These qualities, in combination, are what made her the person that Victorio called his shield.

The Question History Should Answer

There is a simple and important question that Lozen’s story forces the historical record to confront: how many other Lozens were there?

The specific circumstances of her situation — a woman warrior whose story was preserved in community oral tradition, whose actions were significant enough to be remembered specifically across generations, who happened to have her accounts collected by a researcher committed to recording Apache perspectives — allowed her story to survive.

But the oral tradition of every Indigenous people who experienced the disruption of European colonialism contains stories of individuals who contributed to their community’s survival and resistance in ways that the written record did not preserve.