author
Edward Goodbird
b. 1869
An early Hidatsa autobiographical voice, his life story offers a rare firsthand view of growing up in the Northern Plains during a time of profound change. His work is especially valued for preserving memories of Hidatsa family life, farming, belief, and community.
1 Audiobook
Goodbird the Indian: His Story
by Edward Goodbird, Gilbert Livingstone Wilson
About the author
Born in 1869, Edward Goodbird was a Hidatsa author from what became the Fort Berthold Reservation in present-day North Dakota. He was the son of Buffalo Bird Woman, whose family history and knowledge of Hidatsa life were later recorded by ethnographer Gilbert Livingstone Wilson.
Goodbird is best known for Goodbird the Indian: His Story, published in 1914, a firsthand narrative told with Wilson's help. The book is remembered for its vivid account of childhood, work, religion, and everyday life among the Hidatsa during a period of major cultural upheaval.
He also assisted in preserving Hidatsa knowledge through work connected with Wilson's studies, including material related to Buffalo Bird Woman's agricultural traditions. Although many details of his life are less widely documented than those of some better-known writers, his writing remains an important personal record of Hidatsa experience.