Thanksgiving Soliloquy

In the November 1949 edition of the Smoke Signal, Marie Potts re-published this memento from her years at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. "Thanksgiving Soliloquy" appeared on the last page of  Volume VIII, No.13. Potts (then Marie Mason) attended the Carlisle from September 1912 through May 1915. 

Smoke Signal, Vol. VIII, No. 13., November 1949

"Boys in the Service of U.S."

In Vol. X, No.1 (Dec. '50/Jan. '51) issue of the Smoke Signal, editor Marie Potts (Mountain Maidu) called for readers to submit addresses of American Indians in the military service. Through three wars--WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam--the FIC sent the Smoke Signal free to countless California and other American Indian service men and women.

Smoke Signal, Vol. X, No. 1

Smoke Signal, Vol. XI, No. 9

Smoke Signal, Vol. XI, No. 9

Smoke Signal, Vol. XI, No. 5

Indian (Gaming) Country

Land claims news of an entirely different sort. Surely the gaming economy that has developed in California over the course of the last two decades would have been impossible for an earlier generation of activists to envision, though I find it hard to believe that any of them would be surprised to learn that the gaming landscape is just as inhabited by non-Native stakeholders as was the claims-scape of mid-20th century California. The land claims opportunities and cases enabled by the California Indians Jurisdictional (CIJA) and the Indian Claims Commission (ICC) Acts were no less complicated in their historical origins, legislative logic, and political contentiousness than those making headlines today. Perhaps the key difference is that during the mid-20th century, there was no hope for the actual re-claiming of any land.

Smoke Signal Debut, January 1948

 The Smoke Signal, Jan. 1948 (top portion of p. 1)

The Federated Indians of California (FIC) was almost two years old when the first Smoke Signal made its appearance.* Within months, a formal masthead with additional artwork was designed and introduced as a way to mark the transition from news letter to newspaper.  An image of that masthead will be posted next week, but it is worth noting that the organization's tag line, "In Unity There is Strength," can be seen penciled in on this archival copy, perhaps by the inaugural editor, Kitty Potts Flores. This motto would feature prominently on the newspaper masthead. The clips below are also taken from the January 1948 issue.

A note from editor Kitty Potts Flores

In mid-1949, Marie Potts succeeded her daughter as Smoke Signal editor. For three decades, she continued to edit and publish the paper out of the family home in the popular neighborhood of Oak Park, in Sacramento, California. The final issue of the paper was printed in January 1978, just months before Potts'  passing. At that time, The Smoke Signal was the longest-running, American-Indian owned and operated paper in the country.

*Prior to the introduction of the Smoke Signal, the FIC communicated with its membership by newsletter.

Indian Day Dance and Fundraiser

Marie Potts and Russell Means

The passing of Russell Means today, at the age of 72, inspires a post that leaps decades beyond 1948 and the FIC's Freedom Train appearance. The year is 1971, the location is Spokane, Washington, and the occasion is the meeting of the American Indian Press Association (AIPA), organized the year before by Charles Trimble. Russell Means, then editor of the Cleveland Crier, and 76-year-old Marie Potts, longtime editor of FIC's Smoke Signal newspaper, were founding members of the AIPA. 

American Indian Press Association, 1971, Spokane, WA.
Potts is seated at center,  Means is second from R,
Trimble is on the far L.

Potts and Means represented different generations and traditions of the American Indian press. The pioneering efforts of Marie Potts inspired the organization to create "The Marie Potts Achievement Award" (inaugurated the following year in Denver, Colorado) as a way to recognize up-and-coming American Indian newspapers and journalists.  The younger members of the organization inspired Potts to assume a more authoritative American Indian and Mountain Maidu voice in her Smoke Signal editorials. Two years after the Spokane meeting, Means was making national and international news for his role in the American Indian Movement. When a reporter from the Sacramento Bee asked Marie Potts what she thought about AIM and the siege at Wounded Knee, her response revealed just how far she had come from her years as a dutiful and dedicated student at California's Greenville Indian School  (1900-1912) and Pennsylvania's Carlisle Indian Industrial School (Class of 1915): 

We were subjugated, beaten down, then our people began to study law…we work now through Congress and the courts whenever we can—but, of course, we have to have militants to bring about these things…to get the attention of Congress and the courts.

  -Sacramento Bee 4/22/73

Freedom Train Publicity Appearance

The Federated Indians of California (FIC) formed in 1946, in Sacramento, California, in order to press a land claims case before the Indian Claims Commission, on behalf of all California Native peoples. Although the FIC representatives who posed for this early publicity photo represented Miwok, Pomo, Mountain Maidu, and Paiute peoples, they dressed for the occasion in attire that typified "American Indians" to the mainstream California public, whose political and financial support the group sought to tap.  The clothing was loaned, and in some cases made, by B.W. Hathaway, curator of the California State Indian Museum. Such clothing, along with the use of pan-Indian symbols and references on the masthead of their newspaper, The Smoke Signal, and on the organization's letterhead, helped to broaden their public and inter-tribal appeal during the post-WWII era. While the leadership of the FIC was savvy about the social and political appeal of such symbolism, they celebrated their California Indian heritage in countless social venues, including dance groups, parades, and fund-raisers organized to defray the cost of sending delegates to Washington, DC.  By the late 1960s the mainstream public, whom the FIC had once sought simply to educate about their land claims case, had come to appreciate the rich cultural heritage of California Native peoples, as it was embodied in and performed by the FIC membership in dance, food, language and artistic traditions.

The March 1948 Smoke Signal announced an upcoming appearance.
(Note: Gladys Mankins stood in for Bertha Stewart at the actual event.)