We'wha was a Zuni Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 from New Mexico. She was the most famous lhamana

Lhamana

Lhamana is the traditional Zuni gender role, now described variously as mixed-gender or Two-Spirit, for men who lived in part as women, wearing a mixture of women's and men's clothing and doing a great deal of women's work as well as serving as mediators...

, a traditional Zuni gender role, now described as mixed-gender

Third gender

The terms third gender and third sex describe individuals who are categorized as neither man nor woman, as well as the social category present in those societies who recognize three or more genders...

 or Two-Spirit

Two-Spirit

Two-Spirit People , is an English term that emerged in 1990 out of the third annual inter-tribal Native American/First Nations gay/lesbian American conference in Winnipeg. It describes Indigenous North Americans who fulfill one of many mixed gender roles found traditionally among many Native...

. Lhamana were men who lived in part as women, wearing a mixture of women's and men's clothing and doing a great deal of women's work as well as serving as mediators.

We'wha is the subject of the book The Zuni Man-Woman by Will Roscoe

Will Roscoe

Will Roscoe is an American scholar, activist, and author based in San Francisco, California. He grew up in Missoula, Montana and helped found the Lambda Alliance at the University of Montana, that state's first LGBT organization in 1975, although he is heterosexual - Roscoe was inspired to...

. The anthropologist Matilda Coxe Stevenson

Matilda Coxe Stevenson

Matilda Coxe Stevenson was an American ethnologist, born at San Augustine, Tex.-Bio:In 1872 she was married to James Stevenson, an ethnologist , with whom she spent 13 years in explorations of the Rocky Mountain region....

 also wrote a great deal about We'wha, and even hosted her on her visit to Washington D.C. in 1886. During that visit, she met President Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland

Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...

 and was generally mistaken for a cisgender

Cisgender

Cisgender is an adjective used in the context of gender issues and counselling to refer to a class of gender identities formed by a match between an individual's gender identity and the behavior or role considered appropriate for one's sex.Kristen Schilt and Laurel Westbrook defined "cisgender"...

 woman. One of the anthropologists close to her described her as “…the strongest character and the most intelligent of the Zuni tribe” (Roscoe, 1991, p. 29).

She was a cultural ambassador for her people, and performed the role of Kolhamana, the lhamana

Lhamana

Lhamana is the traditional Zuni gender role, now described variously as mixed-gender or Two-Spirit, for men who lived in part as women, wearing a mixture of women's and men's clothing and doing a great deal of women's work as well as serving as mediators...

 kachina

Kachina

A kachina is a spirit being in western Pueblo cosmology and religious practices. The western Pueblo, Native American cultures located in the southwestern United States, include Hopi, Zuni, Tewa Village , Acoma Pueblo, and Laguna Pueblo. The kachina cult has spread to more eastern Pueblos, e.g....

 of the Zuni. She died in 1896.

Sources

• Gilley, Brian Joseph (2006). Becoming Two-Spirit: Gay Identity and Social Acceptance in Indian Country. ISBN 0803271263.
• Roscoe, Will (1991). The Zuni Man-Woman. ISBN 0826312535.
• Two-spirit - T-Vox Retrieved January 30, 2010.