A member of the Zuni tribe from New Mexico, We’wha were the most famous Lhamana, male-bodied people who take on social and ceremonial roles usually performed by women in their culture (some modern Lhamana are part of the Two Spirit community). Pronoun preference was not commonly discussed in the 19th century, but historians have used both masculine and feminine pronouns for We’wha, as well as they/their/them pronouns, as We’wha lived part of their life presenting and performing the masculine roles of Zuni society and part of their life presenting and performing the feminine roles of the Zuni.
As a child, We’wha’s parents died after colonists brought smallpox to their village and We’wha was raised by an aunt. Though it is custom within the Zuni to be identified as Lhamana at the age of three or four, We’wha was recognized as Lhamana at the age of twelve and thenceforth brought to female relatives to learn the skills traditionally performed by Zuni women: grinding and making corn meal, making pottery for ceremonies, cooking, and other domestic tasks.
After American soldiers and the Zuni won battles against the Navajo and Navajo lands were given to the Zuni by the American government, We’wha became a farmer. As We’wha became older, they worked for American missionaries on their lands. Through these interactions, they became friends with the American ethnologist and activist Matilda Coxe Stevenson, who wrote in her diary about We’wha and the tasks they performed within Zuni culture. This included We’wha’s talents as a fiber artist, weaver, and potter. Through this friendship, We’wha’s pottery made its way into the National Museum in Washington D.C.. In 1886, they were even part of a Zuni delegation that met in Washington D.C. with President Grover Cleveland.
Unfortunately, this mutual respect of cultures didn’t last and fighting broke out between the Zuni and American government. We’wha were arrested and sentenced to a month in prison after being accused of witchcraft. They died in 1896 at the age of 47 from heart failure after participating in the annual Shalako Festival, a celebration of the winter solstice following the harvest.
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Legends of Pride 