Product Description

Full-Court Quest offers a rare glimpse into American Indian life and into the world of women's basketball before "girls rules" temporarily shackled the sport.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #383344 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 479 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780806139739
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School—At the turn of the 20th century, an important aspect of the federal policy toward many American Indian tribes was assimilation through education. Boarding schools were established off reservation, as well as on, and government officials actively and aggressively recruited children to attend them. Among the students in the school established at Fort Shaw in Montana were a group of young women who would become famous in Montana, and a popular attraction at the 1904 World's Fair. Their story is told in this well-researched and well-documented book. Leaving their families and arriving at different ages for different reasons, they came together to play the new game of basketball and were quite successful. Peavy and Smith's book is a remarkably rosy picture of an Indian boarding school. While the authors mention that students ran away, that they were separated from their families for long periods of time, and that they were required to speak only English and leave behind traditional dress and culture, these factors seem not to have affected these talented athletes. It is not until the last few pages that the authors specifically, and briefly, address the cost of the success of the girls' team, and the federal Indian educational policy. Still, the book tells a story long forgotten about these "world champions."—Mary Ann Harlan, Arcata High School, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"Once the authors introduced me to the players on the basketball team named world champions at the 1904 World's Fair, I found myself immersed in the players' lives as they transitioned from life on reservations and farms with their families to their coming of age at a boarding school, separated from their own cultures. Their biographers and descendents deserve our praise. Recommended for women's, multicultural, and regional history collections." --Susan Andrus, Story Circle Book Reviews.org

About the Author
Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith began their collaborative work in women's history and biography in Bozeman, Montana. In the intervening years they have coauthored ten books, including Women in Waiting in the Westward Movement, Pioneer Women, Frontier Children, and Frontier House. They have given presentations and workshops across the nation, including at the Library of Congress and the White House.

Customer Reviews

Coming of Age off the Reservation
A find of several arrowheads on our land in western NY sparked my interest in reading Full Court Quest: The Girls from Fort Shaw Indian School: Basketball Champions of the World by Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith. Once the authors introduced me to the players on the basketball team named world champions at the 1904 World's Fair, I found myself immersed in the players' lives as they transitioned from life on reservations and farms with their families to their coming of age at a boarding school, separated from their own cultures.

Because different tribes had been settled in one location at the Fort Shaw Indian School, there existed the potential for conflict, but instead these girls supported one another while negotiating the illnesses that plagued them from time to time, as well as surviving the deaths of parents, siblings, and friends. Starting with a soccer ball and a basket nailed to the wall, they progressed through and over many obstacles to become the "champions of the St. Louis world's fair." Not only did they play two twenty-minute, full-court basketball halves, several times a week and sometimes twice in a day, they also performed pantomime, played musical instruments, and recited poetry as part of their "demonstration" of how Indian girls could become "civilized." They raced up and down the court and through the Northwest exhibiting their talents, recruiting new students, accepting challenges from whites who could barely score against them, showing grace and modesty each time they won.

Even though they were exploited to gain money for their school budgets, these diligent young women put all their efforts into perfecting their performances and heroically presenting a positive view of Native Americans at a time when the whites who lived on their native lands ridiculed, criticized, and denigrated them.

Through newspaper and magazine articles, BIA reports, letters, and oral history from their descendents, the Fort Shaw Girls' Basketball team emerges from the pages as a group of unique individuals, each with her own distinct personality. Numerous photos of the girls and extensive notes add to the details of their lives.

The 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, originally intended to celebrate the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, became the showcase for Native American crafts and lifestyles that were quickly disappearing. The Fort Shaw girls represented the future with their recitations, dance, and exhibition basketball games just as the exhibits represented the past. Their biographers and descendents deserve our praise. Recommended for women's, multicultural, and regional history collections.

by Susan Andrus
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

Inspirational & Entertaining!
Had enough of football, can't wait for basketball? Full-Court Quest is the perfect gift book for any sports fan who loves inspirational stories this time featuring young women who played full court basketball and won while wearing dresses.

Great read
I have also read "Shoot Minnie Shoot", it was OK but very disappointing that the author chose to take "artistic license" with the story. The facts are so much better then fiction.




I have been waiting for years for this book and I am not disappointed.

My grandmother played on this team. I learned things about her I never knew.

If all someone is looking for is a girls basketball story, you can find that anywhere.

This is HISTORY.
The history of a bunch of girls that changed they way people viewed Indians at the turn of the century.
The history of our families, our grandmothers, aunts, cousins finally told after over 100 years.