Trans Timelines (1500-1900): We'Wha

We'Wha was a Zuni Native American from New Mexico. She is considered the most famous Lhamana, a gender role that is now more commonly known as two-spirit. Lhamana played dual roles in society, wearing a mixture of masculine and feminine clothing, and primarily performed tasks which were traditionally assigned to females. They also served in the capacity as mediators in a variety of situations. We'Wha was born in 1849 as a member of the Zuni tribe, a year of note as it was the first year the tribe interacted with Americans who were colonizing the western part of the country. The colonists were meeting resistance of the Navajo and Apache tribes and had enlisted the Zuni's aid in war against the two other tribes. With conflict, the colonists brought disease. Mainly smallpox, which took the lives of We'Wha's parents in 1853. She was adopted by another family member and retained duties and traditions of two clans.

The Zuni tradition allows for people to be identified as two-spirit at very early ages, often as early as three or four years old. We'Wha was often seen playing with other girls, wearing attire that was usually worn by girls, and responding to the word hanni when spoken by her brothers and sisters. Though all these traits were noticed very early, We'Wha was taught religious ceremonies reserved for males at the age of twelve. Though a few years later was recognized a Lhamana and her education in female ceremony and duties began. In 1864, the conflict with the Navajos and Apaches ended in victory and We'wha and her family moved to once abandoned Zuni land where she tended a farm for a number of years, a traditionally male duty.


In 1877, the Grant administration established a peace policy, where rather than moving Native Americans to reservations it was elected to integrate the native communities into the rest of society. One such means by which they sought to achieve this was to convert tribes and their members to Christianity. While the desired affect was not achieved by We' Wha's tribe, the missionaries and the tribe had otherwise good relations. We'Wha performed many duties in the mixed community. There is evidence she even served as a matron to school girls, teaching them many domestic skills. Though by 1881 the missionaries left the area, seeking to convert other tribes to Christianity.

In 1879, We'Wha met Maltida Coxe Stevenson, an American ethnologist who noted that We'Wha was very friendly and willing to learn English to better communicate with the whites. She assumed We'Wha was a cisgender woman. It is not clearly explained when or how it was discovered that We'Wha  was assigned male at birth, but Stevenson does mention knowledge in writings from 1904 where she says  "As the writer could never think of her faithful and devoted friend in any other light, she will continue to use the feminine gender when referring to We'wha". In 1886, the two traveled to Washington D.C. where We'Wha was introduced as an "Indian Princess" and upon meeting President Grover Cleveland, even he perceived her to be a cisgender woman.

Stevenson commissioned We'Wha to make religious Zuni pottery, and We'Wha became quite the accomplished potter and was also well known for other crafts such as blankets, baskets, and dresses. Some of her pottery was displayed at the NAtional Museum in D.C. for some time. In her later years(probably around 1890) she returned to a pueblo in New Mexico and conflicts broke out between the U.S. government and the Zuni. She was accused of witchcraft and spent a month in prison. She died in 1896 attending the Sha'lako festival of heart failure at the age of 47.



*Much of the information in this post is thanks to the work and research of Will Roscoe, an American activist, author and scholar who wrote the book The Zuni Man-Woman which discusses the life of We'Wha at greater length. A work for which he was honored with the Margaret Mead Award and the Lambda Literary Award.