Chronology of American Indian History

P

center will display work of artists from more than
50 tribes.

December 2

Annie Dodge Wauneka receives the Medal
of Freedom.
In a ceremony at the White House, President
Lyndon B. Johnson presents Navajo (Dineh) po-
litical leader and health care advocate Annie Dodge
Wauneka (see entry for 1951) with the Presiden-
tial Medal of Freedom, the highest honor the U.S.
government can bestow on a civilian. The first
American Indian to be so honored, Wauneka will
be nicknamed “Badge Woman” by the Navajo as
she takes to wearing the medal on her blouse.

1964

The American Indian Historical Society is
founded.
Formed in San Francisco, the Indian-run Ameri-
can Indian Historical Society dedicates itself to
producing materials about Indian issues and his-
tory from the Native American perspective. In
the next two decades, it will publish several peri-
odicals, including a journal (The Indian Historian,
1964–80), a newspaper (Wassaja, 1972–84), and a
children’s magazine (The Weewish Tree, 1974–83).
Beginning in 1970, the society will also operate
the Indian Historian Press, whose published titles
will include Ts a l i and Textbooks and the American
Indian.

Pueblo potter Helen Cordero first displays
storytelling dolls.
At the New Mexico State Fair, Helen Cordero,
a potter from Cochiti Pueblo, exhibits her “sto-
rytelling dolls,” which she has developed from
earlier and largely extinct Pueblo effigy figures.
The clay figurines show a storyteller, with eyes
closed and mouth wide open, on whom several
smaller figures of children are crawling. The figu-
rine style creates a sensation and garners the fair’s

first, second, and third prizes. In addition to mak-

ing an active career for Cordero, storytelling dolls

prove so popular that their creation will become

an industry for future generations of the Pueblo

artists.

“I don’t know why people go

for my work the way they do.

Maybe it’s because to me [my

sculptures] aren’t just pretty

things that I make for money.

All my potteries come out

of my heart. They’re my little

people. I talk to them and

they’re singing. If you’re listen-

ing, you can hear them.”

—Cochiti Pueblo sculptor

Helen Cordero on the appeal

of her storytelling dolls

Economic Opportunity Act funds tribal

social programs.

As a part of the Johnson administration’s “War on

Poverty,” Congress passes the Economic Opportu-

nity Act, which establishes funds for Community

Action Agencies (CAA) to fight poverty on a local

level. Under the act, tribal governments can declare

themselves as CAAs and receive federal money to

finance education, employment, health, and com-

munity development programs.

The Department of the Interior exhibits

Indian paintings.

The First Annual Invitational Exhibition of Ameri-

can Indian Painting is hung in the art gallery of the

Department of the Interior building in Washington,

D.C. The show features 132 works, the majority by

contemporary artists, including some graduates of

the new government-sponsored Institute of Ameri-

can Indian Arts (see entry for OCTOBER 1, 1962).