American Indian Culture and Research Journal

In 1866 an American military officer reported an encounter between Navajo peace chief Zarcillos Largo’s wife and American soldiers. As other Navajos fled before the American military forces, the chief‘s wife sought her children who had been stolen by New Mexican slave raiders. “She is a woman well known and influential among her people, intelligent for an Indian, and though past middle age active and vigorous.” The military officer writing the report went on to describe how the Navajo woman used her influence to encourage her Navajo people to surrender to American soldiers. In contrast to popular stereotypes about Native American women that have cast them into the dichotomies of princess and squaw drudge, the few Navajo women in the historical record are noted as autonomous and self-assured. Because the lives of Navajo women have been viewed within theoretical frameworks that have guided studies of both Western and Native women, it has been difficult to understand the continuity of Navajo women’s roles. Navajo women are central forces in their families and communities. They enjoy a measure of autonomy and authority even though, beginning with the reservation era in 1868, economic and political institutions have favored Navajo men’s participation. A critical review of the existing scholarship on Navajo women raises questions about the ways Navajo women’s lives have been presented. Further, a re-reevaluation of the records demonstrates that Navajo women had and continue to have voices in economic, political, and social realms.