Christine Quintasket (Mourning Dove)
About this Lesson
This lesson invites students to connect through storytelling, nature, and Indigenous history by exploring the life of Mourning Dove, a pioneering Native American writer and healer from 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 Indigenous land history, 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, who was born on a canoe and raised on the lands of the Okanagan people.
2 | Uncover the history of the land you live on visit native-land.ca, find your home on the map, and write about the tribe and language connected to your land.
3 | Follow Mourning Dove's trail read her story chapter by chapter, from the bison who fought for freedom to the novel that was nearly taken from her, and illustrate each moment.
4 | Create yourself with nature 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.