Artist, teacher, and Red Progressive, Angel De Cora (1869-1919) [also known as Angel DeCora Dietz] painted Fire Light to capture warm memories of her Nebraska Winnebago childhood. In this biography, Linda M. Waggoner draws on that glowing image to illuminate De Cora’s life and artistry, which until now have been largely overlooked by scholars. One of the first American Indian artists to be accepted within the mainstream art world, De Cora left her childhood home on the Winnebago reservation to find success in the urban Northeast at the turn of the twentieth century. Despite scant documentary sources that elucidate De Cora’s private life, Waggoner has rendered a complete picture of the woman known in her time as the first “real Indian artist.” She depicts De Cora as a multifaceted individual who as a young girl took pride in her traditions, forged a bond with the land that would sustain her over great distances, and learned the role of cultural broker from her mother’s Métis family. Waggoner tells how those Métis roots allowed De Cora to become an accepted artist, illustrator, and designer in white society. After studying with famed illustrator Howard Pyle at his first Brandywine summer school, she eventually succeeded in establishing the first “Native Indian” art department at Carlisle Indian School-- where she met her flamboyant husband William Henry Dietz [*aka "Lone Star"], football star and future NFL coach fifteen years her junior. A founding member of the Society of American Indians, she made a significant impact on the American Arts and Crafts movement by promoting indigenous arts throughout her career. Waggoner brings her broad knowledge of Winnebago culture and history to this gracefully written book, which features more than forty illustrations. Fire Light shows us both a consummate artist and a fully realized woman, who learned how to traverse the borders of Red identity in a white man’s world.
[Copy from book jacket, ISBN: 978-0-8061-3954-8.]
*Read how Dietz stole his Indian identity in the "The Trial of Lone Star," a chapter cut from Waggoner's original manuscript.

A few of Fire Light's 40 illustrations and some images not shown in book:

From top to bottom (left to right): Fire Light cover, published by Oklahoma University Press; *De Cora painting in Howard Pyle’s Franklin Street studio, Wilmington, Delaware, circa 1898; Postcard showing the entrance to the Carlisle Indian and Industrial School, Carlisle, Pennsylvania (Leupp Art Studio on left); The Middle Five frontispiece and first edition cover, book by Francis LaFlesche, 1900 (cover design also by De Cora); **Lafayette's Headquarters, painted ca. 1898 under Howard Pyle at Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania; "Gray Wolf's Daughter," short story illustrated and written by De Cora (Harper's Monthly, November 1899); "The Dancing Girls" from De Cora's short story "Gray Wolf's Daughter"; ***William "Lone Star" Dietz and wife, Angel De Cora, ca. 1908; illustration from Old Indian Legends, book by Gertrude S. Bonnin, aka Zitkala-Sa, 1901; Old Indian Legends, first edition; ****De Cora posed in canoe on Smith Pond at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts; De Cora pictured on the cover of the Society of American Indians journal, 1919, and on the cover of Outlook, 1920, both published shortly after her death.

*From Frank Schoonover’s scrapbook (Courtesy of Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington); **Lafayette's Headquarters, John R. Schoonover, photographer (Courtesy Lynch Family Collection); ***portrait of the Dietzes, photographer unknown (Courtesy Hampton University Archives, Hampton, VA); and ****photo in canoe, date and photographer unknown (Collection of J. Andrew Darling).

Visit the Angel DeCora Museum and Research Center!

601 E. College Drive
Winnebago, NE 68071
Named in honor of the first Winnebago woman to attend college. Well known for her artistic skills and musical talent, Angel DeCora won several honors for her work and taught her skills to other American Indians. Museum displays include Winnebago artifacts, Native American dolls, paintings, traditional clothing, baskets, photographs and other meaningful items of the Winnebago Tribe.
Open year-round, Mon-Fri, 9am-noon and 1-4pm. Closed holidays.
(402) 878-3313 E-mail: emily68071@hotmail.com