Wind Talkers: Navajo Code Talkers in WWII

The Navajo are a hardworking people. Before World War II, they divided family responsibilities along traditional lines.

• Navajo women took an active part in handling the sheep and goats and were responsible for most of the shearing.
  
  
• Women would also card, spin and dye the wool which was then turned into yarn, suitable for weaving beautiful Navajo blankets and rugs.
  
  
• While mothers worked, their babies rested in a cradleboard.
  
  
• By 1937, Navajos were still cultivating their corn, a Navajo staple, by hand. The same was true of thrashing and grinding.
  
  
• The Navajo dried their corn on a "summer shade" or directly on the land.
  
  
• Because of the arid conditions, squash could be stored in a pit called a root cellar.

Even at a time when the United States was mostly an agrarian country, the Navajos lived differently from other Americans. But they also took time to have fun.