Ruth Muskrat Bronson, Cherokee specialist in American Indian affairs and former executive secretary of the National Congress of American Indians and
in 1944 she published "Indians are people too".
[Here Ruth comments on the goals of Indian solidarity]
"[We need]...to get the Indians to think and act for themselves and not let a government, however beneficent, think for them...we must stop trying to make Indian communities into little replicas of our own..."
Ruth's Early Years: Born the daughter of a full blood Cherokee father and an Irish mother on October 3rd, 1897 in Grove Oklahoma, Ruth attended high school in her home town and then the University of Oklahoma. In 1923 she received a full scholarship to Mount Holyoke College and entered with advance standing as a junior. Before her entrance at Mount Holyoke she had already expressed interest in Indian race solidarity with her involvement in the 1922 World’s Student Christian Federation Conference in Peking. During her visit to Peking she distinguished herself as the first American Indian to represent at a world conference, an enormous accomplishment for her time.
Construction of a Unique Identity: Ruth had a strong Christian faith as well as a strong commitment to her own cultural heritage, which she carried with her to South Hadley. The complex conflict of dueling identities within her person helped her to gather support for her efforts in education and her interest in the rebirth of her own Cherokee culture. Ruth carefully constructed an image that allowed her to appreciate the opportunities that white assimilation had offered her, such as religion and education, while at the same time reject notions of complete cultural assimilation which would strip her of her language, dress and heritage.
After nearly fifteen years in this work, she opened the Washington Bureau of the National Congress of American Indians, for which, as a volunteer, she served at various times as executive director, editor of its bulletin, treasurer, lobbyist, and delegation coordinator. She fought vigorously for Indians' land claims, including water, mining, and timber rights, and was one of three original trustees of the non-profit educational organization ARROW. Inc. (Americans for the Restitution and Righting of Old Wrongs) in the constant battle against injustices. Her book, Indians Are People Too, was widely used as a textbook.
Ruth Muskrat Bronson, a specialist in American Indian affairs and a former executive secretary of the National Congress of American Indians, died June 12, 1981 at a nursing home in Tucson, Ariz. She was 84 years old and lived in Tucson.
Information provided by: Mount Holyoke Historical Atlas Research Project
James Ezekial Muskrat,
Jacob's son and his wife
Ida Lenore Kelly Muskrat
Ruth Muskrat, a Cherokee Indian, presents Mr. Coolidge with a copy of The Red Man in the United States, a survey of the present day American Indian
Ruth Muskrat was not a member of the Chickamauga Tribe but was related to members in this tribe.
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