Mourning Dove (Syilx Okanagan)

Mourning Dove (Syilx Okanagan, b. c. 1882–1888–d. 1936) was the second Indigenous woman in the United States to publish a novel, and she is a foundational figure in Indigenous American literature. Her novel Cogewea introduced what are now prominent themes in Indigenous writing: the mixed-blood figure poised between Indigenous and white cultures, critique of the trope of the “disappearing Indian,” and affirmation of Indigenous culture in the face of government policies designed to eradicate it. Mourning Dove lived during a period of profound dislocation for her people. At the turn of the twentieth century, the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee was in recent memory, Indigenous tribes were forced from what remained of their traditional territories and confined to reservations, and children were sent to schools designed to assimilate them. Ironically, the very education Mourning Dove received at these schools enabled her to become an important activist and advocate for Indigenous people and their culture. Not surprisingly given colonial conditions, basic biographical details about Mourning Dove are uncertain. Records and family accounts give competing birthdates between 1882 and 1888. Her English name was Christine Quintasket, her Indigenous name was Humishuma, and her pen name was Mourning Dove. She grew up on the Colville reservation in Washington State and identified with the Syilx Okanagan tribe, whose traditional territory spans the US-Canada border. While historical documents suggest she was of wholly Indigenous ancestry, she identified herself as mixed blood. Mourning Dove attended both mission and BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) schools, as well as a clerical college in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where she studied typing and English language. To support herself, she worked primarily as an agricultural laborer. Determined to be a writer, Mourning Dove managed to produce a novel, a collection of traditional Okanagan narratives, and an autobiography despite poverty, chronic health problems, and two difficult marriages. Her first work, the novel Cogewea, was written between 1912 and 1914, and it likely would not have been published without the assistance of Lucullus McWhorter, amateur ethnographer and activist for Indigenous people. The two met in 1914 and became close friends and collaborators. With McWhorter’s help, Cogewea was finally published in 1928, followed by Coyote Stories, a selection of traditional Okanagan narratives, in 1933. Mourning Dove’s autobiography was published posthumously in 1990. In addition to her writing, Mourning Dove was active in tribal politics and advocacy for Indigenous people. She died in 1936.

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