Ella Cara Deloria facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ella Cara Deloria
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| Aŋpétu Wašté Wiŋ, "Beautiful Day Woman" | |
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| Born | January 31, 1889 White Swan district of the Yankton Indian Reservation, South Dakota
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| Died | February 12, 1971 (aged 82) |
| Education | Educated at her father's mission school and All Saints Boarding School |
| Alma mater | Oberlin College; B.Sc., Teachers College, Columbia University, 1915 |
| Occupation | Educator, anthropologist, ethnographer, linguist, and novelist |
| Known for | Recording Sioux oral history and legends; 1940 novel, Waterlily; fluent in Dakota, and Lakota dialects of Sioux, and Latin. |
| Parent(s) | Mary (or Miriam) Sully Bordeaux Deloria and Philip Joseph Deloria |
| Relatives | Sister Susan; brother, Vine V. Deloria, Sr.; Nephew, Vine Deloria, Jr. |
| Awards | Indian Achievement Award, 1943; Ella C. Deloria Undergraduate Research Fellowship established in her honor |
Ella Cara Deloria (born January 31, 1889 – died February 12, 1971) was a very important person who helped us understand Native American cultures. Her Native American name was Aŋpétu Wašté Wiŋ (which means "Beautiful Day Woman"). She was a teacher, a scientist who studied human cultures (an anthropologist), a language expert, and a writer.
Ella Deloria was special because she recorded many Native American stories and legends. She also helped study Native American languages. She was known as a top expert on the D/L/Nakota people's culture, religion, and languages. In the 1940s, she wrote a novel called Waterlily, which was published later in 1988.
Contents
Ella Deloria's Life Story
Ella Deloria was born in 1889 in South Dakota, on the Yankton Indian Reservation. Her parents were Mary (Sully) Bordeaux Deloria and Philip Joseph Deloria. Her family had roots from the Yankton Dakota people, as well as English, French, and German backgrounds. Her father was one of the first Sioux men to become an Episcopal priest. Her mother was the daughter of a US Army general and a Métis Yankton Sioux woman.
Ella grew up on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in Wakpala, South Dakota. She first went to her father's mission school, St. Elizabeth's. Then she attended All Saints Boarding School in Sioux Falls.
Her Education and Early Career
After finishing school in 1910, Ella won a scholarship to Oberlin College in Ohio. She studied there for three years. Then, she moved to Teachers College, Columbia University in New York. In 1915, she graduated with a special teaching certificate.
Ella Deloria became one of the first people to truly understand both white American and Native American cultures. She was an amazing scholar and teacher. She worked very hard, even living out of her car at one point to collect information for a famous scientist named Franz Boas.
It was often hard for her to get enough money or free time to earn a higher degree. This was because she was dedicated to supporting her family, including her elderly parents and her sister Susan.
Besides her work in studying cultures, Ella had many other jobs. She taught dance and physical education at Haskell Indian Boarding School. She also gave talks and demonstrations about Native American culture. She worked for groups like the Camp Fire Girls and the YWCA. Later, she worked at the Sioux Indian Museum and the W.H. Over Museum.
Ella Deloria had some strokes in 1970 and passed away from pneumonia in 1971.
Her Important Work and Achievements
While at Teachers College, Ella Deloria met Franz Boas, a very famous anthropologist. They worked together until he died in 1942. Boas asked her to help him study Native American languages. She also worked with other important anthropologists like Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict.
Ella was very good at her work because she spoke Dakota and Lakota (dialects of Sioux), as well as English and Latin. This helped her understand different cultures and languages deeply.
Working with Franz Boas
Ella Deloria's relationship with Franz Boas was very important. Boas was so impressed with her that he asked her to teach Siouan languages to his students. She knew Lakota and Nakota dialects and spoke Dakota at home.
Ella was not afraid to share her own ideas and challenge her mentors, including Boas. For example, she found that another researcher, James Walker, had mixed up real traditional stories with made-up ones. When she told Boas, he was not happy at first because he was trying to match this information with what earlier (European American) anthropologists had said. But Boas also encouraged her to check and confirm Lakota myths. Ella's strong voice helped Boas improve his own work.
Her ability to speak different languages and her deep knowledge of both traditional Sioux culture and Christian Sioux culture made her work very important. She helped translate many Sioux historical texts into English.
Research Projects
In 1938–39, Ella Deloria was part of a small team that studied the Navajo Reservation. This project helped her get more speaking jobs and funding for her language work.
In 1940, she and her sister Susan went to Pembroke, North Carolina to study the Lumbee people. These people were seeking official recognition as a Native American tribe. Ella wanted to help them by studying their unique culture and what was left of their original language. She interviewed many people about their use of plants, food, medicine, and animal names. She almost finished a dictionary of their old language. She also helped create a play about the Lumbee people's origin story.
Ella Deloria received grants for her research from many organizations, including Columbia University and the National Science Foundation.
At the time of her death, she was working on a Lakota dictionary. All the information she collected has been very helpful to researchers ever since.
Her Legacy and Honors
- In 1943, Ella Deloria received the Indian Achievement Award.
- In 2010, Columbia University, where Ella studied, created the Ella C. Deloria Undergraduate Research Fellowship in her honor. This fellowship helps students do research.
Selected Books and Writings
Fiction
- 1993: Ella Deloria's Iron Hawk (a single story)
- 1994: Ella Deloria's the Buffalo People (a collection of stories)
- 2006: Dakota Texts
- 2009: Waterlily (New edition)
Non-fiction
- 1928: The Wohpe Festival: Being an All-Day Celebration...
- 1929: The Sun Dance of the Oglala Sioux
- 1932: Dakota Texts (reprinted in 2006)
- 1941: Dakota Grammar (written with Franz Boas)
- 1944: Speaking of Indians (reprinted in 1998)
