With My Own Eyes: A Lakota Woman Tells Her People's History

by Susan Bordeaux Bettelyoun, Josephine Waggoner, Emily Levine (Introduction)

With My Own Eyes tells the history of the nineteenth-century Lakotas. Susan Bordeaux Bettelyoun (1857–1945), the daughter of a French-American fur trader and a Brulé Lakota woman, was raised near Fort Laramie and experienced firsthand the often devastating changes forced on the Lakotas. As Bettelyoun grew older, she became increasingly dissatisfied with the way her people’s history was being represented by non-Natives. With My Own Eyes represents her attempt to correct misconceptions about Lakota history. Bettelyoun’s narrative was recorded during the 1930s by another Lakota historian, Josephine Waggoner. This detailed, insightful account of Lakota history was never previously published.

Genres: History, Native American

199 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bettelyoun's words, as written down by Waggoner and edited by Levine, are crisp and direct. They describe things she saw herself, without much elaboration or extraneous commentary. This first-hand, seemingly flat style is extraordinarily compelling, putting us alongside Bettelyoun to watch this history. The long story behind the book's finally being published, as told in the introduction, is a second and also compelling piece of history.

[BJ Schall · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book provides an incredibly unique look at the history of the Lakota Sioux. Bettelyoun's firsthand story is only one of a small number of histories recorded by a Sioux woman. However, the book lacks cohesion, it is often erratic, and there is very little detail in the writing. Also, more information is included in the introduction, endnotes, and appendixes than in the actual book itself.

[Bev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very in-depth look at the events surrounding the Wounded Knee Massacre and other historical events of the Lakota and Cheyenne peoples.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

used hardcover library book

[Lynne Kolze · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing and fascinating oral history of a Lakota woman, Susan Bettelyoun, who lived in the later 1800's-early 1900's. What a national treasure her stories are! This book should be required reading in every high school Amercan history class. Bettelyoun's stories of life in the western U.S during the time when white settlers were moving west and fighting over land and resources with native peoples, are highly educational and sobering. She tells the stories so seldom glossed over in traditional history texts-- what day-to-day life was really like for native peoples under these tumultuous, tragic and chaotic circumstances. She tells most of her stories from her own first-hand experiences and includes stories passed down to her by her relatives.

We owe it to ourselves as Americans to understanding the whole truth of our history. I am hoping that more people read this wonderful book and see it for the treasure it is.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

A personal memoir of life among the Sioux from the 1850's to 1900. Dissatisfied with histories of her people written by Anglo-Americans, a Lakota Woman, Susan Bordeaux Bettelyoun, tells her people's history, from their viewpoint.