Lakota Woman

If anyone thinks the US has descended only recently into fascism, this is a heartbreaking and infuriating account making clear the seeds have been there all along.

I suppose since this autobiography by Mary Ellen Moore-Richard (Crow Dog / Brave Bird), a Lakota / Sioux Native-American (9/26/1954 – 2/14/2013) and co-author, Richard Erdoes (7/7/1912 – 7/16/2008), a journalist of European extraction, is some 16 or 17 years old (c. 1990), a college text book, and the basis of a Jane Fonda produced 1994 movie, that most folks already know about this autobiography of a Lakota Indian from the Rosebud Reservation of South Dakota, or perhaps know of her activities from news reports of the 1970’s. . .but maybe not.
I appreciated the clinical writing style that allowed me to learn on a cerebral, rather than emotional, level about the conditions with which Mary Crow Dog lived at the Rosebud Reservation show more in the 1960-s and 70’s that led her, at the age of 10, to indulge in alcohol; as a young adult, to leave, giving up the fight to retain her dignity and cultural identity, the Catholic school that she’d been forced to attend (compliments of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie); to subsequently live for a time as an impoverished delinquent; and then, still a teenager, to become a key player in the American Indian Movement (AIM) protestations. She describes in detail the 1973 Wounded Knee Incident, during which she gave birth to her first son—less afraid of the many flying bullets, than a trip to a hospital from which she’d seen too many pregnant Native American women return infertile instead of with new babies.
On a lighter note, of particular interest are the descriptions of the role of the Medicine Man as not only a healer, but also a religious and political leader. show less

This book made me cry. It also brought dreams--good, powerful dreams. Furthermore, it inspired me to think about miscommunication in English. "I understood how mom was feeling. She was wrapped up in a different culture altogether. We spoke a different language. Words did not mean to her what they meant to us" (57). I think barriers within a language are especially pertinent in regards to conversations about ethnicity. Certain words can bring about white guilt, which can end a dialogue in defensiveness. However, Mary Crow Dog does a wonderful job of speaking truth.

Iam a woman of the Red Nation, a Sioux woman,"" writes Mary Crow Dog. ""That is not easy."" With the help of Erdoes (coeditor, American Indian Myths and Legends, 1984, etc.), Crow Dog uses her life as an example of the humiliations and hardships of modern Indian life--but in her case, a life vindicated by the brave defiance of the American Indian Movement (AIM). She was born Mary Brave Bird, in 1953, on South Dakota's bleak Rosebud Reservation. A half-blood abandoned by her white father, she became a rebel by her teens, leaving a cruelly repressive Catholic school and an overburdened mother in order to roam the western highways with other young Indian rebels, drinking and ripping-off stores. She was 18 and pregnant when her life was show more changed by the rebellion at Wounded Knee. Site of a historic massacre of Indian women and children, the tiny town became an Indian fortress, defended by the modern warriors of AIM against heavily armed federal forces. Mary watched friends die at Wounded Knee, but she also gave birth there--a symbolic rebirth for her embattled people. And there she met Leonard Crow Dog, a leader and medicine man who knew the ancient ways and instilled the young warriors with pride. Leonard was arrested soon after Wounded Knee, however, and Mary had to endure a two-year legal battle to free her new husband while living in New York with her son, Pedro, and meeting famous radical lawyers like William Kunstler. Leonard is now out of prison and back at the Rosebud Reservation, devoting himself to helping his people and Mary--through the rites of the sweat lodge, the Sun Dance, and the peyote ceremony--to discover what it means to be a real Indian. A gritty, convincing document of one woman's struggle to overcome poverty and oppression in order to live in dignity as an American Indian.

-Kirkus Review show less

Mary Brave Bird grew up on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota in a one-room cabin without running water or electricity. With her white father gone, she was left to endure “half-breed” status amid the violence, machismo, and aimless drinking of life on the reservation. Rebelling against all this—as well as a punishing Catholic missionary school—she became a teenage runaway.

Mary was eighteen and pregnant when the rebellion at Wounded Knee happened in 1973. Inspired to take action, she joined the American Indian Movement to fight for the rights of her people. Later, she married Leonard Crow Dog, the AIM’s chief medicine man, who revived the sacred but outlawed Ghost Dance.

Originally published in 1990, MHS library show more purchased as a paperback. Lakota Woman was a national bestseller and winner of the American Book Award. It is a story of determination against all odds, of the cruelties perpetuated against American Indians, and of the Native American struggle for rights. Working with Richard Erdoes, one of the twentieth century’s leading writers on Native American affairs, Brave Bird recounts her difficult upbringing and the path of her fascinating life. show less

Excellent read! An inspiring story of one woman who found the way to rise above what exists around her to create something somewhat better. This is not a sunshine & roses happy ending kind of story. But what she accomplishes with the means she has is much to be admired! Mirrors much of what I learned from a young friend among the Sioux people at the beginning of the '70s & saw unfold through those troubling years. A compelling read as well. Sheds clear light on some ugly, unwelcome truths along the way.

This memoir dives into the unmentioned persecution of the Lakota tribe. I would definitely use this book in a history or English classroom, considering the point-of-view and discussions of who has authority within historical writings.