Background
In reality, Mary Whitebird is a very private writer and film-maker who was born in Arizona and died on October 2010 "Ever since I could remember, I"ve been interested in the American Indian.
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Mary Whitebird
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Her famous short story "" was published in the early 1970s. " I went to high school with a number of Seneca and Onondaga Indians, who lived in Rochester, New New York While I was in the army I was stationed in west Texas.
I was the editor of the post newspaper, and had more free time than most soldiersand more access on and off the military base.
One of my friends was a Sac and Fox Indian from Oklahoma. With him, we drove to all the neighboring reservations (mostly Apache) and I saw firsthand some of the injustices (this was in the early 50s) accorded the Indians.
I wrote some letters about it to the local newspaper. Since the army did not look kindly toward soldiers getting involved in controversial public issues, I signed my letters M. Whitebird.
lieutenant was just a name that sounded generally Indian to medical "
"I met a teenage Navajo girl who was having a hard time balancing her desire to explore the greater world and her allegiance to Navajo customs.
From Jenny ( whose Navajo name was Granddaughter-of-he-who-Sings) I got the character of Mary Whitebird."
"" is based on a ceremony of the Kaw Indians. which is where she was a tribe of. My husband comes from the northern part of Nebraska. Almost no full-blooded Kaw exist.
They were a sub-tribe of the Kansas.
Tuberculosis and cholera wiped them out about 70 years ago. And, I wrote the story.
This was an author"s comment on his short story.
