Becoming Little Shell - Returning Home to the Landless Indians of Montana

"From Montana Poet Laureate Chris La Tray, a singular story of discovery and embrace of Indigenous identity"--

List of contents

INTRODUCTION

2022, WESTERN MONTANA / xiii

CHAPTER 1

1977, FRENCHTOWN, MONTANA / 1

CHAPTER 2

2019, MISSOULA, MONTANA / 14

CHAPTER 3

2011, PLAINS, MONTANA / 23

CHAPTER 4

2013, MISSOULA, MONTANA / 35

CHAPTER 5

2022, FRENCHTOWN, MONTANA / 45

CHAPTER 6

2014, SIX MILE, MONTANA / 62

CHAPTER 7

2020, COUNCIL GROVE, MONTANA / 74

CHAPTER 8

2017, GREAT FALLS, MONTANA / 86

CHAPTER 9

2017, BROWNING, PABLO,

AND MISSOULA, MONTANA / 97

CHAPTER 10

2017, ULM, MONTANA / 109

CHAPTER 11

2021, HELENA, MONTANA / 119

CHAPTER 12

2018, GREAT FALLS, MONTANA / 138

CHAPTER 13

2020, GREAT FALLS, MONTANA / 149

CHAPTER 14

2019, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA / 162

CHAPTER 15

2019, FRENCHTOWN, MONTANA / 179

CHAPTER 16

2019, LEWISTOWN, MONTANA / 195

CHAPTER 17

2020, CHOTEAU, MONTANA / 210

CHAPTER 18

2021, MISSOULA, MONTANA / 223

CHAPTER 19

2019, MISSOULA, MONTANA / 236

CHAPTER 20

2020, GREAT FALLS, MONTANA / 248

EPILOGUE

2021, BUTTE, MONTANA / 266

NOTES / 273
BIBLIOGRAPHY / 285
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS / 287

About the author

Chris La Tray is a Métis storyteller, a descendent of the Pembina Band of the mighty Red River of the North, and an enrolled member of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians, he is also the author of One-Sentence Journal: Short Poems and Essays from the World at Large, which won the 2018 Montana Book Award and a 2019 High Plains Book Award, as well as Descended from a Travel-Worn Satchel, a collection of haiku and haibun poetry. La Tray is the Montana Poet Laureate for 2023–2025 and a former bookseller at Fact & Fiction. He writes the weekly newsletter “An Irritable Métis” and lives near Frenchtown, Montana.

Summary

A Millions Most Anticipated Book of 2024

“I’m in awe of Chris La Tray’s storytelling. Becoming Little Shell creates a multilayered narrative from threads of personal, family, community, tribal, and national histories.”—Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass

“I’m committed to uncovering the culture of my people. I’m com­mitted to learning as much of the language as I can. I’ve always loved this land, and I’ve always loved Indian people. The more I dig into it, the more I interact with my Indian relatives, the more it blooms in my heart. The more it blooms in my spirit.”

Growing up in Montana, Chris La Tray always identified as Indian. Despite the fact that his father fiercely denied any connection, he found Indigenous people alluring, often recalling his grandmother’s consistent mention of their Chippewa heritage.

When La Tray attended his grandfather’s funeral as a young man, he finally found himself surrounded by relatives who obviously were Indigenous. “Who were they?” he wondered, and “Why was I never allowed to know them?” Combining diligent research and compelling conversations with authors, activists, elders, and historians, La Tray embarks on a journey into his family’s past, discovering along the way a larger story of the complicated history of Indigenous communities—as well as the devastating effects of colonialism that continue to ripple through surviving generations. And as he comes to embrace his full identity, he eventually seeks enrollment with the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians, joining their 158-year-long struggle for federal recognition. 

Both personal and historical, Becoming Little Shell is a testament to the power of storytelling, to family and legacy, and to finding home. Infused with candor, heart, wisdom, and an abiding love for a place and a people, Chris La Tray’s remarkable journey is both revelatory and redemptive.

Foreword

• National author tour including top national book festivals and conferences
• National media campaign, including television, radio, podcast, and print and online interviews, features, profiles, original essays, first serial placement, and op-eds
• National radio campaign, including national and regional NPR
• Major prepublication buzz campaign including author appearances at ABA Winter Institute, regional trade shows, and virtual preview events, widespread galley mailings, and industry advertising and promotion, including Shelf Awareness
• Signed stock available for indie stores’ first edition programs
• National consumer advertising campaign at publication targeting top literary sites
• Positioning for featured retail promotional placement including, ABA Indie Next, Barnes & Noble “Monthly Picks,” and Amazon’s “Best Books of the Month”
• Outreach and partnership with regional and national Native American organizations
• Online and social media campaign, including giveaways, and digital graphics
• Dedicated bookstagrammer and influencer galley mailing
• Extensive library and academic marketing including galley giveaways

See Chris La Tray on tour:
8/21: Official Release Event, Missoula Public Library
8/23: Official Release Event #2, Great Falls Public Library
8/27: Montana Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, MT
8/28: Northern Plains Resource Council/This House of Books at Billings Public Library, Billings, MT
8/29: Montana Book Co., Helena, MT
8/30: American Prairie, Lewistown, MT
9/5: Elliott Bay Books, Seattle, WA
9/9: Powell's Books, Portland, OR with Sierra Crane Murdoch
9/20: Shelf Life Books, Richmond, VA
10/1: Choteau County Library, Fort Benton, MT
10/7-12: National Indian Education Association Conference, Palm Springs, CA
10/14-18: Language Conference at Turtle Mountain Community College, Belcourt, ND
10/24: Milkweed Book Lovers Ball, Minneapolis, MN

Product details

• Authors: Chris La Tray
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 03.10.2024
• EAN: 9781571313980
• ISBN: 978-1-57131-398-0
• No. of pages: 256
• Illustrations: Illustrationen, nicht spezifiziert
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Ethnology > Ethnology; Montana, Social & cultural history, Indigenous Peoples, Social and cultural history, History of the Americas, Relating to Native American people, HISTORY / Indigenous Peoples in the Americas, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Native American Studies, HISTORY / Indigenous / General, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Indigenous