Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Alice Lee Jemison
Alice Mae Lee Jemison (October 9, 1901 – March 6, 1964) was a Seneca political activist and journalist. She was a major critic of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the New Deal policies of its commissioner John Collier. She lobbied in support of California, Cherokee, and Sioux peoples during her career, supported by the Seneca Tribal Council. The Franklin D. Roosevelt administration condemned her work, and critics described her harshly in press conferences and before Congressional committees. For a time, she was put under FBI surveillance.
Jemison was born on October 9, 1901, in Silver Creek, New York, near the Cattaraugus Reservation. Her mother, Elnora E. Seneca, was from a prominent Seneca family, and her father, Daniel A. Lee, was "a cabinetmaker of Cherokee descent." In 1919, she graduated from Silver Creek High School and married LeVerne Leonard Jamison, a steelworker from the reservation. Jemison had two children: LeVerne L. Jemison, born in 1920, and Jeanne M. Jemison, born in 1923. Her daughter Jeanne went on to become a judge in the Seneca Nation.
Jemison separated from her husband in 1928 because of his chronic alcoholism. In addition to her work in advocacy and journalism, Jemison's responsibility to support her mother and her two children led her to take jobs at various times as a beautician, salesperson, factory worker, clerk, peddler, dressmaker, and theater usher.
Jemison's early goal was to become an attorney. She worked in the office of Robert Codd Jr., but pursued a different career because she could not afford law school. However, Jemison's social activism often surrounded legal issues, and her background and interest in the law helped her fight for the rights of Native people.
In the early 1930s, Jemison wrote articles for the Buffalo Evening News.[citation needed] She also worked part time for Seneca President Ray Jimerson, where she continued advocating for the rights of Native people. In March 1930, the murder of Colthilde Marchand, wife of sculptor Henri Marchand, was an important case. Local authorities charged two Iroquois women with the crime, including one of Marchand's models, Lila Jimerson, as well as her friend Nancy Bowen. Jemison defended these women when the District Attorney, Guy Moore, called the murder an "Indian" crime and conducted warrantless searches of Seneca and Cayuga homes. Jemison worked with Chief Clinton Rickard and Seneca President Ray Jimerson to appeal the case to political leaders, including U.S. Vice President Charles Curtis. Due to their efforts, the Bureau of Indian Affairs arranged for the U.S. Attorney to help represent the defendants.
During these years, Jemison conducted legal research, wrote newspaper articles, campaigned for the Six Nations' candidate, and lobbied against the Indian Reorganization Act. In 1931, Jemison was the spokesperson for the Seneca when they rejected an offer from New York State officials to settle a longstanding claim on the part of the Cayuga and the Seneca. The settlement would have given the Seneca $75,000 and the Cayuga $247,000, and provided for the right to continue to live on the Seneca reservation.
Jemison moved to Washington, D.C. during the 1930s and began writing for the Washington Star.[citation needed]
Jemison's attacks on BIA Commissioner John Collier centered on his ideas about how Native peoples should govern themselves. She fought for a diversity of Indigenous lifestyles, fighting against Collier's monolithic, romantic notion of primitive people living in pueblos. Jemison's ideas were influenced by the writings of Carlos Montezuma and Montezuma's one-time secretary, Joseph W. Latimer.
Hub AI
Alice Lee Jemison AI simulator
(@Alice Lee Jemison_simulator)
Alice Lee Jemison
Alice Mae Lee Jemison (October 9, 1901 – March 6, 1964) was a Seneca political activist and journalist. She was a major critic of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the New Deal policies of its commissioner John Collier. She lobbied in support of California, Cherokee, and Sioux peoples during her career, supported by the Seneca Tribal Council. The Franklin D. Roosevelt administration condemned her work, and critics described her harshly in press conferences and before Congressional committees. For a time, she was put under FBI surveillance.
Jemison was born on October 9, 1901, in Silver Creek, New York, near the Cattaraugus Reservation. Her mother, Elnora E. Seneca, was from a prominent Seneca family, and her father, Daniel A. Lee, was "a cabinetmaker of Cherokee descent." In 1919, she graduated from Silver Creek High School and married LeVerne Leonard Jamison, a steelworker from the reservation. Jemison had two children: LeVerne L. Jemison, born in 1920, and Jeanne M. Jemison, born in 1923. Her daughter Jeanne went on to become a judge in the Seneca Nation.
Jemison separated from her husband in 1928 because of his chronic alcoholism. In addition to her work in advocacy and journalism, Jemison's responsibility to support her mother and her two children led her to take jobs at various times as a beautician, salesperson, factory worker, clerk, peddler, dressmaker, and theater usher.
Jemison's early goal was to become an attorney. She worked in the office of Robert Codd Jr., but pursued a different career because she could not afford law school. However, Jemison's social activism often surrounded legal issues, and her background and interest in the law helped her fight for the rights of Native people.
In the early 1930s, Jemison wrote articles for the Buffalo Evening News.[citation needed] She also worked part time for Seneca President Ray Jimerson, where she continued advocating for the rights of Native people. In March 1930, the murder of Colthilde Marchand, wife of sculptor Henri Marchand, was an important case. Local authorities charged two Iroquois women with the crime, including one of Marchand's models, Lila Jimerson, as well as her friend Nancy Bowen. Jemison defended these women when the District Attorney, Guy Moore, called the murder an "Indian" crime and conducted warrantless searches of Seneca and Cayuga homes. Jemison worked with Chief Clinton Rickard and Seneca President Ray Jimerson to appeal the case to political leaders, including U.S. Vice President Charles Curtis. Due to their efforts, the Bureau of Indian Affairs arranged for the U.S. Attorney to help represent the defendants.
During these years, Jemison conducted legal research, wrote newspaper articles, campaigned for the Six Nations' candidate, and lobbied against the Indian Reorganization Act. In 1931, Jemison was the spokesperson for the Seneca when they rejected an offer from New York State officials to settle a longstanding claim on the part of the Cayuga and the Seneca. The settlement would have given the Seneca $75,000 and the Cayuga $247,000, and provided for the right to continue to live on the Seneca reservation.
Jemison moved to Washington, D.C. during the 1930s and began writing for the Washington Star.[citation needed]
Jemison's attacks on BIA Commissioner John Collier centered on his ideas about how Native peoples should govern themselves. She fought for a diversity of Indigenous lifestyles, fighting against Collier's monolithic, romantic notion of primitive people living in pueblos. Jemison's ideas were influenced by the writings of Carlos Montezuma and Montezuma's one-time secretary, Joseph W. Latimer.