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Reviews
Native Peoples of the Olympic Peninsula: Who We Are
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By the Olympic Peninsula Intertribal Cultural Advisory Committee, edited by Jacilee Wray
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University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 2002. Illustrations, photographs, maps, bibliography, index. 209 pages. $29.95 cloth.
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Reviewed by Sandy Johnson Osawa
Upstream Productions, Seattle, Washington, and Makah Tribe
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| Drop by your local
bookstore, and the need for a book about and by the Native peoples
of the Olympic Peninsula becomes painfully clear. The preface to
Native Peoples of the Olympic Peninsula notes that American
Indian students represent from 12 to 97 percent of the student bodies
in the Olympic Peninsula school districts, but school curricula
teach very little about Indian issues. The nine Washington State
tribes featured in this book — the Hoh, Skokomish, Squaxin
Island, three S'Klallam (with one preferring to be called Klallam),
Quinault, Quileute, and Makah — deserve to be better known
and understood in the Northwest. With that aim in mind, the Olympic
Peninsula Intertribal Cultural Advisory Committee decided to write
a book. |
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| This
is a rare attempt by tribal members from one region to tell their
own story. The book cautions that this is not a complete history
of the nine tribes, however, but rather a general overview. It is
divided into nine chapters, each of which features one tribe addressing
history, contemporary concerns, and tourist opportunities. Historic
and modern photographs treat readers to some unexpected treasures,
such as Squaxin Island's page of student autographs from an 1887
Chemawa yearbook or fourth-grade students' drawing of an "upside-down
person" illustrating an origin story of the Hoh Tribe. |
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Each chapter was approved by the respective tribal council, and the writers were appointed by their councils. This committee process may have drained some of the power from the most noble intentions for the book, however, as it is difficult to find a chapter that speaks dramatically to the wonder of these smallest of tribes and their heroic struggles to survive. |
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| At
its best, the book provides intimate and even humorous information,
such as the story retold by Beatrice Charles about how the Elwha
Kllalams came to be known as the "strong people." They figured out
how to get big logs up to a longhouse site, moving the gathering
tribes to shout "Klallam, Klallam," which means "strong people."
At its worst, there is much too heavy a reliance on anthropologists'
information, underming the promised goal of having Indian people
speak for themselves. For example, the Jamestown S'Klallam chapter
quotes heavily from Erna Gunther and her studies on the tribe, and
all of the histories rely heavily on traditional sources, without
much local adaptation and revision. |
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Not only do the usual suspects show up as authority figures, but some of the usual myths show up as well. For example, the chapter on the Makahs notes that "in the late 1960s the school system began to include basket weaving, Makah language, carving instruction and story telling in the curriculum." This provides the mistaken impression that the school system, which had been an instrument of acculturation for decades, suddenly and willingly decided to incorporate basket weaving and to pay attention to the unique culture around it. Actually, Lloyd Colfax, former professor at Evergreen College in Olympia, called the movement in the local schools toward more Indian education nothing short of a "revolution and something he didn't expect to see in his lifetime." |
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The Makah chapter also repeats the common refrain that the Ozette archeological dig "has inspired a cultural renaissance for the Makah." Although the museum deserves the attention it receives, it is incorrect to imply that we, as a tribe, were just sitting around waiting for a mud slide so that we could discover our culture. Years before the Ozette dig, the tribe was taking strong steps to revitalize Makah culture. The first contemporary Indian dancing and singing classes began on a tribal basis in the summer of 1965 with funding obtained from the Bureau of Indian Affairs summer youth employment program. A flurry of cultural programs was generated, largely through the War on Poverty programs, which created significant changes for all the tribes. Surprisingly, these programs, which enabled tribes to make decisions for themselves for the first time, are not even mentioned in the book. For example, the Makahs operated the first Indian Head Start program in the state, and this program (not the local school) was the first one to utilize Makah language and songs. At the same time, the fishing boat program and the canoe program were being launched, and the Makahs were one of the few tribes ready to compete with radar-equipped fishing boats after the Boldt decision reaffirmed Native fishing rights in 1974. The Makahs and the Quinaults helped set the national trend to change their institutions to more accurately reflect the local culture. Such changes did not come from local museums or schools but from dedicated Indians charting a new course. |
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In spite of these objections, there are many places in the book where readers will be amazed and surprised. The Skokomish, Port Gamble S'Kllalam, and Quileute chapters make good use of local lore by quoting tribal members. The Skokomish pay tribute to George Adams, the first Native American legislator in the Washington State House of Representatives, quoting a 1951 speech in which he spoke passionately about treaty rights as representing the "blood, tears, and the lives of your many ancestors." In addition, the Squaxin Island chapter successfully relates the victorious story about their struggle to regain Church Point, an important place in the history of the Shaker church. |
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The end of the book provides a hint of the power it could have had. Each writer provides some memory regarding salmonberry picking. Their remembrances are charming and personal and convey the exact tone necessary for fulfilling the true mission of this book. For example, Justine James, the writer for the Quinaults, says: "When the Salmonberry bloom, the blueback salmon runs return to the Quinault River." Genny Rogers of Skokomish says: "On the reservation salmonberries were treasured not only for the taste, but for the lesson to take the time to stop and pick them off the bush.... I learned to enjoy what nature had to offer in the natural setting." Perhaps the next time, the writers will keep more to their stated mission, throw away the standard anthropological notes, and tape-record the stories of their neighbor or their nearest elder. Where this was done, the book is richer for its more authentic voice. More confidence in their own Native voices would create the book this committee wanted to produce and the book we all want to read. |
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