Greg Sarris Explained

Gregory Sarris
Office:Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria
Term Start:1992
Birth Date:12 February 1952
Birth Place:Santa Rosa, California, U.S.
Education:University of California, Los Angeles (BA)
Stanford University (MA, PhD)

Gregory Michael Sarris (born February 12, 1952) is the Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria (since 1992) and the current Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.[1] Until 2022, Sarris was the Graton Rancheria Endowed Chair in Creative Writing and Native American Studies at Sonoma State University, where he taught classes in Native American Literature, American Literature, and Creative Writing. He is also President of the Graton Economic Development Authority. Sarris is currently the Distinguished Chair Emeritus at Sonoma State University.[2] A notable scholar and activist, Sarris was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020.[3] Sarris has authored six books, the best known of which is Grand Avenue, a collection of autobiographical short stories about contemporary Native American life. Named after a real place in Santa Rosa's South Park district, Sarris was a co-executive producer of a two-part 1996 HBO miniseries adaptation, shot entirely on location.

Childhood

Greg Sarris was adopted shortly after his birth by a middle-class white couple, George and Mary Sarris, who believed they could not have children. Shortly after, they conceived the first of three biological children, which complicated life at home with his alcoholic father. Sarris was frequently the target of his father's abuse. In an effort to keep him out of harm's way, he was sent to live with various white and American Indian foster families. At the age of 12, Sarris met Pomo basket weaver Mabel McKay, who taught him about American Indian customs and tradition. According to Sarris, McKay's guidance provided him with a sense of purpose.[4]

Education

After graduating from Santa Rosa High School in 1970, Sarris attended Santa Rosa Junior College. In 1977 he graduated summa cum laude with a BA in English from UCLA. He went on to complete his graduate studies at Stanford University, earning a master's degree in creative writing in 1981 and a Ph.D. in Modern Thought and Literature in 1989.[5] Sarris is slated to receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (LHD) degree from Sonoma State University in June 2024.[6]

Career

Ancestry

Greg Sarris’ mother, seventeen year old Mary Bernadette “Bunny” Hartman, of German, Jewish and Irish descent, came from a wealthy family. She was sent to Santa Rosa to deliver her child, which was not uncommon for unwed mothers at the time. She was inadvertently given the wrong blood type in a transfusion after giving birth, and died shortly thereafter. Sarris’ father was not named on the birth certificate. It wasn't until the early 1980s as a graduate student at Stanford that Sarris learned that Emilio Arthur Hilario, of Filipino, Miwok and Pomo descent, may have been his biological father. According to Sarris, he learned the identity of his great-great-grandparents from his grandfather, Emiliano Hilario. Hilario's grandmother, Reinette Smith Sarragossa, was the daughter of Emily Stewart, a woman of mixed blood ancestry, and Tom Smith, a well-known healer of Pomo and Coastal Miwok blood.[14] Marilee Montgomery and Stop the Casino 101 Coalition dispute Sarris's claim to have Pomo and Miwok blood.[15] Sarris was at the forefront of the controversial Graton Resort and Casino project which was strongly opposed by Stop the Casino 101 Coalition.

Activism

In the early 1990s, Sarris worked to have the Coast Miwok and Pomo Native Americans gain recognition as a tribe. He co-authored the Graton Rancheria Restoration Act, 25 U.S.C. §1300n (Act) with California Indian Legal Services.[16] President Clinton signed the Act into law on December 27, 2000, officially granting the tribe status as a federally recognized tribe.[17] The Act mandated that the Secretary of the Interior take land in the tribe's aboriginal territory of Marin or Sonoma Counties into trust as the Tribe's reservation.

Published works

Novels
Short story collections
Nonfiction
Film and Theater

Awards and achievements

See also

References

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Board of Trustees . National Museum of the American Indian . Smithsonian . 30 June 2023 .
  2. Web site: 2022-08-11 . Dr. Greg Sarris Receives Top Academic Honor at Sonoma State . 2024-04-15 . SSU News . en.
  3. Web site: American Academy of Arts and Sciences . American Academy of Arts and Sciences . 30 June 2023.
  4. Book: . 2007 . . Detroit . 28 May 2016 . Greg Sarris. https://www.gale.com/c/literature-contemporary-authors.
  5. Lincoln, Kenneth. "Greg Sarris." Native American Writers of the United States. Ed. Kenneth M. Roemer. Detroit: Gale, 1997. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 175. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 May 2016.
  6. Web site: 2024-03-20 . Greg Sarris, Larry Brackett to receive SSU honorary doctorates . 2024-04-15 . SSU News . en.
  7. "Greg Sarris." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Literature Resource Center. Web. 28 May 2016
  8. "Greg Sarris." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Literature Resource Center. Web. 28 May 2016
  9. Wasp, Jean. World Class Author, Screenwriter Greg Sarris Named to Native American Endowed Chair at SSU. Sonoma State University News Center. April 8, 2005. Web. 28 May 2016.
  10. Lincoln, Kenneth. "Greg Sarris." Native American Writers of the United States. Ed. Kenneth M. Roemer. Detroit: Gale, 1997. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 175. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 May 2016.
  11. "Tribal Government" Graton Rancheria.n.p.n.d.Web.28 May 2016.
  12. Web site: Board of Trustees . 2024-04-26 . National Museum of the American Indian . en.
  13. Web site: 2023-06-30 . Governor Newsom Announces Higher Education Appointments 6.29.23 . 2024-04-26 . California Governor . en.
  14. http://greg-sarris.com/. n.p. n.d. Web. 28 May 2016
  15. Mason, Clark. Casino critic challenges tribal leader's Indian heritage. The Press Democrat. February 17, 2010. Web. 28 May 2016.
  16. http://uscode.house.gov/statviewer.htm?volume=114&page=2939 Title XIV Graton Rancheria Restoration
  17. https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs143_021913.pdf Federal Register Notice
  18. Web site: Review of Watermelon Nights, Los Angeles Review of Books. 22 August 2021.
  19. Web site: Caetano . Kalie . 2022-01-26 . Greg Sarris's Becoming Story Debuts Spring 2022 . 2024-04-26 . Heyday . en-US.
  20. Book: The Forgetters by Greg Sarris . 978-1-59714-630-2 . en-US.
  21. Web site: Janiak . Lily . Review: Word for Word's 'Citizen' is as lush and penetrating as a Sonoma County grapevine . 2024-04-15 . Datebook San Francisco Arts & Entertainment Guide . en-US.
  22. Web site: San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle - 2024 Nominations . 2024-04-26 . www.criticscircle.org . en.
  23. https://news.sonoma.edu/article/greg-sarris-elected-%C2%A0american-academy-arts-sciences Greg Sarris Inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  24. Web site: Dr. Greg Sarris receives inaugural Arts & Humanities Dean's Teaching Award. 16 August 2021.
  25. Lincoln, Kenneth. "Greg Sarris." Native American Writers of the United States. Ed. Kenneth M. Roemer. Detroit: Gale, 1997. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 175. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 May 2016.
  26. Lincoln, Kenneth. "Greg Sarris." Native American Writers of the United States. Ed. Kenneth M. Roemer. Detroit: Gale, 1997. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 175. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 May 2016.
  27. Lincoln, Kenneth. "Greg Sarris." Native American Writers of the United States. Ed. Kenneth M. Roemer. Detroit: Gale, 1997. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 175. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 May 2016.
  28. Lincoln, Kenneth. "Greg Sarris." Native American Writers of the United States. Ed. Kenneth M. Roemer. Detroit: Gale, 1997. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 175. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 May 2016.
  29. Lincoln, Kenneth. "Greg Sarris." Native American Writers of the United States. Ed. Kenneth M. Roemer. Detroit: Gale, 1997. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 175. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 May 2016.
  30. Web site: 2024-03-20 . Greg Sarris, Larry Brackett to receive SSU honorary doctorates . 2024-04-10 . SSU News . en.

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