FEBRUARY 11, 1932

CREE AUTHOR/LINGUIST/EDUCATOR FREDA AHENAKEW BORN

Freda, born on Ahtahkakoop Reserve in Saskatchewan (SK), left high school to marry, but later returned to school, graduated (1969), earned a bachelor’s degree (1979) and was named “Mother of the Year” by the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN). From 1985-96, she was Director of the Saskatchewan Indian Languages Institute and both professor and Department Head of Native Studies at University of Manitoba. Ahenakew formed the First Nations Women Writers group. FSIN made “Freda Citizen” of the Year in 1992. Her books, Our Grandmothers’ Lives, As Told in Their Own Words and Their Example Showed Me the Way: A Cree Woman’s Life Shaped by Two Cultures, are highly regarded in Indigenous literature and earned her an Alberta Book Award in 1998. Her children’s books include Flies to the Moon and How the Mouse Got Brown Teeth. Freda, who received the SK Order of Merit in 2005, also translated and produced textbooks. She died at Muskeg Lake First Nation, SK, on April 8, 2011.

Source:  Michelle Felice, “Freda Ahenakew,” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 12/11/2015.  Retrieved 6/8/2019, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/freda-ahenakew/

Photo:  Courtesy of University of Saskatchewan, University Archives and Special Collections, RG 2009, 2003-12, Freda Ahenakew