Growing up in western Montana, Chris La Tray always knew he was Native American, but he didn’t know much else about his identity or family history.
His father, who was Métis, didn’t talk about it, preferring to keep his identity hidden.
In La Tray’s new book, “Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian’s Journey Home,” he unravels the mystery of his family heritage. Through interviews with friends, relatives, and Indigenous people across the region, La Tray outlines how the Métis contributed to Montana and examines what it means to be Métis today.
The word “Métis” (pronounced may-tee) is French for mixed blood. When capitalized, it refers to people who comprise the mixing of cultures, primarily Ojibwe, Cree, and Assiniboine people mixing with Europeans. The Métis’ contributions to the region, La Tray writes, “have been largely erased by historians, who thought the Métis weren’t Indian enough to be mentioned with the savages, but also not white enough to get credited for anything innovative or historically crucial.”
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The book interweaves La Tray’s personal story with the rich history of the Métis. His reporting takes him across the state — from Elder Al Wiseman’s home in Choteau, and the Holiday Inn in Great Falls where the Little Shell celebrated federal recognition, to the late historian Nicholas Vrooman’s second-floor office in Helena, and a college in North Dakota to meet Les LaFountain, a Turtle Mountain Chippewa historian.
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