Three remarkable indigenous women celebrated for Women’s History Month
WHM, celebrated annually in March, designated by Presidential proclamation
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For Women’s History Month, we are celebrating three indigenous women: Kwilqa, Pend d’Oreille, who became a woman warrior, brave and fearless; Christine Quintasket, Salish, who was the first Native American woman to publish a novel as well as stories on her culture; and Adeline Abraham Mathias, Kootenai, who helped preserve the Kootenai language and culture.
These stories illustrate the high regard that Native American women have traditionally enjoyed, and the prominent roles they have played in their tribes. They were healers, teachers, warriors, counsellors, mothers, daughters, sisters and grandmothers. They provided strength, courage and wisdom. Here are their stories:
Kwilqs, born in 1806, is said to epitomize the modern definition of feminist. She was a woman of power who made her own choices about her life. She lived during a time of tragedy and violence to her tribe. For the love of her people, it is said that she chose not to marry but to become a warrior. Her feats were remarkable. She was fearless, determined and brave but also nurturing.
She is said to have led her tribe in all battles including against the Blackfeet who were humiliated and indignant that a women was leading the charge. Although the Blackfeet shot at point blank range, not a single Pend d’ Oreille was injured. She similarly led a successful campaign against a whole squadron of Crow with only a small band of Pend d’Oreille.
She had so many narrow escapes that friends and foes alike thought she lived a charmed life. She also always took care of the sick and the wounded. In a letter to James A. Garfield, a territorial legislator compared Kwilqs’ history to the “romance of Joan d’Arc.”
Christine Quintasket, born in 1888, was the first Native American to publish a novel. She wrote under the pen name of Mourning Dove. Christine learned the ancient ways from her people and drew on this traditional culture in her writings. Her novel, published in 1927, is a romance about a young, spirited, mixed-blood girl torn between the traditional ways of her grandmother and the modern ways of an Easterner, whom she falls in love with but who abandons her and steals her money. She ends up marrying a mixed-blood ranch hand who has loved her all along.
Christine also published stories that draw on traditional Salish tales. In one, a carefree, mischievous girl encounters Owl Woman, who eats children. She is killed but fortunately brought back to life by Meadow Lark. In the meantime, Coyote plots Owl Woman’s death and frees all the children. Christine wrote other Coyote Stories, published in 1933, that draw on legends handed down for generations by her tribe. Christine wrote that her greatest gratitude is being born “a descendant of the genuine Americans, the Indians.”
Adeline Abraham Mathias, born 1910, devoted her life to preserving the Kootenai language and culture. She was a great granddaughter and granddaughter of Kootenai chiefs and was raised largely by her grandparents on the Flathead Reservation in accordance with traditional Kootenai customs and history that dated back 10,000 years. She was fluent in the Kootenai language and learned to hunt, tan hides, sew clothes, find, preserve and cook traditional Kootenai foods.
Central to her traditional training was to be “kind, generous and to help others.” “I am a strong woman,” she was proud of saying. Over time, she became a repository for her tribe’s spiritual and cultural knowledge and helped preserve the Kootenai language. The Kootenai language is a “language isolate” (unrelated to any other languages) and its preservation is particularly critical. Adeline recorded hours of Kootenai, compiled oral histories and devoted herself to mentoring others. She also assisted the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in preserving tribal history. As her granddaughters wrote, Adeline “upheld a lifelong commitment to be true to the Kootenai ways” and was “a shining example and role model for what it means to be a real Indian.”
These stories vividly illustrate the important role that women, particularly grandmothers, have played in preserving our history, culture, and spiritual practices. In celebrating Women’s History Month think about the wisdom among women in your family. Who were your role models? How have opportunities for women changed over time? What can we do to improve the opportunities for women?
Sources: Ferguso L.K. Resilience: Stories of Montana Indian Women, Montana Historical Society; Cajune J. Salish Women: Who we were and who we are, magazineim.com; Women’s History Matters, Nineteenth-Century Indigenous Women Warriors, montanawomenshistory.org; Miller, J. (ed.) Mourning Dove: A Salishan Autobiography, University of Nebraska Press, 1990; Nisbe J., Nisbe C. Mourning Dove (Christine Quintasket) (ca. 1884-1936), HistoryLink.org Essay 9512; Center for the Study of the Pacific North. Christine Quintasket (Mourning Dove or Humishuma), University of Washington; Women’s History Matters. “I Was a Strong Woman”: Adeline Abraham Mathias, montanawomenshistory.org; Rave J. Kootenai Matriarch, 95, Tribe’s Key Link to History, Customs, Missoulian, Oct 22, 2005; Stromnes, J. Many fear that the Kootenai language will die with its elders Missoulian Aug. 26, 2000; Plummer, M. Passing it on, Voices from the Flathead Indian Reservation, Salish Kootenai College Press, 2008.
