Ruth Muskrat Bronson

Ruth Muskrat Bronson
1923
Born	Ruth Margaret Muskrat (1897-10-03)October 3, 1897 White Water, Delaware Nation Reservation, Indian Territory
Died	June 12, 1982(1982-06-12) (aged 84) Tucson, Arizona
Nationality	American
Occupation	poet, educator, Indian rights activist
Years active	1925-1982
Known for	first Guidance and Placement Officer of the Bureau of Indian Affairs

Ruth Muskrat Bronson (October 3, 1897 – June 12, 1982) was a Cherokee poet, educator and Indian rights activist. After completing her education, Bronson became the first Guidance and Placement Officer of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She then served as executive secretary for the National Congress of American Indians and created their legislative news service. After a decade of work in Washington, D.C., Bronson moved to Arizona and served as a health education specialist for the Indian Health Service and was honored upon her retirement from government service by the Oveta Culp Hobby Service Award from the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. She continued working for Native American rights for involvement in their own development and leadership in the private sector until her death.

Early life

President Calvin Coolidge presented with a book written by G. E. E. Linquist titled "The Red Man In The United States" (1919). Ruth Muskrat Bronson (center) making the presentation to President Calvin Coolidge on behalf of “The Committee of One Hundred” with Rev. Sherman Coolidge (right), December, 1923.

Ruth Margaret Muskrat was born on October 3, 1897^[1] in White Water,^[2] on the Delaware Nation Reservation in Indian Territory to Ida Lenora (née Kelly), of Irish-English stock and a transplant from Missouri, and James Ezekial Muskrat, a Cherokee, whose forebearers had made the Trail of Tears from Georgia to Indian Territory in the 19th century.^[1] When she was ten years old, she witnessed the disruption caused to the lives of her nation when the Curtis Act of 1898, an amendment of the Dawes Act, extended allotment over the Five Civilized Tribes.^[3] At the age of fourteen, she enrolled in preparatory school^[4] at the Oklahoma Institute of Technology in Tonkawa, graduating in 1916. She went on to further her education at Henry Kendall College in Tulsa and at Northeastern State Teachers College.^[3] Financial hardship then forced her to stop her education briefly and teach for two years to earn sufficient funds to continue her schooling.^[5]

In 1919, Muskrat enrolled at the University of Oklahoma,^[4] where she spent three semesters.^[3] During the summer of 1921, she was sent to work on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in New Mexico by the YWCA. Her report on her organizing efforts there, earned her a scholarship to attend the University of Kansas,^[5] where she spent three more semesters of study.^[3] In 1922, Muskrat went to Peking, China as part of a YWCA delegation for the youth conference. She was one of the first Native American girls to serve as a student delegate abroad.^[6] The trip, which also included stops in "Hawaii, Manchuria, Japan, Korea and Hong Kong" brought Muskrat to the attention of the international press and awoke in her a desire for racial equality.^[5] The following year, she delivered an appeal to the United States government for better educational facilities for Native Americans.^[7] The presentation was part of a gathering of Native American leaders, known as the "Committee of One Hundred" to advise the president on American Indian policy. Muskrat advocated for Indians to be involved in solving their own problems.^[3] Moved by her speech, President Calvin Coolidge and his wife, Grace, invited Muskrat to lunch with them.^[7] In 1923, she enrolled in Mount Holyoke College and in 1925 graduated with a BA^[3] in English. During her college days, Muskrat was a prolific poet influenced by the Modernist movement.^[5]

Career

As soon as she graduated, Muskrat began working at the Haskell Institute first as a teacher,^[3] and then as the head of the college placement bureau. She won the Henry Morgenthau Prize in 1926 for best use of her college education in the first year after completing her education.^[8][2] In 1928, Muskrat married John F. Bronson and they adopted a native girl.^[9] In 1931, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) created a new program to improve educational opportunities for Native Americans. Bronson was appointed as the first Guidance and Placement Officer of the bureau and tasked with helping graduates find viable employment.^[10][11] In 1937, she was awarded the Indian Achievement Medal of the Indian Council Fire, as the second woman to have received the award since its inception.^[12] She had previously been nominated for the award in its inaugural year in 1933.^[13] Bronson was in charge of distributing government loans and scholarships for students as well as helping them find job placements. She remained in the post for the BIA until 1943.^[2]

Ruth Muskrat Bronson, 1947

Bronson spent a few years raising her daughter,^[2] though she did publish several books and articles including Indians are People Too (1944),^[14] The Church in Indian Life(1945)^[15] and Shall We Repeat Indian History in Alaska? (1947) in this period.^[16] In 1945, Bronson began working with the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and soon emerged as a leader. She was appointed as the executive secretary of the organization and spent a decade monitoring legislative issues. She established the NCAI's legislative news service^[3] and spoke at various tribal meetings throughout the country, promoting Native American progress.^[17] Some of the issues Bronson was involved with at the NCAI were the debates over native water rights along the Colorado River,^[18] native rights in the Territory of Alaska,^[19] and medical care for American Indians. After ten years of serving as executive secretary, in 1955, Bronson was elected as treasurer of the NCAI in 1955,^[20] but she was tired of the contentiousness of national politics and began focusing more on ways to work with local communities.^[3]

In 1957, Bronson moved to Arizona and became a health education specialist at the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation for the Indian Health Service.^[3] During the same period, she served as a vice president of the philanthropic ARROW Organization. She managed the education loan and scholarship fund of the organization, as well as advising tribes on community development. In 1962, Bronson was awarded the Oveta Culp Hobby Service Award from the Department of Health, Education and Welfare for her work serving Native Americans^[21] and retired from government service, moving to Tucson.^[22] In 1963, Bronson became the national program chairman of the Community Development Foundation’s American Indian section. The organization operated under the umbrella of the Save the Children Federation.^[23] After a stroke in 1972, Bronson slowed, but did not stop her activism for Native Americans to be allowed to determine their own development and leadership programs.^[24] In 1978, Bronson was one of the recipients of the National Indian Child Conference's merit award for commitment to improving children's quality of life.^[25]

Bronson died on June 12, 1982 in Tucson, Arizona.^[26]

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