Theda Perdue

Sifters : Native American women's lives

In this edited volume, Theda Perdue, a nationally known expert on Indian history and southern womens history, offers a rich collection of biographical essays on Native American women. From Pocahontas, a Powhatan woman of the seventeenth century, to Ada Deer, the Menominee woman who headed the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the 1990s, the essays span four centuries. Each one recounts the experiences of women from vastly different cultural traditions-the hunting and gathering of Kumeyaay culture of Delfina Cuero, the pueblo society of San Ildefonso potter Maria Martinez, and the powerful matrilineal kinship system of Molly Brants Mohawks. Contributors focus on the ways in which different women have fashioned lives that remain firmly rooted in their identity as Native women. Perdues introductory essay ties together the themes running through the biographical sketches, including the cultural factors that have shaped the lives of Native women, particularly economic contributions, kinship, and belief, and the ways in which historical events, especially in United States Indian policy, have engendered change.

RISING FROM THE ASHES: THE CHEROKEE PHOENIX AS AN ETHNOHISTORICAL SOURCE

The Cherokee Phoenix is a widely used source for early 19th century Cherokee ethnohistory. An analysis of the newspaper and its content, contributors, and circulation reveals, however, that scholars should be cautious in their use of the publication for ethnological information because it does not give an accurate picture of Cherokee society nor did the contents reach and affect most Cherokee people.