Howard Adams (September 8, 1921 – September 8, 2001) was a twentieth century

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

academic and activist.

Life

He was born in St. Louis, Saskatchewan, Canada, on September 8, 1921, the son of Olive Elizabeth McDougall, a French Métis mother and William Robert Adams, an English Métis ( Anglo-Metis) father. In his youth he briefly joined the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

. Adams became the first Métis in Canada to gain his PhD after studies at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1966. He returned to Canada and became a prominent Métis activist, contributing regularly to newspapers and magazines and appearing on

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

radio shows. In 1969, he was elected president of the Metis Association of Saskatchewan. Adams' intellectual influences include

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an African American revolutionary, Islam in the United States, Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figur ...

whom he saw lecture at Berkeley, and the general radical environment of that institution during the 1960s. He was the maternal great grandson of

Louis Riel Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis in Canada, Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of ...

's lieutenant Maxime Lepine who fought in the

North-West Rebellion The North-West Rebellion (), was an armed rebellion of Métis under Louis Riel and an associated uprising of Cree and Assiniboine mostly in the District of Saskatchewan, against the Government of Canada, Canadian government. Important events i ...

of 1885. Adams died in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

on September 8, 2001, on his 80th birthday.

Works

* ''The Education of Canadians 1800-1867: The Roots of Separatism'', Harvest House, 1968 * ''Prison of Grass: Canada from a Native Point of View'' New Press, 1975, ; Fifth House, 1989, * ''Tortured People: The Politics of Colonization'' Theytus Books Ltd., 1999,

Honours

* National Aboriginal Achievement Award, now the Indspire Awards, for education, 1999.

References

External links

Metis Museum Page on Howard Adams
* Archives of Howard Adam
(Howard Adams fonds, R10982)
are held at

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; ) is the federal institution tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is the 16th largest library in the world. T ...

Life

Works

Honours

See also

References

External links

Further reading