The Writings of a Nineteenth-Century Nlaka'pamux Woman
Mali Quelqueltalko: The Writings of a Nineteenth-Century Nlaka’pamux Woman J ENNIFER IREDALE * his article was inspired by articles written by Mali that were published in the quarterly journal All Hallows in the West, which came out of All Hallows in the West, a school for Indigenous Tgirls opened by the Anglican Church in 1884 in Yale, British Columbia.1 In the Archives of All Hallows Convent in Ditchingham (Norfolk), England, there are two photographs of Mali that can be dated to about 1896 when she was in her early twenties. Each image is reproduced on a four-by-five-inch card with “J.O. Booen, Chilliwack B.C.” printed across the bottom.2 On the back of one is written “All Hallows Yale BC, N[R]osie, Matilda, Josephine, Mali”3 (Figure 1). The second photograph shows one of the four girls – Mali, the subject of this article – dressed in a smart Victorian day gown and posed against a rock backdrop, holding a bouquet of leaves (Figure 2). What do Mali’s writings tell us about what it was like for a Nlaka’pamux girl to navigate her time and place, living along the Quoo.OOy 4 (Fraser * My deepest thanks to John Haugen, Andrea Laforet, Jean Barman, Wendy Wickwire, Irene Bjerky, Marion Dixon, Bonnie Campbell, Delores Firkin, Sheri Wowchuk, Angie Mitchell, and the late Jackie Johnson for providing leads and suggesting avenues to follow in the course of this research. Also thank you to Claudia Haagen for excellent editing. All errors and omissions are mine alone. 1 Closed in 1920, All Hallows School has been the subject of considerable scholarship.
[Show full text]