"While I was pleased to learn of the effort to increase access to and success of native Americans in higher education, reading it reminded me that there are many embedded stereotypes regarding native people that bear no relation to reality and that stereotypes are difficult to overcome.

A lack of recognition of native accomplishments parallels a similar lack of recognition that has dogged women for so long. The dominant culture always defines what is worth recognizing, and it is almost never the real-life accomplishments of minorities, particularly those of native peoples.

In particular, I think of my Passamaquoddy sister-in-law, who, after raising four boys as a single mother on Indian Township Reservation, is now a licensed massage therapist who also creates extraordinarily fine basketry and beadwork. One of her beaded wall hangings has been displayed in the Maine governor’s office.

Moreover, one of her sons has achieved national status as a traditional basket maker and has his work on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

Another of her grown sons is an artist and licensed massage therapist; another is a tile and stone craftsman, as well as a gourmet cook, trained at a European cooking school; yet another son is trained as an aviation mechanic.

One of her sisters recently earned her licensed practical nursing degree after raising three children and plans to become an RN. Another of her sisters has served on the Pleasant Point reservation as a substance abuse counselor and property manager. One of her brothers has served two terms as the tribal representative to the Maine Legislature, and her Penobscot daughter-in-law is in a graduate law program and interned last year at the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C."

Get the Story:
Elizabeth Frey: Maine’s native culture enriches us all (The Times Record 6/25)