Blonde Indian: An Alaska Native Memoir

A Journey of Self-Discovery and Cultural Identity

Blonde Indian is an Alaskan Native memoir that follows the author's journey of self-discovery and cultural identity as a mixed-race woman. Ernestine Hayes was born to an Alaska Native mother and a white father, and she grew up feeling like an outsider in both worlds. She was too Native for the white world and too white for the Native world.

In Blonde Indian, Hayes explores the complexities of her mixed-race identity. She writes about the racism she has experienced from both whites and Natives, and she discusses the challenges of finding her place in a world that often views her as an anomaly. But Hayes also writes about the beauty and strength of her Native heritage. She celebrates the traditions and values of her people, and she shares her experiences of growing up in a close-knit Alaska Native community.

Blonde Indian is a powerful and moving memoir that offers a unique perspective on the experience of being a mixed-race Native American woman. It is a story of self-discovery, cultural identity, and the search for belonging.

Blonde Indian
By Ernestine Hayes
The University of Arizona Press, 2020
: 978-0816540414
240 pages

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