Background
Ethnicity:
Owens was a mixed-blood American of Choctaw, Cherokee, and Irish-American heritage.
Louis Owens was born on July 18, 1948, in Lompoc, California. He was the son of Hoey Louis, a laborer, and Ida (Brown) Owens. Owens was raised in poverty, one of nine brothers and sisters who shuttled with their parents between mostly ramshackle homes in Mississippi and California.