Wauneka, Annie Dodge (1910–1997)

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Wauneka, Annie Dodge (1910–1997)

Navajo public health activist and tribal leader who was the first woman elected to the Navajo Tribal Council and the first Native American to win the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom . Name variations: Anne Wauneka. Name variations: known to the Navajo nation as "Our Legendary Mother." Born on April 10, 1910, near Sawmill, Arizona; died of Alzheimer's disease on November 10, 1997, in Flagstaff, Arizona; daughter of Henry Chee Dodge (a rancher and politician) and K'eehabah (also seen as Kee'hanabah); University of Arizona, B.S. in public health; married George Wauneka, in October 1929; children: Georgia Anne Wauneka; Henry Wauneka; Irma Wauneka; Franklin Wauneka; Lorencita Wauneka; Sallie Wauneka; and two who died young.

Annie Dodge Wauneka was born in a Navajo hogan near Sawmill, Arizona, in 1910. Her father Henry Chee Dodge was a Navajo rancher and politician; her mother K'eehabah was one of Dodge's three wives. Traditional Navajo society was matrilineal and permitted polygamy. Since wives were usually related to one another, children born to them were considered full siblings. At one year of age, Annie was taken from her mother and brought to live with her father, together with her half-siblings. Dodge, who was fluent in English, had been an interpreter for the government. He was also a tribal council leader and the owner of a large ranch with all the modern conveniences, including servants. However, he encouraged humility in his children by assigning them chores, such as sheep herding.

Annie and her siblings received their early education at a white school. At age eight, she attended the government school at Fort Defiance, and then went to the government school at Albuquerque where she learned English. When she returned home, Wauneka developed a close bond with her father and frequently accompanied him on trips around the reservation, assisting him with translations. Through her travels, she witnessed a high level of illness and poverty and understood the ideals and goals her father had for the tribe. She also became aware of the importance of education in the resolution of these problems.

Annie broke with tribal tradition when she chose her own husband rather than wait for the family to arrange her marriage. In October 1929, she married George Wauneka, a schoolmate from Albuquerque; the couple would have eight children, two of whom died young. Although she devoted most of her time to her family, she continued to travel with her father around the reservation, and after his death she dedicated herself to perpetuating his work. In 1951, Wauneka became the first woman elected to the Navajo Tribal Council. She was reelected again in 1955 and 1959. Her concerns about tribal health also led to her appointment as chair of the health committee.

Wauneka assumed her role with enthusiasm, focusing first on tuberculosis, the reservation's most pernicious problem. She realized that conventional Western European medicine might be the solution but that she needed to bridge the gap between cultures first. She approached traditional families with the idea of changing their food preparation techniques and sanitizing their cooking and eating areas as a way of improving the health of their families. She also tried to convince medicine men, whom the Navajo respected and trusted, to try conventional medicine, so that they might convince others. Wauneka returned to college in the mid-1950s, earning a B.S. in public health from the University of Arizona. She studied for three months in the hospitals and laboratories of the U.S. Public Health Service. She also wrote a Navajo dictionary to help her people understand the illnesses they faced, and the cures and treatments that were available to them. In addition to her studies on tuberculosis, Wauneka brought understanding to other health areas, including improved gynecological, obstetric, and pediatric care. She advocated regular eye and ear exams, and fought alcohol abuse.

During the next decade, Wauneka enlarged her sphere of influence by serving on the New Mexico Committee on Aging and becoming a member of advisory boards of the U.S. Surgeon General and the U.S. Public Health Service. In 1958, she won the Josephine Hughes Award and the Woman of Achievement Award from the Arizona

Press Women's Association. She was named Outstanding Worker in Public Health of the Arizona Public Health Association in 1959 and was honored with the Indian Achievement Award of the Indian Council Fire of Chicago that year as well—an award her father had won in 1945. In 1960, Wauneka hosted her own daily radio show on KGAK in Gallup, New Mexico. Broadcasting in Navajo, she provided general interest items along with important health issues. She was also active in the Head Start program and participated as a leader in the Girl Scouts.

On December 6, 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Wauneka for her contributions to healthcare services. She received an honorary doctorate in public health from the University of Arizona in 1976, and in 1984 the Navajo council honored her as the legendary mother of the Navajo people. She still served as an advisor to the Navajo Tribal Council into her 80s. On May 9, 1996, her alma mater, the University of Arizona, awarded her a second honorary doctorate. Wauneka died of Alzheimer's disease on November 10, 1997, at Flagstaff Medical Center. "She made us proud to be Navajo," said her grandson, Navajo tribal president Albert Hale. In the autumn of 2000, Annie Dodge Wauneka was inducted into the Women's Hall of Fame at Seneca Falls, New York.