Prominent Two-Spirit Individuals: 1800-1937 A.D.

We’wha (Zuni) circa 1849-1896

We’wha (pronounced Way-wuh) is perhaps the most distinguished and iconic figure in Two-Spirit history. She was a Zuni spiritual leader as well as a notable ceramic artist and weaver, who, as a Two-Spirit individual, linked genders by undertaking traditional women’s roles, including performing sacred roles in ceremonial dances. We’wha also cross-dressed.

She met President Grover Cleveland in Washington, D.C. in 1886, and other high-ranking political officials. Interestingly, however, We’wha’s gender was never questioned by non-Zunis, as most outsiders regarded him as a her. Yet as a Two-Spirit person, We’wha was more accurately a s/he.


Hastiin Klah (Diné) 1867-1937

Like We’wha, Hastiin Klah was a celebrated weaver, and, additionally, a sand painter. Klah also met a U.S. President – Franklin D. Rooseelt. But unlike We’wha, Klah did not cross-dress. Yet they led parallel lives: both attained a high-status within their respective tribes, because like the Zuni, the Diné (Navajo) believed in the spiritual uniqueness of Two-Spirit individuals – those who displayed and fulfilled both male and female behaviors and duties.


Finds Them and Kills Them (Crow) 1854-1929

According to Will Roscoe, Finds Them and Kills Them, or Osh-Tisch, “was one of the last traditional Crow [Two-Spirit individuals] or boté” (pg. 59.)  He dressed in women’s clothes to which Anglos and government agents protested against. The Crows, however, and like several other tribes at the time, revered Two-Spirit individuals including those who cross-dressed.

Woman Chief (Crow) circa early 19th century -1854

While many Two-Spirit individuals throughout history were typically and biologically men, Woman Chief, on the other hand, was born a woman who eventually assumed the role of a fierce Crow warrior. Woman Chief participated in several traditionally male activities, such as hunting and, interestingly, leading her own war parties, as she was an expert rifleman. Most notably, however, “Woman Chief married another woman,” Will Roscoe writes, “Eventually Woman Chief supported four wives” (pg. 69). 


Running Eagle (Blackfeet) circa first half of the 19th Century

With permission of her father, Running Eagle was allowed to participate in hunting duties, which was one of many male activities she’d rather do. After her parents died, she assumed both father and mother roles in order to take care of her younger siblings. Eventually, Running Eagle took in another woman to care for the children, and later, joined war parties, and on these war parties, dressed in male clothing – all before twenty years of age– until finally renouncing: “I shall never marry[…]” (Roscoe, pg. 71).


References

Roscoe, Will, ed. Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology. New York: St. Martin’s, 1988.