Historical development of the politically, socially, economically, and racially scattered and factionalized Indian communities has led to a situation in which the development of symbolic ideology of broad appeal is necessary in the emergence of a substantive ideology. Language has an increasingly important role in the mobilization of American Indians around the twin goals of political self-determination and cultural autonomy. Educational policies and sociological pressures have tended to reinforce a movement away from Indian languages. The late 1960's and early 1970's brought some startling changes to Indian affairs when Indian groups in their confrontation with the United States government spoke to Indian causes with which large numbers of Indians (reservation and urban) could identify and led to the emergence of a self-conscious Indian ethnic ideology of the revival and revitalization of lost heritage, including important Indian languages. Where Indian populations had not been allowed to exercise control over educational programs, on or off the reservation, they began to demand a voice in the pro forma administration of the schools, hiring and firing of personnel and development of curricula. Indian people have begun to identify their languages as the core of their culture, and as a key to their never-ending hope of and struggle for cultural autonomy. (Author/ERB)