Bead on an Anthill

by Delphine Red Shirt

This is the story of a Lakota girl's experiences growing up in Nebraska and on the Pine Ridge Reservation in the 1960s and 1970s. Raised in a home without books, she took family and friends as her "books"; their stories are woven into hers. Like her ancestors, Delphine Red Shirt felt a powerful connection to the openness of the plains. She participated in coming-of-age ceremonies and learned the special rules for stringing beads together and the messages conveyed by hairstyles. At the same time, Red Shirt became increasingly aware of the distance between her world and that of her ancestors.