Upon Her Shoulders

MARY ANN JACOBS is an Associate Professor and chairs American Indian Studies at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke (UNCP). She holds a PhD in Social Welfare with an emphasis in Child Welfare policy from the University of Chicago. She is the co-editor of American Indian Women of Proud Nations: Essays on History, Language, and Education (Peter Lang, 2016) and numerous articles and textbook sections. CHERRY MAYNOR BEASLEY is a recognized expert in public health, culture of health, and education. She has devoted most of her 45-year career to rural, underserved populations. She is an active member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. She is the current chair of the Department of Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, located in a rural, minority-majority community experiencing entrenched poverty. She serves as the inaugural Anna Belk Endowed Professor for Rural and Minority Health, is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, and a Major in the Army Nurse Corp. Dr. Beasley, whose primary expertise is in the area of health, has joined Drs. Jacob and Wiethaus as a co-editor of American Indian Women of Proud Nations: Essays on History, Language, and Education (Peter Lang, 2016). ULRIKE WIETHAUS is professor emerita in the Department for the Study of Religions and in American Ethnic Studies at Wake Forest University. She was elected as the 2013 Community Solutions Fellow with the Institute for Public Engagement at Wake Forest University, received the Donald O. Schoonmaker Faculty Award for Community Service, and served as a Shively Faculty Fellow. Widely published, her most recent publication in American Indian Studies is American Indian Women of Proud Nations: Essays on History, Language, and Education co-edited with Cherry Maynor Beasley and Mary Ann Jacobs.

Table of Contents


PART ONE: MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL, CHILD

Introduction, Cherry Beasley


My Question for Creator, Madison York


Native American, Olivia Brown


You Can Help Others Do More Than You Did, Ruth Revels


A Firm Foundation to Withstand the Storm of Life, Mary Ann Elliott


Mary Alice, Play for Us, Mary Alice Teets


To Be a Part of It, Barbara Locklear


Our People Are Moving in a Positive Direction, Mardella Sunshine Constanzo Richardson


Reflection Questions for the Reader
In Closing: Contemplating Words of Wisdom by Women Elders





PART TWO: SPIRIT MEDICINE


Introduction, Ulrike Wiethaus


Some Indian Women, Marijo Moore


Spirit Medicine, Kim Pevia


What It Takes to Believe in Physical Health and Community, Lisa Huggins Oxendine


Clan Mother, Daphine L. Strickland


Bruises of a Battered Woman, Christine Hewlin


Not Anymore, Nora Dial-Stanley


Farming Always Brings Us Home, Charlene Hunt


Reflection Questions for the Reader

In Closing: Contemplating Words of Wisdom by Women Elders





PART THREE: GETTING JUSTICE WHEN THERE WAS NONE


Introduction, Mary Ann Jacobs


Patchwork Images, Gayle Simmons Cushing


The Alcatraz Occupation and the Advent of Civil Rights and American Indian Nationalism, Ruth Dial Woods


The Black Lives Matter March in Pembroke: Women’s Perspectives, Mary Ann Jacobs and Flora Jacobs


I Always Knew I Was Indian, Kay Oxendine


Uncle R. Never Killed Nobody That Didn’t Deserve It, Mary Ann Jacobs


Knowledge is Power, Rosa Winfree


Reflection Questions for the Reader

In Closing: Contemplating Words of Wisdom by Women Elders

Contributor Biographies