Marie Mason Potts

{{Infobox person

| name = Marie Mason Potts

| native_name = Chankutpan

| other_names = Marie Potts, Chankutpan, "One With Sharp Eyes"

| birth_name = Marie Mason

| birth_date = 1895

| birth_place = Big Meadows (now known as Chester), Plumas County, California, U.S.

| death_date = June 24, 1978

| death_place = Susanville, Lassen County, California, U.S.

| nationality = American, Maidu Tribe of the Federated Indians of California

| occupation = Maidu cultural leader, activist, educator, author, journalist, editor

| spouse = Hensley Potts (m. 1915)

| children = 7

}}

Marie Mason Potts (1895 – 1978) was a Mountain Maidu cultural leader, activist, educator, writer, journalist, and editor.{{Cite journal |last=Whalen |first=Kevin |date=Fall 2022 |title=Marie Mason Potts: The Lettered Life of a California Indian by Terri A. Castaneda (review) |url=https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/863589 |journal=Native American and Indigenous Studies |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=133–134 |doi=10.1353/nai.2022.a863589 |s2cid=252203258 |issn=2332-127X|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Whiteley |first=Kathleen C |date=2021-07-28 |title=Marie Mason Potts: The Lettered Life of a California Indian Activist. By Terri A. Castaneda |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/whq/whab108 |journal=Western Historical Quarterly |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=109–110 |doi=10.1093/whq/whab108 |issn=0043-3810|url-access=subscription }} She was an influential California Native American activist who travel lectured on tribal sovereignty, heritage, and cultural preservation.{{Cite news |date=1978-06-27 |title=Funeral Today For Indian Leader |pages=15 |work=The Sacramento Bee |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111620416/funeral-today-for-indian-leader/ |access-date=2022-10-19 |issn=0890-5738}} Potts had authored two books, "The Northern Maidu" (1971) and "Honey Run Bridge".{{Cite news |date=1978-06-29 |title=Maidu Indian leader Marie M. Potts dies |pages=12 |work=Feather River Bulletin |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111622235/maidu-indian-leader-marie-m-potts-dies/ |access-date=2022-10-19}} She was also known as Chankutpan,{{Cite book |last1=Bataille |first1=Gretchen M. |url=http://archive.org/details/nativeamericanwo00bata_0 |title=Native American Women: a Biographical Dictionary |last2=Lisa |first2=Laurie |last3=Russ |first3=Julia A. |date=1993 |publisher=New York: Garland |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-8240-5267-6 |pages=207–208 |chapter=Potts, Marie}} "One With Sharp Eyes",{{Cite book |last1=Trafzer |first1=Cliff |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8B8wEAAAQBAJ |title=Indigenous Activism: Profiles of Native Women in Contemporary America |last2=Akers |first2=Donna L. |last3=Wixon |first3=Amanda |last4=Stahl-Kovell |first4=Daniel |date=2021-07-07 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-7936-4541-8 |pages=93–98 |language=en |chapter="In Unity There is Strength", Writer and Activist}} and née Marie Mason.

Early life and education

Marie Mason was born in 1895, in Big Meadows (now known as Chester), Plumas County, California.{{Cite web |last1=Castaneda |first1=Terri |last2=Wilkinson |first2=Richenda |date=March 23, 2003 |title=The Marie Mason Potts Collection |url=http://www.dqu.cc.ca.us/library/potts.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051026140626/http://www.dqu.cc.ca.us/library/potts.html |archive-date=2005-10-26 |website=D-Q University}} Her father was a minerals prospector of European-origins that had sexually assaulted her mother; and then left her as a single parent. She was a member of the Maidu Tribe of the Federated Indians of California.{{Cite news |date=1961-11-02 |title=Native of Plumas Takes Active Part In Indian Exhibit |pages=3 |work=Indian Valley Record |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31401529/indian-valley-record/ |access-date=2022-10-19}}

She attended the Greenville Indian School in Greenville, California, from 1900 to 1912; and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, from 1912 to 1915.{{Cite news |date=1953-08-18 |title=Indian Returns To Carlisle |pages=5 |work=The Sentinel |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111624216/indian-returns-to-carlisle/ |access-date=2022-10-19}} She wrote for The Carlisle Arrow, a student newspaper. Potts was the first of California Indians to graduate from Carlisle School.{{Cite web |date=March 27, 2002 |title=History |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/165726636/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=2022-10-19 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=Feather River Bulletin |page=23 |language=en}}

In 1915, she married her former classmate from Greenville, Hensley Potts (Concow Maidu), and together they had 7 children.{{Cite book |last1=Akins |first1=Damon B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gd1FEAAAQBAJ |title=We Are the Land: A History of Native California |last2=Bauer |first2=William J. |date=February 2022 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-28050-2 |pages=197–199 |language=en}} Starting in 1942, the family moved to Sacramento, California.

Career

In 1946 and 1947, she participated in the founding of the Federated Indians of California (FIC), an organization formed to support land claims case before the judicial relations arbiter Indian Claims Commission, against the United States government. For three decades Potts was an editor of the FIC alternative newspaper, "The Smoke Signal" (published from 1947 until 1977).{{Cite web |date=1963 |title=The Smoke Signal |url=https://calisphere.org/item/5181dc6cc748adf5eca2b90acb0e28e8/ |access-date=2022-10-19 |website=Calisphere.org}} It has been reported as the earliest Native American newspaper.

Potts was a founding member of the Sacramento Indian Center, and the American Indian Press Association Intertribal Council Center. She was a part of a group that later became the California Education Association. Potts taught American and Californian Native American history at California State University, Sacramento (CSU).

Potts was a participant in the Occupation of Alcatraz protests in 1969 to 1971.

Death and legacy

She died on June 24, 1978, in Susanville, Lassen County, California, when traveling.

In 1975, she was honored by the state of California; and in 1977 the California State Park and Recreation Department. The California State Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (now the California Department of Public Health) had a building named after her and included a lobby plaque in her dedication.{{Cite news |date=1975-05-17 |title=Marie Potts Is Honored |pages=2 |work=The Sacramento Bee |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111646035/marie-potts-is-honored/ |access-date=2022-10-20}}

Publications

{{Cite book |last=Potts |first=Marie |title=The Northern Maidu |publisher=Naturegraph and Keven Brown Publications |year=1971 |isbn=978-0879610708 |location=Happy Camp, CA}}
{{cite book |last=Potts |first=Marie |url=https://archive.org/details/waywelived00malc |title=The Way We Lived: California Indian Stories, Songs & Reminiscences |publisher=Heyday |year=1981 |isbn=0-930588-55-X |editor1-last=Margolin |editor1-first=Malcolm |editor-link=Malcolm Margolin |location=Berkeley |pages=15–16 |chapter=My Childhood}}

Marie Mason Potts

Early life and education

Career

Death and legacy

Publications

See also

References

Further reading