Night Flying Woman: An Ojibway Narrative

As a storyteller and teacher in the Ojibway tradition, Ignatia Broker was uniquely qualified to write Night Flying Woman. She was born on the White Earth Reservation in 1919 and attended both a military-style boarding school for Native Americans in North Dakota until 1933 and an Indian Institute in Kansas. After graduating high school in Minneapolis, Broker attended college and then the Minnesota School of Business. She spent the bulk of her career working for Minneapolis Public Schools to develop an Indian Studies curriculum. She shares her story in the Prologue, describing the discrimination and isolation that she felt before and after World War II. Broker was an active member of many Indian organizations and founded the Minnesota American Indian Historical Society. Three years prior to her death from lung cancer in 1987, she was awarded for her efforts by the Wonder Woman Foundation.

Broker was committed to keeping Ojibway history alive through the oral telling of stories. She heard stories of her great-great-grandmother Oona and relayed them to younger generations in written form—but her book is best read aloud. Oona died with the hope of the Ojibway living on, but Broker’s life encompassed the civil rights movement itself. She was able to see many Tribal populations, including the Ojibway, “close the circle” by returning to old traditions.