Brant, Beth

  • From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: See full biography at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beth_Brant
  • Wiki Biography:
    • Beth E. Brant, Degonwadonti, or Kaieneke’hak (1941–2015) was a Mohawk writer, essayist, and poet of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte First Nation from the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory in Ontario, Canada. She was also a lecturer, editor, and speaker. She wrote based on her deep connection to her indigenous people and touched on the infliction of racism and colonization.She brought her writing to life from her personal experiences of being a lesbian, having an abusive spouse, and her mixed blood heritage from having a Mohawk father and a Scottish-Irish mother. Her published works include three edited anthologies and three books of essays and short stories.
    • She was born in Detroit, Michigan on May 6, 1941. Brant grew up off the reservation; however, she maintained a deep link to her Tyendinaga Mohawk heritage with her paternal grandparents where she learned the culture, language, and traditional stories. She was descended from a family of tribal leaders Chief Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea) and Molly Brant(Degonwadonti) from Tyendinaga. Her paternal grandparents moved to the Detroit area with the hope their nine children would have more opportunities away from the reservation. Her parents, Joseph and Hazel Brant, and her brother and sister, grew up in her paternal grandparent’s Detroit home. Her father worked in an automobile factory, and later as a teacher.
    • Beth Brant was born to write and was almost immediately recognized for her talents. She was published the first year she began officially writing. She was recognized by 1983 editors Adrienne Rich and Michelle Cliff from the lesbian periodical Sinister Wisdom who asked Brant to edit a collection of Native American woman’s writing. This developed into A Gathering of Spirit (1988) where it, at first, was published in 1984 in Sinister Wisdom and then was reissued as a book many times. It was the first anthology of Native American’s women writing edited by another Native American woman.
    • Her success continued with publication of Mohawk Trail in 1985. This is a collection of short stories, poems, and creative nonfiction. Then, she continued the momentum in 1991 with Food and Spirits. Her fiction embraces the themes of racism, colonialism, abuse, love, community, and what it means to be Native. Writing as Witness: Essays and Talk, Brant’s volume of essays, was published in 1994. The essays covered a range of subjects regarding the writer’s craft and its meaning. In 2003, Brant continued with her second collection of essays called Testimony from the Faithful.
  • Fourth Great Granddaughter to United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=833
  • Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/233813604/beth_ellen-brant