Wawa Calac Chaw, "Keep From the Water," was a writer,
artist, and lecturer on Indian and feminist matters. She was born on December
25, 1888 at Valley Center in the Tule River area of California. She was
a member of the Rincon division of the Luiseno tribe, and was taken at
infancy to protect her health by Dr. Cornelius Duggan and his sister Mary
Duggan, both of New York, and raised as their own child.
She was something of a child prodigy; her early artistic talent showed
itself in medical and scientific sketches she did of early radium and
cancer experiments during the work of Pierred and Marie Curie. An ardent
activist in behalf of Indian and feminist causes, she gave a talk while
still in her teens at a meeting at the Astor Hotel sponsored by Carrie
Chapman Catt.
Never at a loss for expression, she painted huge canvases in oil, many
of which were portraits of people important at the time, or subjects
involving social problems which deeply concerned her. She was a co-worker
and fund raiser for Dr. Carlos Montezuma and his Wassaja project; as
his close friend, she planned many of his campaigns and spoke out for
the needs represented.
During her life, Wa-Wa-Chaw came in contact with many White intellectuals
and leaders of the day, including Sir Oliver Lodge, Arthur Conan Doyle.
These people had a profound influence upon her work, as she did upon
them.
She was a colorful person-outspoken, yet with a childlike quality which
endeared her to all who knew her. She was vain about her art work, yet
modest about herself and her accomplishments in the social field. She
wrote for many publications of the day up until the time of her death.
She sold her paintings in the sidewalk shows in Greenwich Village, but
was even more interested in "selling" her message of equality
for Indian women.
She married Manuel Carmonia-Nunez, the Puerto Rican "son of the
last Spanish Lieutenant," a businessman and organizer for the Cigar
Workers' Union. From then on, she went by the name of Benita Nunez;
they had at least one child, who died at infance. Wa-Wa-Chaw was well
known throughout the Indian community and a familiar figure on the lecture
platform in the first quarter of the 20th century. She died in New York
City on May 12, 1972 at the age of 83.
NATIVE
AMERICAN RHYMES 
