Overview:
Wind From an Enemy Sky is a the
story of the Little Elk people, a fictional Northwestern tribe, trying to
adjust and survive as white civilization continues to push into their
traditional lifestyle. The story revolves around the tribe’s reaction to the
building of a dam on their land. The events unfold around the turn of the
century as the U.S.
government methods of assimilation were straining traditional Indian life.
Although fiction, the setting closely resembles the Flathead Reservation and
the issues in the book (including boarding school education, a government push
towards agricultural lifestyle for Indians, allotment, and the building of a
hydroelectric dam) are many of the same issues the Salish and Kootenai Tribes,
as well as other tribes across Montana, were dealing with in this time period.
D’Arcy McNickle
D’Arcy McNickle (1904-1977) was born on the Flathead
Reservation in Montana.
His mother was Métis and his father white, but he was a member of the Salish
& Kootenai Tribe. The library at Salish
Kootenai College
in Pablo is named after McNickle, but he is best known for the American Indian
history center that carries his name at the Newberry Library in Chicago and his three
novels The Surrounded, Runner in the Sun and Wind from an Enemy Sky. He grew up on
the Flathead Reservation and later became a writer, historian, and
anthropologist. He was a Bureau of Indian Affairs official during the New Deal
and founding member of the National Congress of American Indians. McNickle’s
knowledge and experience in both white and Indian worlds helped him become an
important figure in Native American cultural & political affairs.
Rationale for use of
the book on the Flathead Reservation:
Wind from an Enemy
Sky provides many
opportunities for students to look closely at the history and culture of the Mission Valley while simultaneously working on
improving writing and reading comprehension. Since the book deals with many of
the historical issues Montana Indian tribes have dealt with, using the text allows students to look closely
at their own communities as subjects of study as well as acquire some essential understandings
about Montana’s
Indians.
The
Flathead Reservation has many sites with histories parallel to those
explained in the novel which classes can visit and study, and its
community members are a
valuable resource that can help students understand the history of the
area and how that
shapes the present day communities.
