Without the continual support of my family, including my ancestors in the spirit world, this book would have never been written. Because this book is a family-tribal history, I am forever grateful to my siblings, Woesha Hampson, Mary McNeil, Robert Cloud North, and Trynka Adachi, who has passed away; my parents, Robert North and Woesha Cloud North; and all my cousins, nieces, nephews, and Ho-Chunk and Ojibwe relatives, whose love and support helped me with every aspect of writing this book, including research and each successive draft. My family supported me with phone calls when I traveled to visit archives and help with airfare so my son, Gilbert, could accompany me to read colonial letters together in the Yale Sterling Library. My sister Woesha Hampson and her husband, Tom Hampson, hosted me as I visited archives. They listened to me, and we discussed our various thoughts and insights. My cousin Robin Butterfield welcomed me into her home when I visited archives in Washington DC. She and I had great conversations about our grandparents, and she offered me wonderful perceptions and understandings. My cousin Mark Butterfield hosted me and my two sons, Lucio and Gilbert, as we worked on the film about our grandfather and great-grandfather, Henry Roe Cloud, and conducted interviews of Ho-Chunk cultural and political leaders. Our conversations with Mark Butterfield were incredibly helpful and insightful. I want to thank my sons, Lucio and Gilbert, who traveled with me and my daughter, Mirasol, and were of tremendous support, while making the film. My sister Mary McNeil, brother-in-law Chris McNeil, and niece Tasha Adams were amazingly supportive, reading through the entire book manuscript and giving me both editorial and substantive feedback. Both Mary and Chris McNeil were wonderful supporters of the film about Henry Roe Cloud. My children, Lucio, Gilbert, and Mirasol, helped me by listening to me talk about this family-tribal history, reading drafts, and encouraging me every step of the way. My granddaughters, Raquel and Mahaya, gave me frequent hugs and words of encouragement. My husband, Gilbert, and nephew, Colin Cloud Hampson, read drafts and listened to me discuss the ups and downs of writing, researching, and juggling my many professorial duties.
I must also thank my Ho-Chunk colleague, Amy Lonetree, who encouraged me to write this book and patiently listened to me discuss my experiences doing archival research. I also appreciate our Indigenous Studies Writing Group here at UCSC, which included Amy Lonetree, Beth Haas, Mattie Harper, Megan Moodie, Jon Daehkne, and Tsim Schneider, all of whom read drafts and encouraged me through the long process of writing this book. I must thank my colleagues Ned Blackhawk, Chadwick Allen, Cathleen Cahill, Cristina Stanciu, Kristina Ackley, Steve Crum, Scott Morgenson, Alyssa Mt. Pleasant, Jim Clifford, Deborah Miranda, Gloria Chacon, and Margaret Jacobs, all of whom who read drafts and encouraged me. I especially appreciated being invited to a Society of American Indian conference held at Ohio University and participating on a panel with Kristina Ackley and Christina Stanciu. The result was an amazing special issue regarding the SAI organization, coedited by Chadwick Allen and Beth Piatote. I met many wonderful scholars and colleagues, who are also writing about SAI intellectuals.
I want to thank all the members of my UCSC American studies program, especially Eric Porter, Catherine Ramirez, Kimberly Lau, and Amy Lonetree, and my Anthropology Department, including Danilyn Rutherford, Nancy Chen, Olga Najera-Ramirez, Mark Anderson, Andrew Matthews, Anna Tsing, Don Brenneis, Melissa Caldwell, Lisa Rofel, Tsim Schneider, Jon Daekhe, Triloki Pandy, Mayanthi Fernando, Jerry Zee, Megan Moodie, Guerillmo Delgado, Judith Habicht Mauche, and Chelsea Blackmore, who have been amazing colleagues, encouraging me to undertake an archival project that included visiting archives, conducting interviews, and painstakingly collecting lots of archival material. I need to express thanks to those I see in my local coffee shop, especially Melissa West and Sarah-Hope Marmeter, who encouraged me while I was writing to follow my instincts. I am also grateful to Anna Montgomery, who edited the book manuscript draft before I sent it off to the press for review, and to my Gender and Cultural Citizenship Working Group, including Kia Caldwell, Kathleen Coll, Tracy Fisher, and Lok Siu, who have nourished me as a Native feminist scholar. I especially thank Kia Caldwell, who was my writing coach and provided me with encouragement throughout the long writing process.
I could not have written this book without receiving a Newberry Fellowship to conduct research in the Society of American Indian archives in Chicago and Yale’s Walter McClintock Fellowship so I could conduct archival research in Yale’s Sterling Library. I also received support from UCLA’s Institute of American Cultures, American Indian Postdoctoral Fellowship, and Jessica Catellino was a great supporter and mentor, while Native studies colleagues Mishauna Goeman, Maylei Blackwell, Angela Riley, Rebecca Tsotsie Hernandez, and others were very encouraging and supportive. During my UCLA fellowship, I lived with my sister Mary McNeil and enjoyed seeing her family, including my brother-in-law Chris McNeil; my niece Tasha Adams; her husband, Nick Adams; and their children, Paloma and Coltrane, who was in utero. After a long day of writing in a nearby coffee shop, it was a wonderful to share my thoughts and reflections with my Los Angeles family. I also received support from UCSC’s CORE grant, travel grants, and the Institute of Humanities Research fellowship, which supported travel to various archives.
Furthermore, this book is based on some of my already published articles (see the bibliography). The introduction and chapters 1 and 3 are based on “Henry Roe Cloud: A Granddaughter’s Native Feminist Biographical Approach.” The introduction and chapter 1 is greatly influenced by “From Henry Roe Cloud to Henry Cloud: Ho-Chunk Strategies and Colonialism,” and chapter 2 is informed by “Ho-Chunk Warrior, Intellectual, and Activist: Henry Roe Cloud Fights for the Apaches.” I also want to thank the various journals, editors, and reviewers who gave me great feedback on my writing.
Working on this family-tribal history has brought me closer to many family members, colleagues, Ho-Chunk and Ojibwe relatives, and my ancestors, who have passed away. When my mother started traveling to archives to collect family letters and documents, and she would call me, I was proud of her working on a book dedicated to her parents, Henry and Elizabeth Cloud. I hope that my mother, Woesha, is proud of the book that I wrote to finish the book project she began. I truly love my family and my relatives, both living and in the spirit world. This book is for all of you.