From “Chief” to Code Talker: Four Profiles of the Navajo Code Talkers

During WWII, a group of young Navajo men enlisted in the Marines without knowing they would be called upon to develop a secret code against the Japanese military. This select group of Code Talkers devised a Navajo language code that was accurate, quick, never broken, and saved many American lives. They returned home without fanfare to continued poverty and lack of economic opportunity, yet persevered and overcame obstacles that helped change the Navajo Nation and their communities. This talk by Laura Tohe profiles 4 Code Talkers who reflect on their lives growing up on the Navajo Nation homeland, their military service as Code talkers, as well as the personal and spiritual costs of war that many struggled with after the war.

Laura Tohe is Diné, of the Sleepy Rock clan, born for the Bitter Water clan. She holds a Ph.D in Indigenous American Literature and is a librettist and an award-winning poet whose books include No Parole Today, Meeting the Spirit of Water, Sister nations, Tséyi/Deep in the Rock, and Code Talker Stories. Her commissioned libretto, Enemy Slayer: A Navajo Oratorio, was performed by the Phoenix Symphony. Her new work, Nahasdzaan in the glittering World, made its world premiere in France this year. She is Professor Emerita with Distinction at Arizona State University and is the Navajo Nation Poet Laureate for 2015-2019.