The following is a email that was shared with me that I wanted to share with you.
Gathered from the private collections of historians and philosophers and from long forgotten files in the Library of Congress, the photographs in the book "The Spirit of Indian Women" contradicts the perception that women played a subservient role in Native culture. Portraits of the individual women from pre-reservation era, some identified by name and some unknown, have been collected alongside photos of families, sisters, and mother and daughters. Wisdom, and dignity shine through these still images. smiles are rare but are all the more memorable for their scarcity.
The text was collected from writings of American Indians born before 1910, for whom the nomadic pre-reservation life was a living memory. Sections are devoted to tribal statements and observations of male leaders on the woman's role as a teacher, nurse, and spiritual leader and tribal legends that illustrate the importance of women with quotes from female elders.
While history books will always focus on war and conquest in telling the Native story, The Spirit of Indian Women serves as a reminder that, the the words of Lakota Luther Standing Bear, "It is the mothers, not the warriors, who create a people and guide their destiny."
The Spirit of Indian Women
Edited by Judith Fitzgerald
and Michael Oren Fitzgerald
www.worldwisdom.com
Osiyo My Relations,
It is with a sad heart that I let you know about the following Elders who have passed on:
Gladys Tantaquidgeon, 106, died on November 1, 2005, in Montville, Connecticut. Gladys, a medicine woman, was the most revered member of the Mohegan(Mohican)Indian Nation, immortalized in James Fenimore Cooper's "The Last of the Mohicans". She was a 10th generation descendant of the famed Chief Uncas portrayed in that novel, which she dismissed as "historical fiction", telling the Los Angeles Times that "my tribe, obviously, did not die out."
Gladys devoted much of her life to preserving her tribe and its culture, work that helped the Mohegans regain their tribal status in 1994. Today the tribe's Connecticut casino is one of the most successful in the world.
Vine Deloria Jr., 72, died on November 13, 2005 in Denver, Colorado. Vine was regarded as one of the most influential American Indians of the past century, the Yankton Sioux author and activist first gained national attention with his scathing 1969 bestseller "Custer Died for Your Sins", which University of Colorado Indian law expert Charles Wilkinson called "probably the single most influential book ever written on Indian affairs." Native activists credited Vine's speeches, articles, and lobbying with changing federal Indian policy to one of tribal self determination.
The son of an Episcopalian Indian minister, Vine held degrees in theology and law, taught at the University of Colorado, and wrote on a book on Indian medicine men at the time of his death.
May the Creator watch over these Elders as they return to the spirits of their ancestors. May the Creator watch over their families always! Aho!
Your Cherokee Brother,
Dan
Gathered from the private collections of historians and philosophers and from long forgotten files in the Library of Congress, the photographs in the book "The Spirit of Indian Women" contradicts the perception that women played a subservient role in Native culture. Portraits of the individual women from pre-reservation era, some identified by name and some unknown, have been collected alongside photos of families, sisters, and mother and daughters. Wisdom, and dignity shine through these still images. smiles are rare but are all the more memorable for their scarcity.
The text was collected from writings of American Indians born before 1910, for whom the nomadic pre-reservation life was a living memory. Sections are devoted to tribal statements and observations of male leaders on the woman's role as a teacher, nurse, and spiritual leader and tribal legends that illustrate the importance of women with quotes from female elders.
While history books will always focus on war and conquest in telling the Native story, The Spirit of Indian Women serves as a reminder that, the the words of Lakota Luther Standing Bear, "It is the mothers, not the warriors, who create a people and guide their destiny."
The Spirit of Indian Women
Edited by Judith Fitzgerald
and Michael Oren Fitzgerald
www.worldwisdom.com
Osiyo My Relations,
It is with a sad heart that I let you know about the following Elders who have passed on:
Gladys Tantaquidgeon, 106, died on November 1, 2005, in Montville, Connecticut. Gladys, a medicine woman, was the most revered member of the Mohegan(Mohican)Indian Nation, immortalized in James Fenimore Cooper's "The Last of the Mohicans". She was a 10th generation descendant of the famed Chief Uncas portrayed in that novel, which she dismissed as "historical fiction", telling the Los Angeles Times that "my tribe, obviously, did not die out."
Gladys devoted much of her life to preserving her tribe and its culture, work that helped the Mohegans regain their tribal status in 1994. Today the tribe's Connecticut casino is one of the most successful in the world.
Vine Deloria Jr., 72, died on November 13, 2005 in Denver, Colorado. Vine was regarded as one of the most influential American Indians of the past century, the Yankton Sioux author and activist first gained national attention with his scathing 1969 bestseller "Custer Died for Your Sins", which University of Colorado Indian law expert Charles Wilkinson called "probably the single most influential book ever written on Indian affairs." Native activists credited Vine's speeches, articles, and lobbying with changing federal Indian policy to one of tribal self determination.
The son of an Episcopalian Indian minister, Vine held degrees in theology and law, taught at the University of Colorado, and wrote on a book on Indian medicine men at the time of his death.
May the Creator watch over these Elders as they return to the spirits of their ancestors. May the Creator watch over their families always! Aho!
Your Cherokee Brother,
Dan
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