Christine Quintasket (Mourning Dove)
Storytelling, Indigenous Histories, Healing
About this Lesson
This lesson invites students to connect storytelling, the land they live on, and Indigenous history by exploring the life of Mourning Dove, a pioneering Native American writer of the Okanagan people. Born in the late 1800s, Mourning Dove became the first known Native American woman to publish a novel, telling the stories of her people at a time when Indigenous voices were silenced or distorted by colonizers. We discover how she spent her life collecting and preserving the stories of Indigenous storytellers, fighting to ensure their voices would not be forgotten. Students will explore the history of the land they live on, the power of storytelling as resistance, and the relationship between identity, nature, and community. Students are empowered to see themselves as part of a long history of people who have used their voices and their stories to protect their cultures and the lands they call home.
Lesson experience
Lesson Materials
Mourning Dove - Detailed Lesson Plan
Mourning Dove - Teacher Workbook
Mourning Dove - Student Workbook
Lesson HIGHLIGHTS
1 | Discover the story of Mourning Dove the first known Native American woman to publish a novel. She was born on a canoe and raised on the lands of the Okanagan people.
2 | Uncover the history of the land you live on through native-land.ca, find your home on the map, and write about the tribe and language that once thrived in the places we call home.
3 | Illustrate a children’s book based on Mourning Dove’s story, from the bison she loved to the novel that was nearly taken from her.
4 | Create your own self-portrait with natural materials. Go on a walk, collect natural items, and make a self-portrait inspired by the world around you, just as Mourning Dove drew her stories from her environment.
5 | Plant your next step sow a seed and write the intentions you want to grow alongside it, carrying Mourning Dove's legacy of preserving stories and planting hope for the future — no matter how troubled the times.