Mourning Dove

May 15, 1990
Mourning Dove (Christine Quintasket) spent her adult years justifying the ways of Native Americans to whites. Born into Colville Confederated Tribes in 1885 or 1888, she became an ethnographer, orator, pamphleteer, teacher, and novelist, believing that her description and analysis of Native American ways would ensure better treatment for her people. In the scholarly introduction to her unfinished autobiography, editor Miller describes his work with the Colvilles and his acquisition of Mourning Dove's manuscripts and notes, which he arranges according to important customs and cyclical/seasonal activities. Mourning Dove's evocation of the complexities of tribal life is irresistible, full of acutely remembered conversations, ceremonies, and events. "What kept us going," she says, "was the knowledge that everything on earth has its purpose, every disease an herb to cure it, and every person a mission. That is the Indian theory of existence." Notes, references, and photographs provide additional perspectives. Recommended for academic libraries and Native American collections.-- Rhoda Carroll, Vermont Coll., Montpelier

Copyright 1990 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.