Indigenous Memoirs and BiographiesLike this list

25 items

• See-Me Street

  My Homeless Indigenous Journey

  Starlight, DerRic,

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  In See-Me Street: My Homeless Indigenous Journey, DerRic Starlight lays down the story of three years on the streets of Canadian cities. Known for his comedy and puppets, he walked away from the stage and the drinking life to confront homelessness…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Children Like Us

  a Métis Woman's Memoir of Family, Identity and Walking Herself Home

  Penner, Brittany,

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  By the time Brittany Penner is seven years old, she has loved and lost twenty-one foster siblings who have come into her family and left—all of them Indigenous like her. "When will it be my turn?" she asks her mother time and time again. "When will…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Many Names of Robert Cree

  How a First Nations Chief Brought Ancient Wisdom to Big Business and Prosperity to His People

  Cree, Robert (Elder),

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  His mother called him "Bobby Mountain." Elders called him "Great Man." His people called him "Chief." Oil men called him "Mr. Cree." But the government called him "Number 53." Robert Cree was all of these while facing his people's oppressors and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Stoneface

  a Defiant Dene

  Kakfwi, Steve,

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  Stephen Kakfwi was born in a bush camp on the edge of the Arctic Circle in 1950. In a family torn apart by tuberculosis, alcohol and the traumas endured by generations in residential school, he emerged as a respected Dene elder and eventually the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Ira Hayes

  the Akimel O'odham Warrior, World War II, and the Price of Heroism

  Holm, Tom, 1946-

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  The gripping, forgotten tale of Ira Hayes—a Native American icon and World War II legend who famously helped raise the flag at Iwo Jima but spent the latter half of his life haunted by being a war hero.

• Becoming a Matriarch

  a Memoir

  Knott, Helen, 1987-

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  When matriarchs begin to disappear, there is a choice to either step into the places they left behind, or to craft a new space. Helen Knott’s debut memoir, In My Own Moccasins, wowed reviewers, award-juries, and readers alike with its profoundly…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Fire Still Burns

  Life in and After Residential School

  George, Sam (Samuel James),

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  My name is Sam George. In spite of everything that happened to me, by the grace of the Creator, I have lived to be an Elder.' The crimes carried out at St. Paul's Indian Residential School in North Vancouver scarred untold numbers of Indigenous…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• It Stops Here

  Standing Up for Our Lands, Our Waters, and Our People

  George, Rueben,

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  A personal account of one man's confrontation with colonization that illuminates the philosophy and values of a First Nation threatened by the Trans Mountain pipeline. It Stops Here is the story of the spiritual, cultural, and political resurgence…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Unbroken

  My Fight for Survival, Hope, and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls

  Sterritt, Angela,

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  As a Gitxsan teenager navigating life on the streets, Angela Sterritt wrote in her journal to help her survive and find her place in the world. Now an acclaimed journalist, she writes for major news outlets to push for justice and to light a path…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Child of Morning Star

  Embers of An Ancient Dawn

  Mountain, Antoine, 1949-

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  Child of Morning Star is a poetic collection of stories that draw on the author's travels and knowledge as a Dene artist and his experience being forcibly taken from his home and placed in a residential school. Each part of this book corresponds to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Half Bads in White Regalia

  a Memoir

  Caetano, Cody,

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  The Caetanos move into a doomed house in the highway village of Happyland before an inevitable divorce pulls Cody's parents in separate directions. His mom, having discovered her Anishinaabe birth family and Sixties Scoop origin story, embarks on a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Path Lit by Lightning

  the Life of Jim Thorpe

  Maraniss, David,

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  im Thorpe rose to world fame as a mythic talent who excelled at every sport. He won gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, was an All-American football player at the Carlisle Indian School, the star of the first…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Our Voice of Fire

  a Memoir of a Warrior Rising

  Morin, Brandi,

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  Brandi Morin is known for her clear-eyed and empathetic reporting on Indigenous oppression in North America. She is also a survivor of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls crisis and uses her experience to tell the stories of those…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• So You Girls Remember That

  Memories of a Haida Elder

  Bellis, Gaadgaas Nora,

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  This is an oral history of a Haida Elder, Naanii Nora, who lived from 1902 to 1997. Compiled by Jenny Nelson, this is a window into Nora's life and her family. This book also contains the larger story of Nora's times, a representation of changing…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Dog Flowers

  a Memoir

  Geller, Danielle

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  After Danielle Geller's mother dies of a vicious withdrawal from drugs while homelessness, she is forced to return to Florida. Using her training as a librarian and archivist, Geller collects her mother's documents, diaries, and photographs into a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Life in the City of Dirty Water

  a Memoir of Healing

  Thomas-Müller, Clayton

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  A gritty and inspiring memoir from renowned Cree environmental activist Clayton Thomas-Muller, who escaped the world of drugs and gang life to take up the warrior's fight against the assault on Indigenous peoples' lands-and eventually the warrior's…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Call Me Indian

  From the Trauma of Residential School to Becoming the NHL's First Treaty Indigenous Player

  Sasakamoose, Fred, 1933-2020

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  Trailblazer. Residential school Survivor. First Treaty Indigenous player in the NHL. All of these descriptions are true - but none of them tell the whole story. Fred Sasakamooses memoir intersects Canadian history and Indigenous politics, and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• My Privilege, My Responsibility

  a Memoir

  North, Sheila,

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  North's work in advocacy journalism, communications, and economic development harnessed her passion for drawing focus to systemic racism faced by Indigenous women and girls. She is the creator of the widely used hashtag #MMIW. In her memoir, Sheila…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Poet Warrior

  a Memoir

  Harjo, Joy

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  Joy Harjo, the first Native American to serve as U.S. poet laureate, invites us to travel along the heartaches, losses, and humble realizations of her "poet-warrior" road. A musical, kaleidoscopic, and wise follow-up to Crazy Brave, Poet Warrior…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Indian in the Cabinet

  Speaking Truth to Power

  Wilson-Raybould, Jody, 1971-

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  Jody Wilson-Raybould was raised to be a leader. Inspired by the example of her grandmother, who persevered throughout her life to keep alive the governing traditions of her people, and raised as the daughter of a hereditary chief and Indigenous…Read moreRead more of this annotation