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- ISBN: 0-9698064-2-6
- $14.95
- First Nation/Canadian Studies
- 132pp
- 1995
"…I like to sing," says Eva Maracle, "and I'll sing till the day I die."
A hundred years of history emerges from the lives of fifteen Elders of Tyendinaga Territory, in conversation with Mohawk writer Beth Brant. School teachers, farmers, domestic workers, miners, civil servants, factory workers and scientists people these accounts with the grist and the joy of everyday lives spanning the entire 20th century. From kerosene lamps to tea with Prime Minister R.B. Bennett, from the first thrashing machine on the Bay of Quinte to a chemist who unknowingly worked on the development of the atom bomb, the Elders speak social and political history in the first person present. A history that, like the Elders themselves, transcends the tools of Canadian colonial oppression – from banning the Mohawk language to corrupt Indian Agents - and arrives full and rich, strong and generous, grounded in land and community.
"Indian people are good and strong, you know, " says Freda Baptiste, "Indian people are good people and strong people."
"I'll Sing 'Til the Day I Die is an inspiring historical document that demonstrates both the struggles and the fortitude of Mohawk people in eastern Ontario…"
Herizons Magazine
"…articulate, passionate, often humourous…"
Counterpoise