BECOMING LITTLE SHELL

The poet laureate of Montana tells the story of embracing his identity as a member of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians.

La Tray, a Métis storyteller, grew up with a strong curiosity about Indigenous culture, captivated by his grandmother’s stories about their family history, but he was also raised by a father who did not want to acknowledge their Indigeneity. “Suggesting my dad was Native made him angry. I could never understand why. I was the opposite,” writes the author. When his father died in 2014, he left behind “a lifetime of questions about who he was and where he came from. No, who we are, where we come from.” Without his father to ask, La Tray set out to answer questions about his family’s heritage and that of the tribe in which he would eventually enroll: the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians. The resulting narrative is richly layered, carried across time and the vast state of Montana by the author’s unique voice and masterful storytelling. Building off the work of those who came before him, such as historian and folklorist Nicholas Vrooman, La Tray weaves a history of his tribe that blooms into the present day. He movingly demonstrates how far they’ve come from the loss of their home in the early days of settler colonialism, and he makes important connections between the landless Little Shell and the many groups of refugees across the world today. “I’m here writing to urge you, anyone who has fought against and continues to fight against erasure, oppression, genocide, and hatred, to be proud,” he writes. “Look at what we Little Shell have done.” La Tray’s pride and conviction will have readers eager not only to learn more, but to take action.

A brilliant contribution to the canon of Native American literature.