Institute History
Description
Miss Navajo reveals how as winners of Miss Navajo Nation, women are challenged to take on the great responsibility of becoming community leaders who are fluent in the Navajo language and knowledgeable about their culture and history. Conceived as a "celebration of womanhood" by filmmaker Billy Luther—whose mother, Sarah Johnson Luther, was Miss Navajo Nation 1966—the documentary is a different take on what it means to be beautiful.
For the past 50 years, Miss Navajo Nation has celebrated women and their traditional values, language and inner beauty. The pageant is held over a five day period at the annual Navajo Nation Fair and the contestants are required to showcase their traditional and cultural skills. Pageant events include demonstrating skills that are crucial to Navajo daily life, including sheep butchering, fry bread making, and rug weaving.
No ordinary beauty pageant, the Miss Navajo pageant is all about determining who can rise to the challenge of becoming a community leader, by demonstrating fluency in the Navajo language and in-depth knowledge of their unique culture and history.
Miss Navajo is a celebration of women and tradition in Dine (Navajo) culture explored through one young woman’s quest for the Miss Navajo Nation crown.