Zonnie Gorman presents 'Growing Up With Heroes: The First 29 Navajo Code Talkers'

Discover how the first 29 Navajo Code Talkers of WWII created the initial Navajo code and how their life experiences, cultural upbringing, and sheer ingenuity helped secure America’s freedom in the Pacific.

Zonnie Gorman, a historian and the daughter of the oldest member of the original Navajo Code Talkers, Carl Gorman, expertly weaves her personal connection and intimate knowledge of the first Navajo Code Talkers with her 30 years of archival research and collected first-account stories. You will experience the Navajo reservation of the 1940s, the federal boarding schools, and learn about the devastating U.S. government policy of assimilation, designed to destroy Indian lifeways and languages.

Gorman holds a master’s degree in history and is working toward a PhD in history at the University of New Mexico. She has appeared in several documentaries, including the History Channel’s “In Search of History: Navajo Code Talkers,” and the MGM double DVD release “Windtalkers.”  

Gorman's presentation is the keynote address of the 5th Veterans in Society Conference, a national event hosted this year by ASU's Office for Veteran and Military Academic Engagement in the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts at ASU Downtown Phoenix campus, Oct. 20–21, 2022. The theme of this year's conference is "Resilience, Pedagogy and Veteran Studies."  View the full conference schedule.

Stacey Eastwood, Coordinator

Office for Veteran and Military Academic Engagement, College of Integrative Sciences and Arts

sdeastwo@asu.edu