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Book Review of My Heart is on the Ground: The Diary of Nannie Little Rose, a Sioux Girl

My Heart is on the Ground: The Diary of Nannie Little Rose, a Sioux Girl


February 6

Names were carved on the boards that are black...
When my turn came, I asked Mrs. Mary,..."Why
must I take a new name? I have a name, Little Rose."

"Your old names are hard to say."

"Little Rose is not hard to say."

"They tie you to your savage past."

"My past is not savage," I told her.

"You are Sioux. Your people killed Custer."

My under-where is itching me all the time. I feel silly in citizens' clothes. I trip on the skirts when I walk. I am angry...

Then Mrs. Camp Bell told me not to be dis-re-spect-ful. And to pick a name. So I did, for Mrs. Camp Bell. So now I am Nannie Little Rose. And now I am here. And I have learned to wear this citizens' clothes and write their words. But I will never forget my past.