Mary Brave BirdReseñas

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 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.

2.5 stars

It was interesting to learn about the Sioux people - their culture and history, etc. However, this book is more political rhetoric than memoir. Crow Dog recounts events from growing up in the 1960s and 1970s on a reservation. The book was published in 1990, so the nearness of events likely has influenced her opinions about race, which are quite generalized and unfair.

She attended a Catholic school, and during those times, Catholic schools were very strict (and unbiblical!) in their approach to education.

"[The beatings at school] had such a bad effect upon me that I hated and mistrusted every white person on sight, because I met only one kind. It was not until much later that I met sincere white people I could relate to and be friends with. Racism breeds racism in reverse." p 34

I cringe when I read this type of thing being perpetuated by people who are supposed to love others in response to God's love for them, but we can't change the past. We can only apologize that it ever happened, and attempt to do better going forward.

However, while I understand the sentiment of hating the people who hate you, I feel it's an illogical, and immature, position to hold as an adult. More racism will never right the original racism - it only keeps the cycle going.

And for all her talk of meeting "sincere" white people and becoming friends with them, she still seems to hate whites. Her assumptions about white people are terribly incorrect in many ways, and she made blanket, derogatory statements about whites on nearly every other page. Whenever the tiniest thing went wrong in her life, she always found a way to blame whites for it.

She also had strong statements to make about "half-bloods," whom she doesn't view as being "real" Indians - despite the fact that she is actually half-white herself! She sees herself as being a special exception; she considers herself a "whole-blood" because she practices the traditional religion of the Sioux.

She kept saying how brave she was and how everyone kept telling her she was brave during the American Indian Movement (AIM) stand at Wounded Knee, when she was 8 months pregnant, eventually giving birth there. In reality, she was selfish and immature. I was appalled at her failure to protect her unborn child. She tells how one day the government declared a cease-fire so that the women and children could leave, unharmed, but she decides to stay, stating, "If I'm going to die, I'm going to die here... I have nothing to live for out there." p 132

She also states, "One morning.... the feds opened [gunfire] upon me... some of the shots barely missed... all the men were overprotective, worrying about me." p 133

I certainly wouldn't consider that overprotective!

The timeline was very frustrating - Crow Dog kept jumping back and forth between multiple timeframes, without giving references so readers knew where she was in the story. In addition to all of this, there are also several sexual details given and quite a bit of language.

I've read that some of her historical reporting is not accurate, though I don't know it that's true or not. I would be interested in reading other accounts from Native American Indians to see how their accounts of the same time differed or remained the same.

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 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.

> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Brave-Bird-Lakota-Woman--Ma-vie-de-femme-sioux/32...
> Critiques Libres : http://www.critiqueslibres.com/i.php/vcrit/11017
 > Le Monde diplomatique (Christian de Brie) : https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/1992/10/BRIE/44788

This is an autobiography of Mary Crow Dog, a Lakota woman who found the way to rise above persecution of her people, the Lakota tribe.

Autobiography of Mary Crow Dog, a Lakota woman's triumphant struggle to survive in a hostile world.

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.

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.

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.

Lakota Woman is the autobiography of Mary Crow Dog. She is a Sioux Indian; also known as the Lakota. She didn't have much growing up on the reservation. She when to missionary school. The Sioux are a people that take care of each other as a group taking care of young and old. They do not save money or food like some. Sometimes that will honor the family ties up to the sixth generation, giving their last dollar. It is about the family community not the idividual. Mary was a loner though she was interested in perfume make-up or dresses, like some girls of the sixties and seventies. She was afraid of the white people and didn't really socialize with them. She married Leonard Crow Dog,a medicine man. Together they were part of a group to bring back the Sioux way of life including the Ghost dance.

I enjoy Indian history and stories .I thought Crow Dog shared herself well.
I would recommend this book to the Upper Grades.

La foi en la sagesse de l'homme "civilisé" inciterait à penser que l'animosité entre les Blancs et les Indiens d'Amérique s'est dissipée au fil des générations, et qu'il faut remonter à la fin du XIXème siècle pour en retrouver les dernières manifestations. Cette autobiographie de Mary Crow Dog (née Mary Brave Bird) nous démontre le contraire. Cette indienne métisse de la tribu des Lakotas (les Sioux) y raconte la reconquête de sa propre identité, de sa culture et de ses racines ancestrales, dans une Amérique des années 1960/70 qui n'a cessé de chercher à les anéantir durant plus d'un siècle. Chacun connait l'existence des réserves indiennes, ces miettes territoriales accordées gracieusement par l'immigrant Blanc triomphant à l'autochtone Indien vaincu, généralement dans le mépris de leur Histoire et des traditions des tribus concernées. Ce que l'on a tendance à ignorer, c'est la manière dont l'Etat Américain a cherché à annihiler toute trace de culture indienne au cours du XXème siècle, en interdisant notamment la pratique de la plupart des rituels religieux. Dans ce pays si épris de liberté, notamment de culte, les Indiens - pour la plupart forcés lors de leur reddition à se convertir au christianisme - n'avaient donc aucune latitude pour choisir leur religion et leur mode de vie. Mary Crow Dog raconte dans son livre toutes les humiliations, le déni et le racisme subi par son peuple et par elle-même, la citoyenneté à deux vitesses en vigueur dans un pays si fier de sa démocratie, et qui dit citoyenneté à deux vitesses dit également inégalité devant la justice, où dans certains Etats, il n'y a pas si longtemps, le meurtre d'un Indien était toujours considéré comme un délit mineur, mais où un délit mineur de la part d'un Indien était passible de sanctions pénales démesurées. Jusque dans les années 1970 (et peut etre meme par la suite encore), un Indien ne pouvait pas plus faire confiance à la médecine, ni même aux services sociaux ou à l'éducation de "son" pays : Mary Crow Dog raconte les stérilisations abusives de femmes Indiennes lors de banales hospitalisations, l'habitude qui consistait à retirer les enfants à leurs parents pour mieux façonner les jeunes générations aux modes de vie et de pensée des Blancs, ou encore l'extrême dureté de la scolarisation réservée aux Indiens. Ce livre est également un témoignage de l'Histoire du mouvement contestataire Indien initié dans les années 1970 (A.I.M.), et auquel Mary Crow Dog prit part de manière active ; elle relate notamment le plus retentissant fait d'arme du mouvement : le siège du site historique de Wounded Knee (où des sioux furent massacrés en 1890 par l'armée US), en 1973. Ce livre est également parsemé de nombreux détails sur les traditions du peuple Lakota (danse du Soleil, danse des Esprits, rôle de l'Homme-Médecine, etc...), mais sa partie historique est de mon point de vue la plus forte. Avec une amertume finalement assez modérée (n'importe qui serait haineux pour moins que ça), Mary Crow Dog narre la renaissance symbolique d'une nation dépossédée de tout, y compris de sa dignité. Les récents évènements rapportés dans la presse fin décembre 2007 (déclaration d'indépendance et renoncement symbolique à la nationalité américaine de la part de dirigeants sioux, voir liens annexes) tendent à prouver que les choses n'ont pas tellement évolué ces dernières années. (22/01/2008)

A really engaging autobiography from a Native woman before, during and after the siege at Wounded Knee in 1971 (1972?). Frank words about inter-tribal rifts, racism from whites, alcoholism, the "justice" system, and sexism. Loved it!

I need another copy of this--it was great.

Read 2020.½

history of Indian US relations after westward expansion