Son of Many Beads

Son of Many Beads (also Bidaga and Jose Pino)

(c. 1866–1954) Navaho leader; born near Glenwood, N.M. He was taught the Navaho traditions, customs, ceremonies—including the curing methods—by his father, Many Beads. A farmer and herder himself, he worked to secure title to land in New Mexico for his people. Meanwhile, he became known to the various archaeologists and anthropologists studying the Navahos and they relied on him for explaining the Navaho culture. In particular, the philosopher John Ladd began to interview him at length and Ladd's Structure of a Moral Code (1957), which compares the ethics of the Navaho and the western tradition, owed much to Son of Many Beads.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.