We’wha
Many cultures accept transgender members of their society. One was the Zuni tribe of New Mexico. The Zuni had always recognized a third gender, which was known as Lhamana or the “two-spirited”. Lhamana were male by birth but were believed to blend both male and female characteristics. They were identified in early childhood and then fully accepted and integrated into the tribe, combining male and female clothing and roles.
The Zuni first encountered white settlers in 1849. Both parties discovered they had enemies in common: the Navajos and Apaches. So the Zuni allied themselves with the colonists and agreed to help them acquire Navajo and Apache land. We’wha was born in this very year. Elders identified him as Lhamana at around three or four. The males of the tribe initiated him with manhood ceremonies around twelve, but he was also taught female tasks such as cooking, grinding corn and making ceremonial pottery.
In 1864, the Zuni returned to some of their old tribal lands and We’wha became a farmer, as well as taking over some of his aunt’s domestic duties. When the first white missionaries arrived to live with the Zuni in 1877, he offered himself as a domestic help to the wife of the Minister, Mr. Ealy. He also worked as a laundress to the settlers. The soldiers at the fort preferred “the men wearing female attire” to do their washing “on account of their strength and endurance.”
Two years later, anthropologist Matilda Cox Stevenson arrived at the settlement and befriended We’wha. Strangely, she claimed she did not know her new friend was a man until 1904-eight years after We’wha’s death. However, We’wha made quite an impression on her. She described him as “the strongest character and the most intelligent of the Zuni tribe.” Stevenson marveled at how We’wha’s word was law, and despite his female role, his anger was feared by women- and men.
Stevenson took We’wha to Washington DC and introduced the Lhamana to American society as an Indian princess. We’wha lived there with her for six months. However, once he returned home, the accord between Zuni and Americans began to disintegrate. The Zuni revolted, and We’wha and five other leaders spent a month in prison for witchcraft. We’wha eventually died of heart failure in 1896 while attending a religious festival. He was 47.