"NEVER TRUST A WHITE MAN"
I am Makah, Son of Whaling Nation

Arlyn Conly

During the 50s the author taught at Neah Bay High School on the Makah Indian Reservation located on the northwestern tip of the United States. Stories and vignettes encompass her experiences in the classroom, her love for the mystical Indian Land and its People, and her insights into the culture behind the sub-title: I Am Makah . . . Son of Whaling Nation. At her first Washington State Intertribal meeting, she heard these shocking words: "Never trust a white man! Never talk to a white man! Stand up for your rights!" Like a gunshot, the voice hit her, the new white teacher, carrying her back to when she was six years old¾ remembering her teacher reading the rolling lines from Longfellow’s Son of Hiawatha. With the flow of the song, she moved into the red man’s world.