(H)our History Lesson: Native American Home Front Contributions in Los Alamos County, New Mexico, WWII Heritage City

“Severa Tafoya Santa Clara Indian Pottery Maker, N.M.,” 1935. Severa Tafoya came from a family of indigenous potters in New Mexico. This picture was taken nearly eight years before the development of Los Alamos by the government and US Army

Online Archive of California.

About this Lesson

This lesson is part of a series teaching about the World War II home front, with Los Alamos County, New Mexico designated as an American World War II Heritage City. The lesson contains two primary source readings and one secondary source reading, with pictures. The primary sources provide insight on Native American contributions to the home front in Los Alamos: Dr. Floy Agnes Lee, a scientist and her role, in contrast to the usually limited employment opportunities for Native Americans. The secondary source builds on the primary source newspaper by sharing more about one Santa Clara Pueblo family, the Tafoya family. There is an optional, additional reading about a social event at Los Alamos that featured local Native American culture, and an opportunity to explore Pueblo pottery.
To see more lessons about World War II, visit Teaching with Historic Places.

Objectives:

1. Explain how the impact of the development of Los Alamos County impacted the Pueblo people, including their work, art, and culture.
2. Compare historical descriptions about the work and culture of the Pueblo people and describe the evidence of discrimination they faced.
3. Reflect on the impact and contributions of Native American people to Los Alamos County and the home front efforts.

Materials for Students:

1. Photos 1 - 8 (can be displayed digitally)
2. Readings 1 – 3 (one secondary for background; two primary)
3. Recommended: Maps such as Los Alamos Map by Manhattan Project National Historical Park and Technical Areas Map by Los Alamos Neutron Science Center
4. Extension: Optional reading on Pueblo pottery

Getting Started: Essential Question

How did Native Americans contribute to Los Alamos County and the home front efforts, such as through their work and culture?

Read to Connect

Teacher Tip: To keep within the hour format, divide students into groups where each reads one of three readings and reports back with a summary of their findings. Each reading offers different perspectives and information. 

Reading 1: Interview with Dr. Lee

Interview of Dr. Floy Agnes Lee, Los Alamos Laboratory technician 

Note: Video and the full transcript of the interview can be found at Voices of the Manhattan Project, Atomic Heritage Foundation. Between her two times working at Los Alamos, the first being during World War II, and the second post-war, Dr. Floy Agnes Lee worked at Argonne National laboratory in Chicago for 22 years and completed her PhD at University of Chicago. 

Dr. Floy Agnes Lee (Lee): I’m a Pueblo Indian, half Pueblo and half white. My father’s from Santa Clara Pueblo, and my mother was a German-American. She came from Indiana as a teacher to teach in the boarding school in Santa Fe, and met my Indian father, who was teaching tailoring, which he had learned there. Then they were transferred to Albuquerque Indian School. 

At the Indian School, there were five of us that were born. I’m the fourth of the five siblings. I grew up in the Indian School, although I did not go to the school itself. I was sent to St. Mary’s, then to Albuquerque High School, where I graduated. From there, I went to the University of New Mexico. 

I was interested in biology, and I got my degree at the University of New Mexico. While there, I had a job helping one of the professors with his plants to see how they grew, and I put different solutions into each plant. That made me more interested in doing research.  

When I graduated from university, the professor [Edward] Castetter, who was head of the biology department, asked me to stay another month and do some research for him, which I had been doing. It was recording information on what the Indians ate before the states became united. I had to go through different books, which were in the library, and pick out the information.  

I hadn’t quite finished doing the research. I was looking forward to going to Indiana after graduation to see my relatives, my white relatives on my mother’s side. I was ready to go and he asked me, would I stay another month and finish the work? And I said, yes, yes, I will. 

While I was doing the research for him, he got a call from Los Alamos. Los Alamos wanted a biology student or a graduate to come and work in the laboratory, the hematology laboratory. He asked me, would I like to go to Los Alamos and work there? I did not have a job lined up, so I said yes. That’s how I got to Los Alamos. . . 

It was 1945. The bomb was being developed at that time. My assignment was to collect the blood from the research men, scientists, who were working on the atomic bomb. I had to learn how to take blood, how to read the blood cells, what type of blood cell, and all that’s connected with the hematology. I got along real well in that area. They sent me to go to different sites where the production was being done, and I would draw the blood from individuals. 

Some of the scientists would come into the laboratory. When I worked in the laboratory, I was assigned certain people, certain scientists. One of them was Enrico Fermi. We got to talking about what I liked to do and what he liked to, and we got on the subject of tennis. Now, I did not know that this was Enrico Fermi. I only knew him as a number, because they wouldn’t give names out. So we would play tennis. This was before the bomb was dropped, and then afterwards also. He was a short man, and he had a funny little hat. 

But anyway, after the bomb was dropped, the GIs who worked at the laboratory—they were engineers, we had three or four working in the hematology lab—came up and shook my hand and said, “You were the person who stuck the hand of the great Enrico Fermi.” 

I said, “What?” 

They said, “Yes, Enrico Fermi.” 

I said, “Oh, I can’t believe that.” Because I was beating him in tennis every time. So when we went out to play tennis later, I didn’t beat him. I tried not to. We became very, very good friends. 

Los Alamos was a very, very interesting place. We were sort of like in a prison, but you could get in and out if you had the right cards. We could go to Santa Fe, which we did on certain occasions. There were recreations like ice skating and the tennis and all kinds of activities that went on. I lived in the dormitory where several other women lived. . . . 

At Los Alamos, there was a radiation accident after the bomb was dropped, and fourteen people [misspoke: eight people] were involved. [Louis] Slotin was the principal person who was attending the assembly of the fission of the particles of the atom bomb. An accident happened and he was completely exposed. Behind him was Al Graves. Al Graves was half irradiated, and the other half, he was shielded. I was assigned to take the blood of Al Graves and Slotin. 

Al Graves, he wouldn’t go to the hospital, he wanted to stay home. So I had to go to his house to take his blood. One day I took a sample and read it, and it was very, very low. His white blood cells were very, very low. Everybody in the lab said, “Oh, Aggie, you must have made a mistake. Go on back and get another sample.” 

I said, “Okay.” But I wondered if I was going to give myself away, and let him know what was going on. Because I felt that I had done the right thing. I went back and got another sample and read it and someone else read it. Sure enough, his white blood cells were so low that they didn’t even understand why he was still living. Tell you more about him later.  

Slotin began to increase in size. He became—I don’t know how to say it. Like a balloon. It was difficult to take his blood. I finally had to take it from the ear. His mother and father were called, because they knew he wasn’t going to live. It was just nine days after the accident. 

I was taking his blood, and his parents came and stood in the doorway and looked in and saw him. He was just like that, just bloated, and the look on their face was terrible. I got out of there. Sure enough, the next day he died of radiation poisoning. 

I’ll go back to Al Graves. He cooperated in every sense, not cutting his hair or shaving his beard—I mean mustache, whatever. He went around with a normal face, and the other face was terrible. But he came through this very well. I don’t remember how long it took before his hair started growing back again, and his eyebrows. 

I was at a meeting at Argonne, and I met Al Graves, who was talking with the director of the laboratory. The director was a very snooty person; he didn’t like for anybody to interfere with him. He’d rather have the elite around him and talking to him. But I hadn’t seen Al Graves for ten years, and I ran over and just hugged him, and he hugged me, and the director, “Oh!” He wondered what was going on. We remained very good friends. He and his wife and I and several other people from Los Alamos would go skiing in Colorado, and I went hiking with them. That was when I came back from Argonne on vacation. . . . 

Reifel:  . . .  I mentioned to her that you told me that they weren’t sure if they would hire you because of your father being from Santa Clara. 

Lee: Yes. 

Reifel: And it was too close. 

Lee: Yes. They felt that my father being Santa Clara, born in the Santa Clara Pueblo, although he was not living there anymore, and all his relatives were and my relatives were. They decided that maybe I shouldn’t be able to work at Los Alamos, because he might get secrets, and I don’t know how he would do it. But finally they said, “Okay, you can go, but your father can’t come visit you. He can’t get near the lab.” But I could go visit him. That’s the way we did it. 

Finally, after the bomb was dropped, I got my father up to see what I was doing and where I worked. Everybody in the dormitory, the rest of the women’s dormitory and the men’s dormitory, we all got together and had a little party for him. He enjoyed it so much. 

Kelly: I bet he was very proud of you. 

Lee: Well, I guess. 

Kelly: You got that. Were there many other people from the Pueblos working at the laboratory? 

Lee: There were, yeah. The chef was Santa Clara. My technician was Maria Martinez’s aunt. Her name was Pilar Aguilar, and she was my technician at Los Alamos the second time I came back. 

I don’t know if at the time when I was there, that there were any other Indians working in the same capacity I was. I almost didn’t get hired at Los Alamos the second time, because I was a minority. It was one of the reasons. The head of the division I was to be in did not like minorities. Because I was an Indian. I just didn’t ever realize why he had it against me.  . . . 

Reading 2: Newspaper

Teacher Tip: Have students highlight, or note, the information about “Indians” as they read to then analyze. 

'Hermits of Los Alamos,’ Who Built Atomic Bomb, Live Normal Social Life: U.S. Engineers Give First Look into Community   

Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), October 3, 1945; p. 7 

By: Harold Heroux 

Los Alamos, N.M. -- (INS)-- What does it take to make atomic bombs—beside uranium, brains and a couple billion dollars? 

The U.S. Engineers gave the answer yesterday to that question. It takes people, a motley lot of ‘em, who are willing to live apart from the civilized world—and who can keep a secret.  

The curtains were drawn open as a handful of newsmen—the first outsiders to visit the atomic bomb project laboratory, hidden in the mountains 40 miles from Santa Fe—could see how 6,000 persons at the heretofore secret community eat, sleep, shop and play. 

Shortley after the scribes arrived, their eyebrows were lifted a bit as they heard the roar of a remote explosion that made the Jemez Mountains quiver.  

‘That’s nothing but a little bang,’ quickly explained Com. Norris E. Bradbury, the naval officer who is acting project director. ‘We are still doing some experimenting.’ 

All Part of a Team 

One reporter asked a timely question-- ‘How much danger are the employees of Los Alamos working under?’ 

‘None whatsoever, except the casual accidents that might take place in an industrial plant,’ Commander Bradbury replied, without elaboration.  

The tour continued and many, varied characters were found. Each is a part of the Los Alamos team—the team that perfected the atomic bomb—whether he is a world-famed scientists or one of the Indians who pours soup in a Los Alamos cafeteria.* 

Members of the Los Alamos team—the brain of the entire atomic bomb project—have been toiling under military guard for three years. Let’s take a look at some of these people. 

First, one finds Dr. Otto R. Frisch, physicist and nephew of the famed Dr. Lise Meitner. Like many other refugee scientists who worked on the project, he came to Los Alamos from England in December, 1943. 

Guarded Carefully 

What Dr. Frisch has done—and is doing—is a secret, like all other matters that take place in the carefully-guarded technical area at Los Alamos.  

But, we can say that Dr. Frisch, unlike many other top-ranking scientists at Los Alamos, is quite a pianist. And like the other talented members of America’s most hush-hush community he plays regularly over KRS, Los Alamos’ own radio station. 

Then there is Cleto Tafoya, ex-governor of the Santa Clara Indian Pueblo, one of hundreds of Indians on ‘the team.” The ex-governor toils in a cafeteria. His wife and daughter also work at Los Alamos.  

Next, there is Capt. J. Brooks, an Army doctor from Chicago. He handles 200 patients daily at his hospital, but is mum—very mum—when you question him about radioactivity and kindred atomic ailments.  

Mrs. Shelton Musser, of Reading, Pa., wife of an Army captain, said that the vast majority of the ‘atomic crowd’ like their hermit-like existence. She pointed out that the people of Los Alamos live a ‘normal social life,’ with clubs, little theater groups, choirs and other things of their own, even a symphony orchestra. 

“Lot of Us Wives Work"

‘A lot of us wives work, too, in the technical area. There is no keeping up with the Joneses here. .. It’s a good place to enjoy outdoor life and to wear old clothes.’ 

Three years ago few of Los Alamos’ ‘six-thousand’ knew what the U.S. Engineers were doing up in the mountain, except working on a secret project. Now, they know about the atomic bomb – and now, they are hopeful that the continuing project will bring some peacetime uses. 

But the people of Los Alamos—from top-ranking scientists down to Indian servant girls—are permitted no visitors from the ‘world outside.’  

This has made the hidden community a haven for harassed husbands seeking to live apart from troublesome in-laws. 

A council of six—composed of representatives from all walks of life—regulates life in Los Alamos. 

Army’s in Charge 

Of course, the U.S. Army is in charge and surrounds the entire community and its super-secret technical area with a corps of military police. But Col. Gerald R. Tyler of the U.S. Engineers, the commanding officer, decided his vast horde of scientists, technicians, instrument makers and other civilians should have a voice in running the community.  

‘You might say that our community council is something like town councils of the New England states, although the powers of our council are all extra-legal,’ said Colonel Tyler and Commander Bradbury.  

It seems that the ‘brain trust’ holds the greatest number of seats on the Los Alamos Council, following the recent elections in which there had been spirited campaigning.  

Three Council members hold the degree of doctor of philosophy, which speaks well of scientists-turned-politicians. Wives at Los Alamos organized a bloc and won a Council berth for one of their group. And the many Spanish-American workers at the project also have one of their number sitting on the Council. 

A committee from the Council deals with civilian law breakers—that is minor offenders. A U.S. Marshal would be called for any major crime. The Army, with its court martial setup, deals with GIs and WACs who run afoul of the regulations.  

While the Council’s committee has no legal right to assess fines to violators, such as auto speedsters, it operates as a court and the fines are turned over to the Red Cross. 

The Council even decides who can have a servant, if any, in his or her home.  

A housing committee rations the servants, mostly Indian girls. A mother with three children is allowed a servant for three days; a family with two children rates a servant two days a week, and so forth. Wealth of pre-Los Alamos background has no bearing on who can hire servants. 

To keep pace, the Army officers do without orderlies.  

Yes, it is a common sight to see some famed physicist or perhaps a Nobel Prize winner—whose names are part of the history of science—diapering a baby or sweeping his porch. At the same time, one might also see Joe Blow, an unheard of worker with a wife and a flock of kids, employing a maid for the first time in his life.  

That’s life in Los Alamos—and, according to Tyler and Bradbury, it is a democratic way of living. 

Reading 3: Native American Artwork and the Tafoya Family

Native American Artwork and the Tafoya Family 

By Sarah Nestor Lane 

In 1942, the Manhattan Project took the plateau, impacting local Pueblo groups who had lived in the area since time immemorial. They couldn't practice old traditions and had to move from their traditional lands. 

Native American people worked at Los Alamos laboratories. Men worked mostly in construction, as truck drivers, carpenters, and gardeners. Women worked mostly as maids and provided child-care. There were some rare exceptions like Dr. Flay Agnes lee.  However, discrimination and a climate of distrust prevented them from working in most of the higher skilled positions there.  

The Los Alamos community developed a strong interest in the culture and pottery of talented Pueblo artists. One example was Maria Montoya Martinez.  She was a respected figure in her community. Los Alamos Laboratory employees were impressed by her art and her pottery gained worldwide recognition after the war. Los Alamos residents collected indigenous art pieces, like those created by Martinez.  

Since time immemorial, Pueblo people have used pottery to store water and food, to celebrate special events, and for ceremonies. The clay is seen as sacred and used with prayer, thought, and song. According to “Stories in Clay” (Vilcek Foundation, 2023), European contact had led to changing styles to provide more uses for the pottery. There also was pressure for increased production, like from the scientists at Los Alamos. The demand for pottery as collectibles was different than some of the traditions of the Pueblo communities. The fascination by Los Alamos residents of indigenous artwork led to cultural exchanges, such as square dances and holiday feasts, between the Los Alamos residents and the Pueblo communities. 

There are few accounts from Native Americans living near Los Alamos. Most written narratives come from scientists and their families who lived there. This leads to an unbalanced representation of information from non-Native voices. 

A Local Pueblo Family: The Tafoya Family 

In Reading 2 (newspaper article), Cleto Tafoya was briefly described: “Then there is Cleto Tafoya, ex-governor of the Santa Clara Indian Pueblo, one of hundreds of Indians on ‘the team.’ The ex-governor toils in a cafeteria. His wife and daughter also work at Los Alamos.”  

Cleto Tafoya and his family members were important contributors to Santa Clara Pueblo government and artwork. Cleto Tafoya was a leader within the Santa Clara Pueblo government. He was selected as a member of a constitutional committee.  In 1935, there were four Pueblo factions that came together to create a Santa Clara Pueblo Constitution. This Constitution was important to the Pueblo people of the area, as it set the foundation for working on political differences using a new council structure. Tafoya was a signing secretary in the final copy of the 1935 Constitution and Bylaws for the Santa Clara Pueblo (US Department of the Interior, Office of Indian Affairs). 

It is not clear how or when Cleto Tafoya began working in a Los Alamos cafeteria. It is also unclear what work the newspaper is referring to for Tafoya’s wife and daughters at Los Alamos. Cleto Tafoya’s wife, Severa Gutierrez Tafoya, was a pottery maker. Much of Severa Tafoya’s pottery has unknown dates of completion, but several pieces may have been made during the time of Cleto Tafoya working in the Los Alamos Laboratory cafeteria, as described in the newspaper article. Two of their daughters, Mary Agnes Tafoya and Angela Tafoya Baca, also became well-known potters.  

Angela Tafoya Baca specialized in melon pots. Her pottery is displayed at numerous museums and galleries.  Her husband, Jose Baca, served in World War II as a private first class in the U.S. Army. His company, Zia Company, supported services at the Los Alamos Labatories. Four of Baca’s children also went on to continue making melon vessels.  

Quotation to consider:

“As already noted, we had neither latrine duty nor KP (Kitchen Patrol) – these were performed by hired local women, Mexican and Indian.”

- Benjamin Bederson, in his memoir; he was a soldier who was on assignment at Los Alamos with a US Army Special Engineering Detachment

Photo 2: Illustration of Dr. Floy Agnes Lee. A biologist and one of the scientists that worked on the Manhattan Project.

Department of Energy.

Student Activities:

Questions for Reading 1

1. Who is Dr. Floy Agnes Lee, and how did she end up working at Los Alamos?
2. What was Dr. Lee's role in the hematology laboratory?
3. Think about the challenges and opportunities Dr. Lee faced as a woman with mixed heritage at Los Alamos. How may have her personal experiences affected her relationships and decisions?
4. If you were studying the stories of people with different backgrounds at Los Alamos, how might Dr. Lee's experiences help you understand the social dynamics among scientists during the atomic bomb development?

Questions for Reading 2 and Quotation

1. What are some of the different roles described at Los Alamos?
2. How did Cleto Tafoya's work at Los Alamos differ from that of Dr. Otto R. Frisch and Capt. J. Brooks? What other descriptions in the article show discrimination against Native Americans and their work?
3. How does the article describe the organization and government of the Los Alamos community?
4. Put yourself in the shoes of someone living in the Los Alamos community back then. How do you believe this way of living, with people from different backgrounds and jobs coming together, would affect how they see things, get along with each other, and feel like they're part of a group?
5. The title of this article describes those who built the atomic bomb as living a “normal social life.” How does what society defines as “normal” or acceptable differ based on perspectives, and change over time?

Questions for Reading 3 and the Photos in the Gallery

1. Who were the Ancestral Pueblo, and how did the Manhattan Project impact their native lands?
2. Why were Native American people primarily employed in certain roles at Los Alamos Laboratories during that time?
3. Describe the melon pot in the photos. What are some of the symbols used? How does art such as the melon pot connect to the culture and history of the land at Los Alamos?
4. Reread the newspaper quotation: “Then there is Cleto Tafoya, ex-governor of the Santa Clara Indian Pueblo, one of hundreds of Indians on ‘the team.’ The ex-governor toils in a cafeteria. His wife and daughter also work at Los Alamos.” Now that you have more information from Reading 3, what new thoughts or wonderings do you have about how Tafoya was described and his work? If you could talk to Tafoya today, what questions might you ask him?
5. Think about how the Tafoya family was connected to the land, work, and culture at Los Alamos. How may the federal government’s takeover of land in Los Alamos County and the laboratories have influenced their family's history and artwork?

Extension Activities

If time permits, teachers may offer the following optional activities.

Optional Reading: Newspaper Article

“San Ildefonso Pueblo Entertains Los Alamos Scientists and Wives” 

The Santa Fe New Mexican; December 7, 1945, p.6 

Teacher Tip: After students read this text, answer the questions from Reading 3 with new text evidence to consider and integrate into understandings. 

 The people of San Ildefonso Pueblo, famed for their pottery and paintings, were hosts to the scientists of Los Alamos last Saturday night, at a dance given at the community hall in the Pueblo. Some 200 people attended the event, at which dancing of all types was included in the program. The hosts, including the famous pottery-maker, Maria Martinez, and the artist, Louis Gonzalez, wore traditional colorful tribal costumes, and the guests were dressed in variations of Indian and Western garb.  

Entertainment began with an exhibition of old time square dancing by couples from Los Alamos, to the music of accordion and guitar, furnished by Dr. William C. Elmore and Matt Sands of the Los Alamos group. 

Guests were introduced to Governor of the Pueblo, Donicio Sanchez.  

Several Indian dances were given, one of which was the Belt-Braiding Dance, performed by Richard, Adam and Anselmo Martinez, Mrs. Tomacita Sanchez, Esthel Virgil and Rosenita Pena. The three couples were accompanied by Migual Martiniz and Sotero Montoya on the tom-tom and with chanting. Later everyone joined in Indian folk dancing as well as the square dances.  

As a special performance, T/5 Popovi Martinez and Richard Martinez, gave the War Dance. Corporal Martinez, Maria’s son, who is stationed at Los Alamos, acted as master of ceremonies, and addressed the guests both in Tewa and English, announcing the numbers on the program. . . .” 

The article continued by listing the names of “prominent guests,” which included names such as “Dr. Enrico Fermi and Miss Nella Fermi,” “Dr. And Mrs. Eric R. Jette,” “Miss (Dr.) Joan Hinton,” and other notable scientists. 

Pueblo Pottery

Use the Tafoya family and Maria Martinez as a starting point for learning more about Pueblo pottery, an important artform to their culture. Examine photos and videos using the following resources: 

Pueblo Pottery: Stories in Clay (vilcek.org)  

• Examine images of Pueblo pottery and learn the stories and meaning behind the pottery.  

Maria Martinez: Indian Pottery of San Ildefonso (Documentary, 1972, VHS) - YouTube 

• Description: “Maria Montoya Martinez and her son, Popovi Da demonstrate how Pueblo Indian Pottery is made using traditional methods. Filmed in San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico. "Maria Martinez, noted Indian pottery maker demonstrates the traditional Indian ways, beginning with the spreading of sacred corn before clay is gathered. Also shown are the mixing of clay, construction of pottery, hand decorating, and building of the firing mound." 

This lesson was written by Sarah Nestor Lane, an educator and consultant with the Cultural Resources Office of Interpretation and Education, funded by the National Council on Public History's cooperative agreement with the National Park Service.