Ella Cara Deloria
| Ella Cara Deloria | |
|---|---|
| Native name | Aŋpétu Wašté Wiŋ, "Beautiful Day Woman" |
| Born |
January 31, 1889 White Swan district of the Yankton Indian Reservation, South Dakota |
| Died | February 12, 1971 (aged 82) Wagner, South Dakota |
| Education | Educated at her father's mission school and All Saints Boarding School |
| Alma mater | Oberlin College; B.Sc., Teachers College, Columbia University, 1915 |
| Occupation | Educator, anthropologist, ethnographer, linguist, and novelist |
| Known for | Recording Sioux oral history and legends; 1940 novel, Waterlilies; fluent in Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota dialects of Sioux, and Latin. |
| Parent(s) | Mary (or Miriam) Sully Bordeaux Deloria and Philip Joseph Deloria |
| Relatives | Sister Susan; brother, Vine V. Deloria, Sr.; Nephew, Vine Deloria, Jr. |
| Awards | Indian Achievement Award, 1943; Ella C. Deloria Undergraduate Research Fellowship established in her honor |
Ella Cara Deloria (January 31, 1889 – February 12, 1971), (Yankton Dakota), also called Aŋpétu Wašté Wiŋ (Beautiful Day Woman), was an educator, anthropologist, ethnographer, linguist, and novelist of European American and Dakota ancestry. She recorded Sioux oral history and legends, and contributed to the study of their languages. In the 1940s, she wrote a novel, Waterlily. It was finally published in 1988, and in 2009 was issued in a new edition.
Deloria was born in 1889 in the White Swan district of the Yankton Indian Reservation, South Dakota. Her parents were Mary (or Miriam) (Sully) Bordeaux Deloria and Philip Joseph Deloria, the family having Yankton Dakota, English, French and German roots. (The family surname goes back to a French trapper ancestor named Francois-Xavier Delauriers.) Her father was one of the first Sioux to be ordained as an Episcopal priest. Her mother was the daughter of Alfred Sully, a general in the US Army, and a Métis Yankton Sioux. Ella was the first child to the couple, who each had several daughters by previous marriages. Her full siblings were sister Susan and brother Vine Deloria Sr., who became an Episcopal priest like their father.
Deloria was brought up on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, at Wakpala, and was educated first at her father's mission school, St. Elizabeth’s. and All Saints Boarding School She went to a boarding school in Sioux Falls. After graduation, she attended Oberlin College, Ohio, to which she had won a scholarship. After two years at Oberlin, Deloria transferred to Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, and graduated with a B.Sc. in 1915.
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