Fatty Legs: A True Story

In this brief note, Christy Jordan-Fenton reminds her readers that because some residential school experiences were so painful, the people who experienced them might reasonably want to keep their recollections private. She says everyone needs to respect that desire and that this right to silence “extends to all experiences of Indigenous trauma” (vi). Revelations about hidden history might encourage readers to learn more, and the author reminds readers to seek “knowledge [that] has been shared freely” (vi). 

Debbie Reese (Nambé Pueblo), Founder of American Indians in Children’s Literature, provides a brief Foreword in the form of a letter to the reader. The letter is an exposition of the myths surrounding Indigenous literary characters and the living historical actors on which they are based. Reese says:

Most of the children’s books, television shows, movies, and lessons in your schoolbooks do not tell the truth about what happened to Indigenous Peoples when Europeans came onto their homelands several hundred years ago (viii-ix).

This type of popular culture is common and glorifies settlers and “pioneers” while ignoring or justifying the harm that colonialism did to Indigenous communities. Reese stresses, “White people did terrible things to Indigenous people” (ix), like steal land, force Indigenous people to live on reserves, and take children by force to