Free Online Lecture via Zoom: From “Chief” to Code Talker: Four Profiles of the Navajo Code Talkers with Laura Tohe, PhD

Free Online Lecture via Zoom:

From “Chief” to Code Talker: Four Profiles of the Navajo Code Talkers with Laura Tohe, PhD

Saturday, August 1, 2020, 11:00 am, Arizona time

During WWII a group of young Navajo men enlisted in the Marines without knowing that they would be called on 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. This talk profiles four Code Talkers who reflect on their lives growing up on the Navajo Nation homeland, their military service as Code Talkers, and the personal and spiritual costs of war that many struggled with after the war.

Laura Tohe is Diné.  She is Sleepy Rock clan born for the Bitter Water clan.  She is the daughter of a Navajo Code Talker.  She holds a Ph.D. in Indigenous American Literature. She is Professor Emerita with Distinction in Indigenous Literature at Arizona State University and is the Navajo Nation Poet Laureate.

This program is made possible by Arizona Humanities.

*Please note a recording will not be available of this lecture, be sure to catch the program live on Zoom.