Occupation: Retired
Age: 82
Enrolled Yakama Tribal Member
I was taught not act or
look Indian. It was a bad thing back then and you didn’t want
people to think you were
Indian because you would be shunned basically. My mother bought all of us kids
long sleeve shirts and big sun hats to wear during the summer. We tanned so
easily in the sun, she didn’t want us to get dark and look Indian. We all knew
we were Indian but we were never taught to be proud of it.
My grandmother was
orphaned at a young age, so she raised in the boarding school at Fort Simco and
taught English she was also taught she wasn’t to be proud of her heritage. She
was told her father was a white man and a scout. He helped guide the travelers
over the mountains to protect them from Indians. An Indian killed him while he
was scouting, so I was told not embrace being native.
My grandmother passed down a ceremonial dress, to my mother and then to my oldest sister and that was the only thing she ever gave us that had anything to do with being Native. I attended my first native funeral ceremony two years ago. I am sad to see the traditions slipping away.
My grandmother passed down a ceremonial dress, to my mother and then to my oldest sister and that was the only thing she ever gave us that had anything to do with being Native. I attended my first native funeral ceremony two years ago. I am sad to see the traditions slipping away.
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