Montezuma, Carlos, 1866-1923

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| System number 987007592320405171

Information for Authority record

Name (Latin)
Montezuma, Carlos, 1866-1923
Other forms of name
Wassaja, 1866-1923
Wassajah, 1866-1923
Date of birth
1866
Date of death
1923-01-31
Gender
male
MARC
MARC

Other Identifiers

VIAF: 67608783
Wikidata: Q772863
Library of congress: n 82102517
Sources of Information
  • Data from CINE for Letter from an Apache [MP] 1982(Wassajah; Apache Indian) surrogate Study guide (letter signed Carlos Montezuma, M.D., Wassajah)
  • His Memorial and papers from the Mohave-Apache Indians, 1911.
  • My heart is bound up with them, 2023:ECIP galley Introduction (Carlos Montezuma, Wassaja, of the Fort McDowell (Ariz.) Yavapai community; Indian rights activist)

Wikipedia description:

Carlos Montezuma or Wassaja (c. 1866 – January 31, 1923) was a Yavapai-Apache Native American physician, activist, and founding member of the Society of American Indians. His birth name, Wassaja, means "Signaling" or "Beckoning" in his native tongue. Wassaja was kidnapped by Pima raiders along with other children to be sold or bartered. In 1871, Wassaja was then purchased by Italian photographer Carlo Gentile in Adamsville for thirty silver dollars at the age of 5 or 6 years old. Gentile renamed him "Carlos Montezuma". Montezuma was the first Native American student at the University of Illinois and Northwestern University, and only the second Native American ever to earn a medical degree in an American University after Susan La Flesche Picotte. Wassaja was the first Native American male to receive a medical degree. Until his death Wassaja fought to support the rights of his Yavapai people and other Native Americans.

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