Where Courage Is Like a Wild Horse: The World of an Indian Orphanage [Hardcover]

Manny Skolnick (Author), Sharon Skolnick (Okee-Chee) (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1997

The dreams of a courageous Apache girl illuminate the hidden world of an Indian orphanage in this unforgettable story. Over forty years ago, Sharon Skolnick (Okee-Chee) and her sisters were removed from their Apache parents and became wards of the state of Oklahoma. She and her nearest sister made their way together through the Oklahoma Indian child welfare system. Shuttled back and forth between foster homes and orphanages, they finally ended up at the Murrow Indian Orphanage in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Here, Skolnick tells the gripping and ultimately triumphal account of the year the sisters spent there.

 

Murrow was a place of wonder and terror, friendship and loneliness, where resilient children forged shifting alliances and conspired together yet yearned in solitude for a home and family to call their own. Skolnick paints an absorbing portrait of the world of an Indian orphanage, a world both bright and dark, vividly rendered through a child's eyes but tempered by the perspective of the woman who survived the Indian child welfare system and became an Apache artist.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

An artist in Chicago who attended the Institute of American Indian Arts, Sharon Skolnick is an Apache. In 1953, when she was nine years old, she and a younger sister spent a year at the Murrow Indian Orphanage in Oklahoma. This memoir chronicles her experiences there. The two girls were tormented by other children but eventually made friends. Sharon discovered her artistic abilities and was recognized for them at the local school. Finally, a local farm family adopted the two sisters. Told in short sketches, this book reflects universal experiences of childhood as well as details of institutional life. Though quite short, it is well written and compelling; a more comprehensive autobiography would have been even more interesting. For Native American studies and larger popular collections of memoirs.?Gwen Gregory, New Mexico State Univ. Lib., Las Cruces
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A tribute to the resilience of the human spirit"--Chicago Tribune. "When Sharon Skolnick, an Apache Indian, was shunted off to the Murrow Indian Orphanage in Oklahoma with her little sister in 1953, she writes, 'I was the toughest fighter, pound for pound, in the orphanage. I was silent and brooding and mean.' ... She is now known as Okee-Chee and is a successful artist in Chicago... Skolnick's work adds to the growing list of Indian writers who tell their stories with great pride, and too much intelligence to sour their memories with bitterness." --Christian Science Monitor. "A vivid, wrenching memoir of a year in a child's life... Skolnick makes an admirable addition to the autobiographical literature of the American Indian experience of childhood in an institution."--American Indian Quarterly. "With the help of her husband, Skolnick remembers her time in this dismal world of orphans, with the element of racism thrown in to augment the heartache. It's a testament to the writing here that in recalling such obdurate conditions, she still manages to create a sweet memoir."--Publishers Weekly. "Told in short sketches, this book reflects universal experiences of childhood as well as details of institutional life... Well written and compelling."--Library Journal.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 148 pages
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press (October 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803242638
• ISBN-13: 978-0803242630
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,021,372 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An extraordinary look at an Indian orphanage in the 50's., November 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Where Courage Is Like a Wild Horse: The World of an Indian Orphanage (Hardcover)

As wards of the state of Oklahoma, Linda Lakoe (Okee-Chee) and her sister Jackie arrive at the predominately indian Murrow orphanage. As Apaches, they are met with suspicion, fear, and aggression from the other children. Linda struggles to become respected by the others, while Jackie, the younger of the two focuses on finding the adoptive family she has never known.

The book depicts their year together at the orphanage, and the challenges that they endure as orphans, and as sisters with different goals. Linda finds comfort and meaning as an aspiring artist, while her younger sister can only find such comfort with the prospect of having a mother.

This is one of the most tear-jerking, thought provoking books I have read in recent years. It depicts a journey of self realization and discovery. Linda's self discovery, brought on by her prospective adoptive mother, is thrilling and uplifting - provoking anyone who reads it to believe that no matter what, there is always a mother figure in life who can make right, teach, nurture and provide a basis to understand one's own culture.

The entire book consists of chapters that begin with dream like narrations - An excellent method of recalling what should be, and probably are shady memories of a past that is understandably blurry.

Still, this is one of the best books I've read so far... I would highly recommend it to anyone - especially those who have interest in learning about native american identity in the 20th century.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brings back the insighful imagination of a child...., November 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Where Courage Is Like a Wild Horse: The World of an Indian Orphanage (Hardcover)

This book helped bring back my inner child and rediscover the relationship I had with the earth as a child. Remarkable insight was present in the author when she described her past.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sad but True Account of the Native American Experience, April 17, 2011

By 

Janet Ma'ly "Embracing the World" (Chicago area, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Where Courage Is Like a Wild Horse: The World of an Indian Orphanage (Paperback)

In this book, Sharon Skolnick,an Apache woman, tells the story of how she and her sister were taken from their family as children (sadly this was not uncommon) and put in a residential school/orphanage for Native American children in 1953. Her recollection of life there was both informative and appalling. The one fact that I learned that I had not been aware of is that the Native Americans were treated much the way the African Americans were treated during segregation, i.e. different water fountains, etc. I was saddened that I had never known this about the original "Americans". Though hard to read, I was glad for this opportunity to learn more. Their story should be told.