Name Doris Seale Role Poet | Awards American Book Awards | |
Books A Broken Flute, Books Without Bias | ||
Doris Seale (born Doris Marion Seale, July 10, 1936 - February 17, 2017) was a Santee Dakota, Abenaki and Cree poet, writer, and educator who worked as a librarian for 45 years. She has written about Native Americans sending positive messages to children. Her work has helped to educate teachers about the truth about Native American people and cultures. She was a co-founder of Oyate an advocacy and education organization which reviews children’s literature to ensure it treats Native Americans with "historical accuracy, cultural appropriateness and without anti-Indian bias and stereotypes".
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Her writing focuses on these themes. Her last published work A Broken Flute: The Native Experience in Books for Children, deals with issues of cultural appropriation. It includes a chapter on deconstructing the myths perpetuated about the first Thanksgiving, helping educators create more culturally appropriate activities for the holiday. Her activism extended into other areas of her work. Wehn she received the ALA Equity Award in 2001 the ceremony was being held at the Marriott Hotel in San Francisco, a hotel that was in a labor dispute with its workers. Doris Seale joined that picket line rather than go inside to accept her award.