June 9, 2019
Dear Family, Friends and Everyone else reading this blog,
Hi! Summer is here and I hope all are enjoying it. Another month has gone by since I last blogged. Time flies!
My book, Sky Woman Lives in Me, is still for sale, even though it was self published in 2016. Because of the subject matter of my book, I felt it would never be published by a big publishing company. My book talks about how my great-grandmother and her sister were forced to attend the Carlisle Indian Industrial Boarding School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania to become assimilated white. Even though my book isn’t selling, I will continue to share my story so people know what really happened to my grandmothers and myself! I am sharing true history that wasn’t shared in school.
Assimilation, Indian Boarding Schools, reservations were not taught in history class. I, myself, had never seen a reservation until I attended the Lac du Flambeau Public Grade School in 1966. I was very shocked at the poor homes and poverty on this reservation back then. I grew up hearing my relatives mention how my great-grandmother, Sophia Huff Powless attended Carlisle with Jim Thorpe. she really did not attend with Jim Thorpe. My family ‘sugar-coated this story by stating that Sophia went to this school with the great Jim Thorpe. He attended Carlisle long after Sophia had left the school. This far away school was supposed to make her a better person, teach her English and academics and change her clothes and shoes to European dress. Her hair was to be put into a bun, like white- Euro ladies. Braids and long hair were forbidden. Her Oneida clothes and moccasins were taken away and burned! Her name was changed by a reservation agent to Sophia. Sadly, to this day, I do not know what her Oneida name was. Her language, Oneida, also was forbidden. Only English was allowed to all tribes attending Carlisle. Sophia was caught speaking Oneida and had to eat lye soap! But, through her caginess, she practiced her Oneida in secret and never lost her language.
So even though time is flying by, like I have mentioned above, nothing really has changed much for indigenous people. There are still reservations, many of them very impoverished. Some of the poorer reservations have no YMCA, no malls, no movie theaters, no big grocery stores, no plumbing in their homes, no electricity, bad water, few gas stations. I could go on and on. The Oneida Reservation, that Sophia lived on as a child, was very poor then. Today it is much healthier. But, today, there are still reservations in this country that are third world, very poor! My heart goes out to the immigrants near the Mexican border. They, too are suffering, unjustly! Kids being separated from both of their parents is not right! The child in the photo below is sleeping on the ground! His wall, a chain link fence!
June 6th would have been my Grandma Millie’s 119th birthday. She lived until 2010 to be 104 years old. I thank Our Creator, God, had her on Earth this long to help me with my book. She shared a lot. I am grateful. She is always in my heart. Here is a photo of Grandma Millie and I, taken a month before she died.
We celebrated D-Day recently. There were many indigenous men who fought for this country. I show a photo of my Uncle John, a Marine, who fought in the Korean War. He is standing with Sophia and my Great Grandfather, Hyson Powless. My Uncle Ed was in the Army and my Uncle Richard was in the Navy. Grandma Millie used to live in San Diego. She sewed parachutes for the soldiers at war.
Recently, I learned that there will be a Repatriation of 3 Oneidas buried at the Carlisle Indian Cemetery. I am glad these three will be finally laid to rest at home in Oneida, Wisconsin. Ophelia Powless, Sophia Caulon and Jemima Metoxen are the three whose remains will be disinterred. Information probably can be learned from Kirby Metoxen or Rosa Laster from the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin.
Father’s Day is just around the corner. I wish all Fathers’ a wonderful day. I show photos of my sons, taking naps with their sons! And,since time is flying so fast, in my heart I hope Leonard Peltier is released from prison. It would be wonderful for him to celebrate Father’s Day with his children as well as his family. Can someone with a moral conscience, please free Leonard Peltier!
Thank you for reading this blog. Please feel free to share if you wish. May Our Creator, God, bless all of us.
Sky Woman Lives in Me 