdf")
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crull, Jan Jr.
American lawyers
Dutch emigrants to the United States
Tulane University alumni
University of Chicago alumni
Indiana University alumni
Dalhousie University alumni
Northwestern University alumni
Stanford University alumni
Lake Forest Academy alumni
American documentary filmmakers
Living people
People from Cook County, Illinois
Year of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people)