Woesha Cloud North
Woesha Cloud North | |
---|---|
North teaching in the experimental school at Alcatraz, 1971 | |
Born | Anne Woesha Cloud September 7, 1918 |
Died | October 10, 1992 | (aged 74)
Nationality | American |
Other names | Woesha North |
Occupation(s) | teacher, artist, activist |
Years active | 1941–1989 |
Children | 5; including Renya K. Ramirez |
Parent(s) | Elizabeth Bender Roe Cloud Henry Roe Cloud |
Relatives | Chief Bender (uncle) |
Woesha Cloud North (September 7, 1918, in Ho-Chunk-Ojibwe – October 10, 1992) was an American artist, teacher, and activist. She taught in the Palo Alto Public schools from 1961 to 1969 and then assisted in running the school during the Occupation of Alcatraz. From the early 1970s, she began to teach at the university level, teaching art at San Francisco State College, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, and California State University, Fresno. Throughout her life, she was active in women's organizations and organizations focused on indigenous people. Posthumously, her service was honored with an induction into Stanford's Multicultural Alumni Hall of Fame in 1995.
Early life and education
[edit]Anne Woesha Cloud was born on September 7, 1918, in Wichita, Kansas, to Elizabeth Georgiana (née Bender) and Henry Roe Cloud.[1][2] On her father's side, Cloud was Ho-Chunk and on her mother's, Ojibwe.[2][3] Her father was a teacher who founded the American Indian Institute of Wichita, and later was the superintendent of the Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas.[4] Her mother was a teacher and taught at the Institute, managed the finances, acted as matron, and advised on the school administration.[5][6] Cloud was the couple's second daughter, and she had an older sister, Elizabeth Marion (born 1917), and three younger siblings, Lillian Alberta (born 1920), Ramona Clark (born 1922) and Henry Jr. (1926–1929). When her brother died, they adopted Jay Hunter, according to Ho-Chunk custom.[7] Her parents were strong advocates of higher education and Cloud obtained an undergraduate degree from Vassar College in 1940.[8]
Career
[edit]After her graduation, Cloud worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, teaching as an apprentice at the Phoenix Indian School, before being sent to teach as an arts and crafts instructor on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.[8][9] After teaching for two years, Cloud married a non-Native, Robert Carver North on August 14, 1943, in Walterboro, South Carolina.[8][10] Robert served in the U.S. Army during World War II and participated in the Battle of Saipan.[11] While he was away, North completed a master's degree in painting and fine arts under L. C. Mitchell at Ohio University in 1944 and then moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts.[1][12] By the late 1940s they had moved to California and both were studying at Stanford University.[13] Robert became a professor at Stanford and North devoted time to raising their five children.[8] Her daughter, Renya K. Ramirez, is an anthropologist and author.[14]
North became a regular exhibitor of art in the San Francisco Bay Area and when her children were old enough, she returned to teaching. In 1961, she became an art teacher for the Palo Alto public school system.[15] On December 2, 1969, Cloud went to Alcatraz Island to participate in the events unfolding there among Native American people.[8][16] Just over a week later, when the All Tribes Elementary School was founded, she began teaching at the experimental school.[8][17] Along with traditional reading and math courses, students were given classes in Native culture. During the week, North remained on the island but on weekends returned to care for her family.[8] In May 1970, she returned home, but continued commuting to the island two days a week to teach art classes, until the government forced the remaining American Indians to abandon the occupation in June 1971.[18][19]
In the fall of 1970, North joined in the founding of the National Indian Women's Action Corps, an empowerment organization for Native American women. The organizing officers included Dorothy Lonewolf Miller (Blackfoot), president; Grace Thorpe (Sac & Fox), vice president; Stella Leach (Colville-Oglala Lakota), 2nd vice president; North, secretary; Henrietta Whiteman (Cheyenne), treasurer; and Jennie R. Joe (Navajo), sergeant-at-arms.[20] She was also a founder of the American Indian and Alaska Native Caucus for the American Public Health Association.[21] In the early 1970s, she began teaching at San Francisco State College[16] and completed a second master's degree at Stanford in 1972, in art education.[11][12]
In 1975, she and Robert divorced, and North moved to Lincoln, Nebraska.[8] She graduated with her PhD in educational history and philosophy in 1978 from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and then taught in the ethnic studies department at Lincoln.[8][12] When she was not teaching, she produced and exhibited art works.[8] She participated in exhibits in the Bay Area and at the Heard Museum from 1966 to 1975. Her work was also shown in 1975 in Sacramento for the Governor's Minority Art Native American Exhibit.[22] In 1983, her paintings were featured in the exhibit, Recent Paintings by North and Yazzie, hosted by the U. S. Department of the Interior at the Sioux Indian Museum in Rapid City, South Dakota.[2] Her painting style originally was realistic, but later works used symbolism, cubism, and impressionism to depict family as a part of the greater universe, blending in images of traditional Native elements.[12][23] In 1984, she returned to the west coast to be near her daughters.[8] She moved to Fresno and taught at California State University until her retirement.[24]
Death and legacy
[edit]North died on October 10, 1992, in Fresno.[25][26] Posthumously, in 1995, her artwork was featured as part of the exhibit, Our Art, Our Voices: Native American Cultural Perspectives, in honor of the silver jubilee of the Stanford American Indian Organization.[27][28] In 1996, she was inducted into the Multicultural Alumni Hall of Fame of Stanford, for her service to the American Indian community and "society at large".[21]
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ a b The Ohio Alumnus 1950, p. 19.
- ^ North 1971, p. 26.
- ^ Crum 1988, pp. 172, 179.
- ^ Gridley 1936, p. 34.
- ^ Messer 2009, pp. 94, 102.
- ^ Messer 2009, p. 108.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Riley 1984, p. 2D.
- ^ North 1971, p. 27.
- ^ Marriage Records 1943.
- ^ a b Stanford Magazine 2002.
- ^ a b c d Nauman 1983, p. V2.
- ^ Mason 1949, p. 2C.
- ^ Grad, Rachel (March 21, 2018). "Professor Digs Into Family History To Tell Story Of Native American Activism". UC Santa Cruz Anthropology Chronicle. Retrieved August 30, 2020.
- ^ North 1971, pp. 25, 27.
- ^ a b North 1971, p. 25.
- ^ North 1971, p. 28.
- ^ North 1971, p. 29.
- ^ Johnson 1996, p. 232.
- ^ Hamilton 1970, p. 30.
- ^ a b Stanford Alumni Association 2013.
- ^ Anderson 1982, p. 85.
- ^ Ulrich 1984, p. 1H, 11H.
- ^ Lester 1995, p. 48.
- ^ California Death Index 1992.
- ^ Ramirez 2007, p. 6.
- ^ Native American Cultural Center 2000.
- ^ Stanford American Indian Organization 1995.
Bibliography
[edit]- Anderson, Owanah (1982). "North, Woesha Cloud". Ohoyo One Thousand: A Resource Guide of American Indian/Alaska Native Women. Washington, D. C.: U.S. Department of Education. p. 85. OCLC 424894862.
- Crum, Steven J. (Autumn 1988). "Henry Roe Cloud, A Winnebago Indian Reformer: His Quest for American Indian Higher Education" (PDF). Kansas History. 11 (3). Topeka, Kansas: Kansas Historical Society: 171–184. ISSN 0149-9114. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
- Gridley, Marion Eleanor (1936). Indians of Today. Crawfordsville, Indiana: Lakeside Press, R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company. OCLC 2958703.
- Hamilton, Mildred (October 5, 1970). "Indians Decide It Is Time". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. p. 30. Retrieved August 26, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- Johnson, Troy R. (1996). The Occupation of Alcatraz Island: Indian Self-determination and the Rise of Indian Activism. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-06585-9.
- Lester, Patrick David (1995). "Woesha Cloud-North". The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters. Tulsa, Oklahoma: SIR Publications. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-8061-9936-8.
- Mason, Jack (September 11, 1949). "Flesh and Blood Novel Story of Man in Revolt". The Oakland Tribune. Oakland, California. p. 2C. Retrieved August 27, 2020 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
- Messer, David W. (2009). Henry Roe Cloud: A Biography. Lanham, Maryland: Hamilton Books. ISBN 978-0-7618-4919-3.
- Nauman, H. Jane (October 7, 1983). "Paintings Show Appreciation of Heritage". The Rapid City Journal. Rapid City, South Dakota. p. V2. Retrieved August 27, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- North, Woesha Cloud (Spring 1971). "Living on Alcatraz". Vassar Quarterly. 57 (3). Poughkeepsie, New York: Alumnae & Alumni of Vassar College: 25–29. OCLC 904101781. pages 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29. Retrieved August 27, 2020 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
- Ramirez, Renya K. (2007). Native Hubs: Culture, Community, and Belonging in Silicon Valley and Beyond. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-4030-0.
- Riley, Katie (April 15, 1984). "North's Life Links Tribe, Modern World". The Sunday Journal and Star. Lincoln, Nebraska. p. 2D. Retrieved August 27, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- Stanford American Indian Organization (1995). Our Art, Our Voices: Native American Cultural Perspectives: A Celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Stanford American Indian Organization, Stanford University Art Gallery, Stanford, California, September 26 – December 17, 1995. Stanford, California: Stanford University Art Gallery. OCLC 1074105999.
- Ulrich, Linda (August 5, 1984). "Native American Artists Blend Tradition, Modern Techniques (pt. 1)". The Lincoln Journal Star. Lincoln, Nebraska. p. 1H. Retrieved August 27, 2020 – via Newspapers.com. and Ulrich, Linda (August 5, 1984). "Artists (pt. 2)". The Lincoln Journal Star. Lincoln, Nebraska. p. 11H. Retrieved August 27, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- "1944". The Ohio Alumnus. XXVIII (9). Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Alumni Association: 19. June 1950. OCLC 695549693. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
- "California Death Index, 1940–1997: Woesha Cloud North". FamilySearch. Sacramento, California: Department of Public Health Services. October 10, 1992. Retrieved August 27, 2020. – via FamilySearch (subscription required)
- "Colleton County, South Carolina marriage licenses, Numbers 11151-12099, February 1943 – June 1945: Cloud/North". FamilySearch. Walterboro, South Carolina: Colleton County Courthouse. August 14, 1943. digital folder 7748027, images 535–536. Retrieved August 27, 2020. – via FamilySearch (subscription required)
- "Ganado Artist Featured at Sioux Indian Museum". The Navajo Times. Window Rock, Arizona. October 12, 1983. Retrieved August 27, 2020 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
- "Helping Peace Happen". Stanford Magazine. Stanford, California: Stanford Alumni Association. November–December 2002. OCLC 659512504. Archived from the original on July 10, 2020. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
- "History Timelines: Founding of SAIO". Native American Cultural Center. Stanford, California: Stanford University. 2000. Archived from the original on August 7, 2020. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- "Multicultural Alumni Hall of Fame: Native American Cultural Center". Stanford Alumni Association. Stanford, California: Stanford University. 2013. Archived from the original on April 30, 2020. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- 1918 births
- 1992 deaths
- People from Wichita, Kansas
- Vassar College alumni
- Stanford University alumni
- Ohio University alumni
- University of Nebraska alumni
- San Francisco State University faculty
- University of Nebraska faculty
- California State University, Fresno faculty
- American women artists
- Schoolteachers from California
- Native American activists
- American women's rights activists
- 20th-century American educators
- Ho-Chunk people
- American Ojibwe people
- American people of Ojibwe descent
- Native American women academics
- American women academics
- Native American academics
- 20th-century American women educators
- Cloud family
- Native American women artists