Juana Walker: Inheriting Race & Property in Arizona, 1864-1916

Born in 1873 to an Akimel O'odham mother and an American father, Juana Walker spent her early childhood close to her tribe's Gila River homelands on the northern edge of Arizona's Sonoran Desert. Her mother died when Juana was about ten years old, and a Mormon family took the girl to their home in Mesa, where she lived until she turned eighteen. Juana's father never visited her, but occasionally sent gifts and letters reporting on his successes at the nearby Vekol Mine, where he amassed a significant fortune. Juana's father died without a will, and his brothers challenged Juana's claim to his estate on the grounds that Arizona's miscegenation ban made her an illegitimate heir. This chapter chronicles Juana's early life as a Walker between O'odham and Mormon worlds and asks how mixed-race Arizonans challenged the laws that marginalized them.