My name is Raven. When I was in the third grade, our class read The Courage of Sarah Noble. In this book they said Indian people were savages and murderers, they chop your head off and eat you alive and that we were not really people. When the class put on the play for the whole school, the kids started taunting me, calling me "stinky" and asking me how many people I've eaten. Nobody would play with me or even sit next to me in class...I felt so ashamed. Finally, I told my mother I didn't want to go back to school.

—Raven Hoaglen (Maidu/Konkow/Wailaki/Mono)

Oyate is a Native organization working to see that our lives and histories are portrayed honestly, and so that all people will know our stories belong to us. For Indian children, it is as important as it has ever been for them to know who they are and what they come from. For all children, it is time to know and acknowledge the truths of history. Only then will they come to have the understanding and respect for each other that now, more than ever, will be necessary for life to continue.

The great Lakota leader, Tatanka Iotanka—Sitting Bull—said, “Let us put our minds together and see what life we will make for our children.” The great Cuban revolutionary, José Martí, said, “We work for children because children know how to love, because children are the hope of the world.” Our work is to nurture in our children a sense of self and community. Our hope is that they will grow up healthy and whole.

Our work includes critical evaluation of books and curricula with Indian themes, conducting of “Teaching Respect for Native Peoples” workshops and institutes; administration of a small resource center and reference library; and distribution of children’s, young adult, and teacher books and materials, with an emphasis on writing and illustration by Native people.

Our hope is that by making many excellent books available to encourage many more, especially from Native writers and artists. Oyate, our organiztion’s name, is the Dakota word for people. It was given to us by a Dakota friend.

Our website is a growing and changing thing. We thank River Abeje, Marco Palma, Guillermo Prado, Ray Ryan, and Noam Szoke for their designs and enthusiasm. We thank and honor Paula Giese for insisting that we do this, Karen Rudolph for seeing that it got done, Rudolph & Sletten for initial funding, and Ted Wetherbee at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College for hosting our first website.

And we thank Sharon Williams (Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation) for allowing her photo, taken in 1978 when she was eight years old, to become our “logo.”

Click on the envelope to e-mail Oyate at oyate@oyate.org

Oyate
2702 Mathews St.
Berkeley, CA 94702
(510) 848-6700
(510) 848-4815 fax
oyate@oyate.org
www.oyate.org

Oyate is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, EIN #94-3120414. If you value what we do, if you’ve benefited from our evaluative and educational work, please support us by purchasing books and materials directly from us and by making a tax-deductible donation today. Thank you.

Website design by Guillermo Prado at 8point2 design studio and Varinthorn Nakkeow. Maintained by Noam Szoke.