Native American Art

8 3/4 x 7 in. albumen photograph (including margins) on later cardstock mount with "1029" written at lower left. The print lacks a studio imprint but was originally taken by Charles Milton Bell, ca 1874, while the Navajo delegation was in Washington, DC.

Manuelito Segundo was the son of Manuelito, the principal war chief of the Navajo. He traveled to Washington, D.C., with his father, mother, chief counselor, and seven other chiefs as part of a delegation seeking redress from the federal government. While in the capital, they presented a series of grievances concerning encroachments on their lands, the captivity of Navajo children by rival groups in New Mexico, the murder of three members of their tribe by Mormon settlers attempting to establish a colony in Arizona, and the intrusion of miners prospecting for gold.

On December 10, 1874, the delegation met with President Ulysses S. Grant at the White House. Grant referred them to the Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs so that appropriate measures could be taken to address their concerns, and he also offered counsel regarding their future conduct.