Chief W.G. Grayson (Creek)
One can't help but come away from reading this autobiography of Chief G.W. Grayson with a deep sense of pride in character for this good and brave man. Chief Grayson's dignity, not only with regard to his Creek people, but especially in himself, from his exalted writing style to his modest, but declared nevertheless, mention of accomplishments is remarkable to behold.
University of Oklahoma Press

James McCarthy (Papago)
A Tohono O'odham Indian of Arizona, called Papago by the Spanish, recounts his life. (Sun Tracks ; V. 13)
University of Arizona Press

Rosalio Moises (Yaqui)
"The reminiscences of a Yaqui Indian born in 1896 in northwestern Mexico whose story begins during the Yaqui revolutionary period, continues through the last uprising in 1926, and ends with [his] recollections of his life on a Texas farm from 1952 to 1969. The introduction by Professor Kelley adds scholarly analysis to the poignant autobiographical narrative."-Booklist
University of Nebraska Press

W.S. Penn (Nez Perce)
In this autobiographical work, which won the 1994 North American Prose Award, given by the University of Nebraska, Penn attempts to come to terms with his mixed heritage of Nez Perce, Osage, and Anglo descent. Penn traces three generations of his family who are trying to resolve their white and Native American ancestries. "Mixblood writers who do not want to be consumed by the power have to remember why they tell stories," Penn states. "They must remember that their identities come from their participation in the ongoingness of Time, of the generations, not from the here-and-nowness that makes the American Dream seem so dreamless." Although the author attempts to dovetail the white universe with the Native American world, he realizes that the two cultures cannot be blended. He concludes, however, that the two cultures can be bridged and finds answers to this quest in an analysis of Native American literature and in his relationship with his grandfather.
Bison Books

Alice Azure  (Mi’kmaq)
"...a vital contribution to contemporary Native American literature. Already highly regarded for her poetry, Alice Azure proves to be a captivating storyteller, weaving together personal narrative, her own voracious reading and research, and vivid re-imaginings of the people—and spirits--who led her back to her Mi’kmaq heritage. —Siobhan Senier, Associate Professor, English University of New Hampshire
Bowman Books

Indian women's autobiographies have been slighted because of the assumption that women had a secondary and insignificant role in Indian society. Gretchen M. Bataille and Kathleen Mullen Sands cogently demonstrate in this book the creative vitality of autobiographies that, despite differences in style and purpose, clarify the centrality of women in American Indian cultures. Included is a comprehensive, annotated bibliography or works by and about American Indian women.
University of Nebraska Press

Jim Whitewolf (Apache)
This exciting autobiography of Jim Whitewolf, a Kiowa Apache born in the second half of the 19th-century, offers an excellent inside-look at Indian culture. An ethnological classic, it details childhood, tribal customs, contact with whites, government attitudes toward tribe, much more.
Dover Publications

Delphine Red Shirt (Lakota)
Delphine Red Shirt, a Lakota woman, grew up on the plains of Nebraska and the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in the 1960s and 1970s. Here she evokes the poetic imagery of her native language to describe the customs of her people. Her aunt teaches her the traditional art of stringing beads together and she and her childhood friends learn to follow ants home to find the stray beads embedded in their anthills. At the age of seven, she performs ancestral dances in a heavy outfit of buckskin and beads, and suffers from the heat. Red Shirt adeptly interweaves the story of her childhood with the cultural history of her tribe in a personal narrative that is part memoir and part anthropology. YAs will appreciate this woman's tale as she successfully navigates her childhood, cherishing her traditions but also learning to embrace a world in which Lakota is not the native tongue. "Delphine Red Shirt gently explores her childhood caught between traditional and evolving Lakota ways. She movingly recalls how her family’s support enabled her to thrive despite the tragedy and poverty of reservation life." — Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve
Bison Books

Black Elk (Lakota Sioux)
Beautifully told through the celebrated poet and writer John G. Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks offers much more than a life story. Black Elk’s profound and arresting religious visions of the unity of humanity and the world around him have transformed his account into a venerated spiritual classic. Whether appreciated as a collaborative autobiography, a history of a Native American nation, or an enduring spiritual testament for all humankind, Black Elk Speaks is unforgettable.
University of Nebraska Press

Janet Campbell Hale (Coeur d' Alene)
In this collection of bittersweet autobiographical essays, Hale reveals and examines her often conflicting experiences as the daughter of a Native American father and mixed-blood mother, a single parent, and a fiction writer.
University of Arizona Press