＂Some of my earliest memories are of singing since we had prayer warriors who worshipped continually all around us. We had nothing back then on the river or on the reservation--no grocery stores for us! We depended on the seasons and on what the Creator provided, so the old ones sang all the time.＂

--Carrie Jim Schuster

Born in 1947, Carrie Jim Schuster grew up living by the seasons on the Yakama, Warm Springs, Colville, Umatilla, Nez Perce, and other Northwest reservations, but principally at her family’s tiny lodge. Located on the Snake River at Wawyuk’ma (Place of the Whippoorwills), she played in the water every day. ＂We had tule mats for beds and covering the floor, so in the morning we rolled them up against the wall,＂ she recalls. They ate fish and game, along with roots and berries they gathered and cooked in pits. Her canvas and wood home had no running water, electricity, or central heating, yet her memories from there are of liberty and freedom. Towns and reservations had boundaries and fences, but the river had no limits until Shuyapos (whites) came to build a dam.

As a child, Carrie listened to the Seven Drums and tribal elders telling stories of the Lazy Brothers and Sisters, the Little People, and Spílyai’s (Coyote’s) tricks. She learned what happened when a Native fisherman took too many salmon. Through these and other songs, stories, and rituals, Carrie absorbed Snake River-Palouse and Nez Perce languages, traditions, lessons, and ways.

Attending an Oklahoma boarding school deepened Carrie’s interest in U.S. government practices. She performed political and legal work for the Yakama Tribe, testifying with her mother about archaeologists’ violations of Indian law to help promote passage of the 1990 Native American Graves and Repatriation Act. She was also part of a successful effort related to Mount Adams and Yakama tribal ownership. This is her story.