New this month from the University of Nebraska Press: Southern Ute Women: Autonomy and Assimilation on the Reservation, 1887-1934, by Katherine M. B. Osburn.

After the passage of the Dawes Severalty Act in 1887, the Southern Ute Agency was the scene of an intense federal effort to assimilate the Ute Indians. The Southern Utes were to break up their common land holdings and transform themselves into middle-class patriarchal farm and pastoral families. In this assimilationist scheme, women were to surrender the considerable autonomy they enjoyed in traditional Ute society and become housebound homemakers, the “civilizers” of their fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons. Southern Ute Women shows that these women accommodated Anglo ways that benefited them but refused to give up indigenous culture and ways that gave their lives meaning and bolstered personal autonomy.

This week’s Tuesday Trivia will test your knowledge of Ute history and culture. Ready?

1. Which state derived its name from the word “Ute”?

2. Most Utes today live in two states. Which ones?

3. There are two distinct groups of Utes. What are the names of those groups?

4. The Northern Utes are well-known for their artistry, particularly in which medium? (Hint: the materials were introduced to them by traders.)

5. The Utes were early discovers of mechanoluminescence, something they achieved with quartz crystals and buffalo hide. What does mechanoluminescence generate?

6. In 1963 author Hal Borland wrote a book about a young Ute Indian who becomes a rodeo star, and in 1972, the book was made into a movie of the same name. What was the title?

7. R. Carlos Nakai is a famous Ute musician. What instrument does he play?

8. The Southern Ute Indian Reservation, in Colorado, is home to the Sky Ute Casino and Lake Capote. Tourists flock to these venues each year for what event?

9. The American Indian Dance Theatre presents dances and songs of Native Americans. The troupe’s original choreographer and co-director is a famous Ute who also had a part in the Mel Gibson movie Apocalypto. What is his name?

10. The Ute Mountain Tribal Park in Southwest Colorado is notable for the Ute wall paintings and petroglyphs still visible there. Ute Mountain Tribal Park also one of the few places in the United States where visitors can ancient cliff dwellings, made by which Native American tribe?

Did you know all the answers? Check back tomorrow to find out. And to learn more about the Utes, be sure to check out Southern Ute Women: Autonomy and Assimilation on the Reservation, 1887-1934.