Angel De Cora
Angel De Cora (Ho-Chunk, 1868–1919) was an artist and educator who promoted Native American art and taught at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.
Henry Roe Cloud: A Ho-Chunk educator and reformer who advocated for Native American self-determination and helped establish the American Indian Institute. Like De Cora, he pursued Native education while challenging the limits of assimilationist institutions.
Carlisle Indian Industrial School: A federal boarding school in Pennsylvania that sought to assimilate Native American children through English-language education and vocational training. De Cora taught art there and argued for Native design within an assimilationist school.
Ho-Chunk: An Indigenous people whose homeland is in the Great Lakes region, especially present-day Wisconsin. De Cora’s Ho-Chunk identity shaped the cultural standpoint behind her advocacy for Native art.
American Indian Movement: A Native American civil rights movement founded in 1968 to address treaty rights, sovereignty, and social justice. Later Native activism pursued sovereignty and cultural authority amid the longer history of assimilation De Cora confronted.
Zitkala-Ša: A Yankton Dakota writer, musician, and activist who criticized the suppression of Indigenous cultures in boarding schools. Her writings give a contemporary account of the boarding-school system De Cora worked within.
Native American art: The visual arts created by Indigenous peoples of North America across diverse cultures, materials, and historical periods. De Cora promoted Native art as a living practice rather than a relic of the past.
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology: A Harvard University museum founded in 1866 for the study of human cultures and archaeology. De Cora encountered collections and institutional ideas about Indigenous culture during her education.
Native American self-determination: The principle that Indigenous peoples have authority over their political, cultural, and community life. De Cora’s advocacy for Native art asserted cultural agency within institutions seeking assimilation.
Charles Eastman: A Santee Dakota physician and writer who became a prominent advocate for Native American rights. His public work offers another contemporary response to federal assimilation policies.
Arts and Crafts movement: An international design movement that valued handcraft, traditional materials, and the unity of art and everyday life. Its respect for craft aligned with De Cora’s teaching of design grounded in Native traditions.