I Am Cornflower: The Story of a White Mountain Apache Girl

My white name is Kathy, but my Indian name is Cornflower. I was born in the time when the flowers blossom in the stalks of corn around our village. The cornflower blossom was the first thing my father saw after I had been brought into the world of men. That is why I have the name Cornflower.
A cornflower is a small blue flower that likes to blossom in the corn fields. Some white people call it a bachelor’s button because men used to wear it in their buttonholes when they were courting a woman. The Apache people have grown corn for many years and the cornflower has always grown among the corn. My people have used it as medicine for many years.
I live on the White Mountain Apache Reservation in Arizona. The white men call it Fort Apache. We just call it “the res”, short for the reservation. Here we are surrounded by trees and mountains, and the great White River runs through our land.

Read the story of this young White Mountain Apache girl and learn what it is like to live on the reservation.

Ages 7 to 10.

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