Customer Reviews

Native Women of Courage (Native Trailblazer Series)

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This 82-page book contains short biographies of 10 native women from the United States and Canada. Some of the women are fairly well-known, such as Wilma Mankiller (first woman chief of the Cherokees), Winona LaDuke (environmentalist and vice presidential candidate), and Maria Tallchief (ballerina for the New York City ballet). Others I had never heard of, such as Suzanne Rochon-Burnett, a Canadian radio broadcaster, and Lorna Williams, an educator who developed a native-centric curriculum.

I enjoyed reading the stories of all of these women. The author describes the challenges these women faced as well as their triumphs. I learned that Pauline Johnson-Tekahionwake, a poet and performer, had written down legends told to her by Chief Capilano of Vancouver, British Columbia. These are collected in a book called Legends of Vancouver, first published in 1910. I was able to request this book from my library to read to my kids. I also learned about Susan Aglukark, an Inuit singer who has won 3 Juno awards (the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy award). I'm glad to know about a new singer I might like to listen to.

I included this book on my online Gender Equality Bookstore.