From Publishers Weekly
A pioneering and forceful activist who achieved national recognition and was known to the Navaho nation as Our Legendary Mother, Wauneka (1910-1997) was the daughter of the wealthy and charismatic Navaho leader Chee Dodge and his temporary wife, Kee'hanabah. Growing up, Wauneka didn't receive all the advantages that her older half-siblings did, which may account for her lifetime effort to walk in her father's footsteps, suggests Niethammer (Daughters of the Earth: The Lives and Legends of American Indian Women). While the other children were sent to boarding schools, Annie stayed home, herding the family's livestock. She had periods of schooling, but her real education happened late at night, watching her father's political machinations. Yet it wasn't until the early 1940s, after she was married and a mother, that she chose to become involved in tribal politics herself. Health and child welfare became her main concerns, as she created major campaigns against tuberculosis, trachoma, bad sanitation, alcoholism and peyote use. Since this meant working with (white) government officials, she created "cultural bridges," such as a Navaho-English dictionary for interpreting medical terms, and incorporating medicine men into public health initiatives. Perhaps because Niethammer is not herself Indian, she focuses on Wauneka's political experiences rather than her personal life. In any case, author and subject never had a personal interview in which more intimate questions might have been raised (about Wauneka's curiously distant marriage or her disabled children, for example). Scholarly but accessible, this latest entry in Nebraska's American Indian Lives series should appeal to students of modern Native American history.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Product Description
"I'll Go and Do More" is the story of Annie Dodge Wauneka (1918-1997), one of the most well-known Navajos of all time, an indefatigable, passionate, and controversial woman whom the Navajo Nation called 'Our Legendary Mother'. A daughter of the popular Navajo leader Chee Dodge, Wauneka spent most of her early years herding sheep and raising nine children. After her father's death, she entered politics and was often the only woman on the Navajo Tribal Council during the quarter century that she served. Wauneka became a forceful and articulate advocate for Indian health care, education, and other issues, working both on the reservation and in the halls of Congress to improve the lives of the Navajos. She conducted a weekly radio show in Navajo and drove thousands of miles across back roads to visit hospitals and remote hogans; she buttonholed members of Congress to make sure they understood the issues surrounding Indian heath care; and, she worked to improve educational opportunities and reduce alcoholism on the reservation. Her efforts earned her not only the respect of Navajos but also national recognition as a vital force in the field of Indian health care. Wauneka received the Medal of Freedom from President Lyndon Johnson and was awarded honorary doctorate degrees from the University of New Mexico, the University of Arizona, and the College of Ganado. Carolyn Niethammer draws upon interviews with family and friends, speeches, and correspondence to offer an arresting and readable portrait of this complex Navajo woman. Wauneka's professional and personal triumphs and challenges - her temper was legendary - are rendered vividly, enabling readers to better appreciate the enduring accomplishments of the Navajos' Legendary Mother. Carolyn Niethammer is the author of "American Indian Cooking: Recipes from the Southwest" (Nebraska 1999) and "Daughters of the Earth: The Lives and Legends of American Indian Women".
