Blanket

 Diné women wove waterproof wool blankets that were worn around the shoulders. In 1863 the U.S. Army forcibly removed the Diné from Arizona to Bosque Redondo detention camp in New Mexico and killed the tribe’s churro sheep. Ingenious weavers combined commercial wool with unraveled red flannel to create colorful designs.

During captivity, weaving became the Diné’s primary source of income, and when they returned to their homelands in 1868, it continued to flourish with the expansion of the railroad and the establishment of trading posts. This man's chief-style blanket has a variant pattern with black and white stripes and white and blue serrated zigzags on a red ground.