Night Flying Woman: An Ojibway Narrative

The foreword to Night Flying Woman is written by Paulette Fairbanks Molin, a noted historian and member of the Chippewa Tribe. She explains the importance of the book: Ignatia Broker tells the story of her great-great-grandmother, Night Flying Woman (or Oona), and in so doing, preserves the culture and history of the Ojibway people. Although born in the mid-19th century, Oona grew up knowing the history of her people prior to their westward migration. The Ojibway’s culture and language are grounded in oral tradition, with children being taught “the importance of listening to the Old Ones” (ix). Oona chronicled how contact with strangers, European settlers, dramatically changed her people’s way of life.

A series of laws and treaties manipulated the Ojibway and other Indigenous peoples by changing the land and moving tribal populations to reservations. Oona’s family was moved to the White Earth Reservation in northwestern Minnesota. Several laws—including the Dawes Act of 1887, the Nelson Act of 1889, and the Clapp Act of 1906—reduced the land available to native tribes and allowed the timber industry to control the forest (which significantly impacted Ojibway culture). The Clapp Act, in particular, decimated White Earth Reservation. This law was in effect until the 1930s and enabled mixed-blood Ojibway, a status so loosely defined as to allow any tribe member to qualify, to sell their lands.