Klagetoh Chapter House

The Klagetoh Chapter House was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2021 for its centrality to Navajo life and its association with Annie Dodge Wauneka (1910-1997), one of the most influential Native Americans of the 20th century. Wauneka was the second Navajo woman to serve on the Navajo Tribal Council (1951-1979), and is credited with saving thousands of lives thanks to her efforts to improve the health and living conditions of the Navajo people. She regularly traveled to Washington D.C. to discuss indigenous issues with presidents, members of Congress and government officials. Wauneka received several awards for her work, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963. In 1984, the Navajo Nation designated her "Our Legendary Mother of the Navajo Nation." Wauneka lived in Klagetoh and was a member of the chapter house, which is where the local governing body is located, and community events and meetings take place.

Annie Dodge Wauneka was born on April 11, 1910 near the town of Sawmill on the Navajo reservation. Her father was prominent leader Henry Chee Dodge (c.1860-1947), who was the last official "head chief" and the Navajo Nation's first tribal chairman. Wauneka's mother was one of Henry's partners and for the first year, Wauneka lived with her. Wauneka was then sent to live with Henry's family and was raised by an aunt and step-mother. Fortunately for her, given her father's position in the tribe, she grew up in a modern home that included comforts such as a modern kitchen, furniture, books, and photographs. In contrast, her mother's family were sheepherders.

When she was five, Wauneka started herding sheep, which was a common chore for Navajo children. Every Navajo also received a lamb each year, and were allowed to decided what to do with their sheep. This custom gave members of the tribe, children and men and women, a level of independence and economic autonomy. Henry valued education as well and sent Wauneka and his other two children to private boarding schools. He sent her to the Office of Indian Affairs boarding school which was located at Fort Defiance when she was eight. She later went to the Albuquerque Indian School in 1923 and remained until in 1928 (she did return in the spring to help her family care for the sheep). She met her future husband, George Wauneka, at the school in Albuquerque, and they married in October 1929. They lived on a ranch in Tanner Springs and would go on to have nine children. They planted crops and raised sheep and other livestock.

Wauneka began to find her voice as a leader in the 1930s. Early in the decade, the federal government implemented a policy of culling the number of Navajo livestock to, in its view, improve grazing on the reservation. At the time, grazing lands were overcrowded and the region was experiencing drought (the Navajo believed that the drought was part of natural cycle and there was nothing to be concerned about). Henry encouraged Wauneka to speak up in opposition to the policy. In one instance, she learned about a horse that belonged to a poor Navajo woman that was seized by a stock reduction agent. Wauneka went to the corral, roped the horse and returned it to the woman.

Wauneka's political career began in 1942 she was elected to the Klagetoh Chapter's grazing committee. She later became the chapter secretary. In 1951, she was elected to the Tribal Council (the first Navajo woman on the council was Lily J. Neil who resigned that year due to health issues) and served in that role for 27 years. She immediately set out to improve the health of the Navajo as a member (and later, chairman) of the standing health committee. At the time, the tribe was suffering from a tuberculosis epidemic. To convince the Navajo of the efficacy of modern medicine, she traveled throughout the reservation to talk to them about tuberculosis (many Navajo were distrustful of modern medicine, doctors, and hospitals; the language barrier also made it difficult for the Navajo and health professionals to understand each other). She coordinated efforts to treat the disease with medicine men, government physicians, and a volunteer group of Cornell Medical College doctors.

Her health work on the reservation informed her about other issues including housing, sanitation, and water quality. She saw that many Navajo kept food on dirt floors and that outhouses were located close to homes. She persuaded the tribal council to allocate money for better housing and asked education departments in Arizona and New Mexico to teach hygiene and techniques for disease prevention. Wauneka also pioneered the use of radio. In 1960, she started a weekly Navajo language program that discussed health topics and the effectiveness of modern medicine. To tackle the reservation's high infant mortality rate due to water contamination, she hosted a baby contest at the annual tribal fair and had reservation doctors serve as judges, who screened the baby's for signs of medical problems (winning babies won prizes such as clothing and diapers). She also provided education information at the fair. Her health work in the 1960s cut the tuberculosis rate by 35% and the infant mortality rate by 25%.

Wauneka began receiving awards and recognition for her work in the 1950s. These included the Arizona Press Association Woman of the Year award in 1958, the Indian Achievement Award of the Indian Council Fire in 1959, and in 1963 she became the first Native American to receive recognition from the Western Tuberculosis Conference. As noted above, the most notable award she received was the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This garnered her even more notoriety around the country. Wauneka was given several other medals in the coming years.

After she left the Tribal Council in 1978 (she lost her seat by sixteen votes), Wauneka continued her work to improve the lives of the Navajo. She attended conferences, gave lectures, attended events, and in 1982 served as an instructor to teach campaign skills at a seminar sponsored by the Council for Navajo Women. In 1993, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. She died on November 19, 1997.

"Annie Dodge Wauneka." Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records. Retrieved from the Web Archive on October 11, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20091123210735/http://www.lib.az.us/awhof/women/wauneka.cfm.

Saxon, Wolfgang. "Annie D. Wauneka, 87, Dies; Navajo Medical Crusader." The New York Times. November 16, 1997. https://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/16/us/annie-d-wauneka-87-dies-navajo-medical-crusader.html.

Simmons, R. Laurie & Simmons, Thomas H. "Klagetoh Chapter House." National Park Service - National Historic Landmark Nomination Form. January 13, 2021. https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalhistoriclandmarks/upload/2020-November-Klagetoh-Chapter-House-Nom-508-FINAL-ADV-BOARD.pdf.