Best Of: Ella Cara Deloria

Published Sep 6, 2024, 7:00 AM

This back to school season, we're bringing back some of our favorite Womanica episodes you might have missed. Today's Womanican is Ella Cara Deloria (1889-1971). She was a linguist and ethnographer who became one of the foremost experts on Dakota and Lakota oral history.

This month, we’re heading back to school – and we’re taking you along with us! For all of September, we’ll be bringing back some of our favorite Womanica episodes you might have missed. You’ll hear me – and some talented guest hosts – share both iconic and under-appreciated stories. But there’s a twist... each week is dedicated to a different school subject. This week: Women you should be learning about in literature classes!

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Hannah Bottum, Lauren Willams, and Adrien Behn. Special thanks to Shira Atkins. Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.

Follow Wonder Media Network:

Hey, listeners, it's Jenny. This month, we're heading back to school and we're taking you along with us. For all of September, we're bringing back some of our favorite Womanica episodes you might have missed. You'll hear me and some talented guest hosts share both iconic and underappreciated stories, and there's a twist. Each week is dedicated to a different school subject. This week we're sharing women you should be learning about in literature classes. Their words created impactful stories, changed minds, and preserved cultures. And their stories go beyond the same people you remember from the standard literary canon. So onto the show. Hello for Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica. Today we're talking about a linguist and ethnographer who became one of the foremost experts on Dakota and Lakota oral history. She incorporated her own experience says growing up in the Sioux Nation, as well as scholarly studies she conducted with other community members. Today, her work is still considered an essential source on Sioux culture and Lakota language. Please welcome Ella Kara Deloria. Ella was born on January thirty first, eighteen eighty nine on the Yanked and Sioux Reservation in what's known as South Dakota. She was the firstborn child to her parents, Reverend Philip Joseph Deloria and Mary Sully Deloria, though both had children from prior marriages. Ella is named on Petu Washchewin, or a Beautiful day Woman, in honor of a raging blizzard on her birthday. Ella's parents were both descendants of Yankton, Dakota and Euro American families. Her father, the son of a Yankton chief, had converted to Christianity as a young man and renounced his claim to chieftainship. He was an influential Episcopal minister. While Ella's family was devoutly Christian, they also took part in traditional Dakota culture. She lived on the Standing Rock Reservation and grew up speaking both the Dakota and Lakota dialects of the Sioux language, Lakota with peers and community members at school and Dakota with her father. In nineteen ten, Ella won a scholarship to Oberlin College. She then transferred to Columbia Teachers College, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in nineteen fifteen. While at Columbia, Ella met Franz Boaz, a well known and respected anthropologist. They became fast partners, and Ella began translating Dakota Sioux texts for his studies. Through that partnership, Ella found another lasting partner, Ruth Benedict, France's assistant and colleague. Ella and Ruth maintained a correspondence that lasted until Ruth's death in nineteen forty eight. Ella taught at All Saints, a boarding school, and supervised health education in Native schools for several years. Then in nineteen twenty eight, she was called back to her work at Columbia. With Brands, she studied the language and stories from Lakota and Dakota elders. Her research had three goals to edit and translate texts written by Sue people in various dialects, to record a detailed description of traditional Sioux social and religious life, and to compile her linguistic data into a comprehensive dictionary at the Lakota dialect of the Sioux language. One of the first projects Ella took on was a translation of the Sun Dance, the most important traditional Lakota religious ceremony, a long native language text of the ceremony already existed, but Ella wanted to translate it in its correct context. She read it out loud to an Oglala Lakota leader, and rewrote it with his guidance. The Finnish text in English and Lakota was Ella's first professional publication. Ella continued her research often with roots partnership, but some of Ruth's requests put Ella in a difficult position. Because Ella had been raised in a prominent Episcopal family, she was not super familiar with the traditional Lakota religion. Ruth wanted Ella to ask traditional religious leaders about their visions, but Ella felt uncomfortable doing so, and many traditional religious leaders were uncomfortable sharing their knowledge with someone who came from a devout Christian background. As a result, Ella shifted her ultimate focus to the physical forms of ceremonies. Even so, in her day to day research, she also recorded many sacred stories and even some of the conflicts between Christianity and traditional religion. With Ruth's advice, Ella focused her research more and more on kinship, tribal structure, and the role of women in Sioux cultures. This work culminated in a novel called Water Lily. It covers three generations of women before the reservation period. Though it wasn't published until after Ella's death, it's lauded as a unique perspective and maybe the only written source that explores the religious life of Lakota women. By the nineteen forties, Ella was recognized as the most prominent ethnographic authority on the Dakota and Lakota Sioux people. In the nineteen sixties, she worked at the University of South Dakota, where her legacy became the Ella C. Deloria Project. It's an ongoing effort to preserve the culture of the Dakota people. On February twelfth, nineteen seventy one, Ella died in what was known as Vermilion, South Dakota. At that time, she was the most prolific native scholar of the Lakotas. Many of her interviews were the last remaining accounts of cultural aspects she witnessed and are the fullest accounts in the Lakota dialect. Her work is one of the most important sources for understanding Sioux culture from women's perspectives. Thanks for listening to this best of episode of Womanica. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram at Womanica. Podcast special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co creator. As always, we'll be taking a break for the weekend. Tune in on Monday for another of our favorite episodes, honoring the back to school season. Talk to you then,

In 1 playlist(s)

  1. Womanica

    1,550 clip(s)

Womanica

Thinking back to our history classes growing up, we had one question: Where the ladies at? Enter, Wo 
Social links
Follow podcast
Recent clips
Browse 1,551 clip(s)