Howard Adams (Métis)
1921-2001
Revolutionary Métis Marxist scholar and professor Howard Adams grew up in a Métis community in Saskatchewan. He was a leader in the struggle for Indigenous rights, self-determination, and socialism.
Excerpt from Prison of Grass Ch. 14 “The Failure of Native Leadership”, 1975.
“It was only when I acknowledged to myself my Indian ancestry that I was full satisfied with my national identity. Through my participation in the black people's civil rights struggle I could see myself struggling beside my people back at home for the same freedom. The parallels between the black people of America and the native people of Canada are obvious, since they both live in a white-supremacist society: like the Indians and Metis of Canada, black people face discrimination, economic oppression and political powerlessness. I felt so strongly about their oppression and consequently as colonized natives we understood one another immediately – there was no need to explain our causes to each other.
The more I became involved, the clearer colonialism became. I was very moved when I heard Malcolm X talk to students about black nationalism.”
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