Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Area’s earliest inhabitants become valuable part of Lab workforce

Technical Report · Thu Oct 15 04:00:00 EDT 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1679987· OSTI ID:1679987

Whitacre, Madeline Helene ^[1]; Belotti, Amylee ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

By the time the then-secret laboratory was established in Los Alamos in 1943, the nearby pueblos we know today were well-established communities. To complete its wartime mission to build the world’s first nuclear weapons, the Laboratory needed many workers for all aspects of the project. As such, many Native Americans were hired to work at the Lab in various roles, such as technicians, researchers, machinists, and support staff. By the end of the Manhattan Project in 1945, shortly after the end of World War II, many friendships had been forged between employees from the pueblos and other workers at Los Alamos. This was evidenced by gatherings, such as a post-war celebration at the San Ildefonso Pueblo, as well as individual relationships between Lab staff and pueblo residents. Meanwhile, pueblo residents remained on as valuable members of the post-war Lab staff with additional workers hired as well. In honor of November’s Native American Heritage Month, staff at the National Security Research Center are taking a look back to LANL’s early workforce and the contributions -- both to our mission and our cultural enrichment -- made by Native Americans.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• DOE Contract Number: 89233218CNA000001
• OSTI ID: 1679987
• Report Number(s): LA-UR--20-28275
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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